Nearly two years after the Centralia City Council approved a master plan to convert the closed Veterans Memorial Pearl Street Pool into the Veterans Community Park, city staff on Tuesday presented visions, concept designs and estimated costs for the project.
Amy Buckler, parks director and deputy manager, gave a presentation to the city council before Tuesday night’s regular council meeting to share updates on the park’s progress. The city received a $50,000 planning grant from the Washington state Department of Commerce, and staff have discussed options with the city parks board.
Buckler identified a series of visions that the city has for the park, which include preservation of the splash pad, memorial flag area, plaza, playground and restrooms. It will also involve the demolition of the bath house and redevelopment of the south portion, which is approximately 37,451 square feet.
Additionally, the city hopes to create a modern, active playground that is inclusive of children of all ages and abilities; an outdoor mixed sports court; potentially a small rental building; a variety of seating options; bilingual signages; strategies to reduce crime and vandalism; and to tell the story of the pool and veterans’ contributions.
The Veterans Memorial Pearl Street Pool permanently closed in 2011, with the city council citing rising maintenance costs and staffing costs, along with low attendance. Buckler said Tuesday that veterans played a role in building the pool. It was first constructed in the 1950s as a memorial after World War II.
“Last year, the parks board made a recommendation to name the park Veterans Community Park in honor of the contribution that the veterans made in having that pool built so that children could learn how to swim because they were concerned about how many people died on D-Day because they didn’t know how to swim,” she said. “They also helped build Wheeler Field. There’s a lot of service to our community going on there, so we want to retain that. That said, this is not the type of memorial that’s intended to be a solemn place. I think it’s more of honoring veterans for their community service.”
Buckler brought two concept plans for the council to view. Both renderings include a halfcourt basketball court, active play areas, a covered picnic pavilion, table games such as ping pong or foosball, and new fencing, along with the existing spray park and restrooms. One concept, titled Concept A, features two covered picnic pavilions, while the other, titled Concept B, has a 1,600-square-foot community building.
Concept A has an estimated cost of $3.1 million in 2025 dollars, and Concept B is expected to cost $5.8 million. These costs include all improvements, overhead, sales taxes and a 30% contingency, but do not account for design and engineering, annual inflation, or a cover for the sports court.
“You may be having a similar reaction to me when I saw these numbers. It seems very expensive,” Buckler said. “The key differences between A and B is largely to do with the community center building, but then also Concept B just has more play surface and site work that has to happen, as opposed to asphalt for parking.”
The city parks board generally liked Concept A better, Buckler said, and expressed interest in increased parking in the area, creating the inclusive playground, a covered sports court for multiple sports, lighting, fencing, and visual impact with lots of color.
Centralia is looking for funding to support the Veterans Community Park project. The city will write a grant application in 2026 to complete design and engineering. If the grant is awarded, staff will complete the design and pursue additional funding in 2027, with construction taking place in 2028 and beyond.
“This is a very grantable project. Inclusive playgrounds are. There are, in addition to state grants, a whole list of grant entities that fund parks to different degrees,” Buckler said. “In normal times, I would feel a little bit more optimistic about that, but there’s a little bit of uncertainty about grants right now. I want to be optimistic, I want to go for it, and I also want to be realistic.”
With the demolition of the bath house, Deputy Mayor Chris Brewer asked Buckler about the future of the Hub City Bike Shop that is currently located on the site.
“There have been some really high level conversations with them about possible opportunities to maybe move to Riverside Park. There’s some kind of relationship with skateboards and the bikes that could be really cool,” Buckler responded. “We also have Hub City Disc Golf Club there. We haven’t made any concrete plans. It’ll probably be a little while before they need to get moved out, but I have talked to them.”
Councilor Mark Westley said he would like to see more slides and swings in town, along with a play area that is sensory motivated and includes music. Both concepts did have aspects with a music/sensory play area. Brewer also vouched for bicycle racks for children.
Councilors seemed to lean toward Concept A, preferring the cost savings over Concept B.
“It’s exciting to think about the future. It’s exciting to think about what we’re developing over there,” Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston said. “One of the things I’ve learned on council is that nothing is easy. It always takes longer and costs more than we think it will. I appreciate you keeping the faith and taking the next step forward. One day, there’s going to be a beautiful park there.”
