Centralia Staff to Seek Guidance From Council Regarding Discovery Trail Parking

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The Centralia City Council is slated to hear an update on the Discovery Trail on Tuesday night, specifically about the impact moving the parking area has had on activities at the trailhead.

Following months of complaints from residents of the Goodrich Road neighborhood that leads into the trailhead northwest of Centralia, city staff decided in January to move the parking area from the end of the access road onto property next to the city wastewater treatment plant.

City and law enforcement officials cite the additional lighting, security cameras and restrooms at the new location a few hundred feet up the road from the now-closed original parking area as reasons why the change appears to have drastically cut down instances of illicit activity at the trailhead. Residents complained last year of incidents involving drug use, drinking and prostitution.

Council members will not be asked Tuesday to pass an ordinance or resolution related to the Discovery Trail. Public Works Director Kim Ashmore told The Chronicle he hopes to provide an all-encompassing update on the trail and then seek a non-binding recommendation from the council as to whether the parking area should remain where it is or move to a location further away from the trailhead.

“I don’t know where that site would be,” Ashmore said. “That’s something we’d have to look at, where it would make more sense than where it’s at now. … I think this was vetted pretty well and that it’s a good location. I’m going to recommend it stay where it’s at, but it’s up to the council to decide if that’s sufficient.”

Also asking the city to leave the parking area in its current location are Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen and Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza.

Nielsen said Friday he believes the lighting and security cameras at the new location make it the right spot for parking and trail access.



Snaza wrote a letter to Mayor Lee Coumbs and the city council earlier this month outlining his perspective on the matter. Snaza praised the collective efforts of city and county staff to find solutions to concerns voiced by residents, stated he has information showing increased patrols of the Discovery Trail area have reduced criminal activities and voiced his objection to further change.

“One of the most significant events that occurred during this process was the City of Centralia moving the designated parking system to its current location, whereby providing better lighting, as well as a surveillance camera system, to monitor activities within the new parking location,” Snaza wrote. “… I am writing this letter in support of keeping the parking lot in its current location. As stated above, the current location provides law enforcement with distinct crime prevention tools (better lighting and security cameras) that would be lost should the lot be moved elsewhere.”

Ashmore said that aside from being able to see the impact of the new location via the camera feeds, he has received emails from trail users over the past few months who support continued access to the area.

The city partnered with a number of outside organizations including the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington State Salmon Recovery Board when it spearheaded construction of the trail. It worked with Lewis County on the permitting process prior to the trail opening in 2006.

Area schools take students on field trips to the Discovery Trail in conjunction with local nonprofits. Children from Rochester and Montesano went out with volunteers from the land trust in January to plant willow stakes along the riverbank.

“I’ve watched scores of people there on the cameras who grab their dogs and kids out of the car and come back down the trail an hour later,” Ashmore said. “I think even some of the residents out there, they like the trail, but it’s the traffic on Goodrich Road they’ve been concerned about, as well as the person or two there after-hours who shouldn’t be.”