The land that was once the location of the Armory Hills Golf Course in the Seminary Hill area continues to be eyed by developers for a new 194-lot housing development called Woodland Glen.
Featuring a mixture of 48 townhouses and 146 single-family, three-bedroom residences on nearly 49 acres of land — nearly 15 acres of which is currently designated for park space — Woodland Glen is a project of the Bellevue-based developer APJJ, LLC.
Despite Centralia’s need for more housing as the city’s growth continues, some residents north of the proposed development on Roswell Road, east of it on Gleason Road and southwest of it on Seminary Hill Road and Byrd Street have expressed concerns about it.
Most recently, they voiced their opposition during a public hearing on Woodland Glen at a Centralia Planning Commission meeting at Centralia City Hall on Thursday, March 14. While the public hearing was held, the planning commission took no action concerning Woodland Glen.
Many have traffic concerns, with the potential additional new drivers now further congesting already small, two-lane roads, while others are concerned with the development’s potential effect on pedestrian traffic on top of other issues.
“When this was a golf course, they couldn’t get enough water to water the golf course,” said Roswell Road resident William Schultz.
Schultz also shared traffic concerns, believing the proposed development doesn’t have enough exit roads and would lead to heavy congestion on Seminary Hill Road.
“Both of these roads dump together right there, together, right there. It’s not two exits. It’s one exit,” Schultz said.
Randy Kaut, a resident of Byrd Street and also the Chehalis police chief, expressed concerns revolving around not only an increase in vehicle traffic but pedestrian traffic.
“As you know, Seminary Hill (Road) is a two-lane road. There’s no shoulder or sidewalks,” Kaut said.
Byrd Street is set up the same as Seminary Hill Road, he added, and occasionally sees high volumes of traffic due to training being held by the Washington Army National Guard office located on Byrd Street.
“And oftentimes, it’s a one-lane road when families there have guests over or the Army’s doing training because they park alongside the road because there’s simply nowhere else to park,” Kaut said. “... I actually looked at their traffic analysis plan, and they’re anticipating 2,000-plus cars going in and out of that complex each day.”
Another resident on Roswell Road, Janet Taylor, thanked city staff for answering her questions so far, but still expressed concerns about the proposed development.
“I’m not opposed to the development of the old golf course in order to meet the expanding need of housing alternatives with the growth of Centralia,” Taylor said. “I am, however, vehemently opposed to the housing density proposed by the developer of this property.”
She took issue with the city changing the zoning designation from R4 to R4 PUD.
“R4 density is four dwellings per acre … R4 PUD density could potentially allow up to 10 properties per acre,” Taylor said.
While no employees from APJJ were in attendance at the March 14 public hearing, Drew Harris, principal owner of Tacoma-based engineering consultant Momentum Civil, was present on Zoom to represent the developers.
While talking briefly about some changes they recently made to the designs, Harris did not directly address any of the residents’ concerns during the meeting.
The Centralia Planning Commission recently put the project on hold after its Feb. 8 meeting, where they identified design aspects not up to city code and told the developers to come back when they had resolved the code issues.
While the public hearing was held, the Centralia Planning Commission made no decision concerning the development as it is still awaiting State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) approval. Despite no decision being made, they thanked the residents for sharing their concerns.
“I would like to thank everybody who continues to come out and speak, because it’s important and we are listening. Maybe it doesn’t look like it sometimes, but we are listening to what is being said,” Centralia Planning Commission member Bonnie Coumbs said.
Centralia Community Development Director Emil Pierson said he expected to hear if SEPA approval had been given by the end of the month, meaning the Planning Commission will reopen the public hearing on the proposed Woodland Glen development at its regular meeting scheduled for April 11 at 6 p.m.
For more information, contact the Centralia Planning Department at 360-330-7662.
