One of Centralia's smallest parks will be getting a major facelift this winter in the name of progress.
At its Tuesday night meeting, the Centralia City Council unanimously agreed to allow Kevin Hubbard to develop a wetland on Kresky Avenue in exchange for enhancements to a portion of property along the Skookumchuck River.
The plan is to enhance the diversity of the stretch of wetland through Wilbur Parkins Park by way of native plantings and removal of invasive species.
"That will create better habitat for the animals that are along that river," said Linda Whitcher, senior planner with the city of Centralia.
Whitcher said Hubbard approached the city recently with the desire to build a two-story retail-office building at 1225 Kresky Ave. But because the parcel is a wetland, he had to apply for a special permit. The general rule when filling a wetland is the property owner must enhance an existing wetland or create a new wetland two to three times larger than the area to be filled, Whitcher said. In this case, Hubbard proposed filling a .25-acre site, so his mitigation needed to be at least half an acre.
Wilbur Parkins Park, located near Sixth and Meridian along the Skookumchuck River, was chosen for its relative proximity to Hubbard's property.
"If you have an impact in one neighborhood, you try to keep the compensation in the same general area," Whitcher said.
The 4.48-acre Parkins Park was once also known as Crescent Park and was purchased by the city in 1972. It is mostly undeveloped, though it has a parking lot and mowed field. It is used primarily by the fishing community, mostly in the winter and into the early spring for steelhead fishing, the season for which ends in April. Some trout and salmon fishing occurs in the summer and fall, but a negligible amount.
Now that the plan has received the council's blessing, Whitcher said, the next step will for Hubbard's wetland specialist to come up with a landscaping plan, outlining plants that will be used and sizes. She said the plantings are required to be native species, and should include types of plants that will attract more animals and create more habitat than the current reed canary grass and red ocher present.
Once a landscaping plan is approved by Centralia, Hubbard will receive a permit allowing the Kresky wetland to be filled and the Wilbur Parkins Park plantings to go forward.
"They'll do the plantings in the winter," Whitcher said. "We don't want them doing them in the summer because they'd have to water them."
Hubbard will also be responsible to monitor the plants' health for three to five years to make sure they become well established.
Carrina Stanton covers municipal government and health for The Chronicle. She may be reached at 807-8241, or by e-mail at cstanton@chronline.com.
