The Woodland Chamber of Commerce hosted a public forum where incumbent City Councilmember J.J. Burke and challenger Aaron Brown discussed growth, infrastructure, and the city’s identity ahead of the election for Council Position 1.
Each candidate opened with personal introductions before fielding questions from community members about downtown revitalization, growth, and the city’s future.
Burke, who has served on the council for 16 years, reflected on his long history of civic involvement, including his work with the Lions Club, the Moose Club, and multiple city committees.
“I like giving my help to the community,” he said.
Brown, who has lived in Woodland for six years, said his motivation to run was rooted in love for the town’s character. “I’m running because I love this beautiful city,” he said. “There’s a heart to this city that is truly effective.”
Asked what issues most need attention, Brown said collaboration between local entities is improving but still developing.
“What I’ve heard from the local community is that communications between the city and the port, and the school district are in early regrowth,” he said. “Thank goodness something is no longer totally broken, but to your point, I think it was, and it is, an early repair.”
Burke pointed to basic infrastructure as one of the issues that needs the most attention.
“We need to fix our roads. We need to get exit 21 done,” he said. “We need to make it safe.”
When asked by Woodland Public Schools Superintendent Asha Riely how they would describe Woodland’s identity, Burke kept his answer simple.
“The people who live in Woodland,” he said, using his time to also point to Woodland’s collaboration with the school district, as the city has paid for a school resource officer. “We work with the port very well, we work with the school … I think we’re doing good on all those.”
Aaron said his answer applies to his position on population growth, stating that the city should welcome growth while being careful and scaling up in orientation.
I think Woodland’s identity is kindness,” he said. “Woodland’s kind, but don’t mistake our kindness for weakness.”
Both candidates were asked about downtown revitalization and the challenge of underused or aging buildings. Burke said high costs prevent many property owners from making improvements.
“It’ll cost too much to fix those places to get them up to standards,” he said. “There’s gotta be a way they can fix that somehow.”
Brown added that he favors limited government intervention in private property issues.
“Very little, if at all, should the government be involved,” he said. “I believe that supply and demand drives price always and everywhere.”
But both candidates agreed that one major barrier to downtown redevelopment is ownership of several key buildings by absentee landlords. Brown pointed to the historic 1910 building, saying it’s used as a depreciation tax write-off by the owners, who have since moved east.
“They don’t have a vested interest in the community at this point,” Brown said. “The best way to create more growth would again be communication, somehow sitting down with the folks who are using [the 1910 building] as an example and finding out what the price is that they would need to be paid to have that asset repurposed, perhaps sold.”
Burke, however, said the city’s downtown revitalization committee is already trying to help. “We can look and see if we can get them cheaper loans to get the job done, cheaper interest rates,” he said. “That’s the only way I can see to fix downtown.”
Asked where he sees Woodland in ten years, Burke said, “I see a new exit 21 will be done, we hope. We’re going to run out of room to build any more houses unless we get some more land into the city limits.”
Brown echoed the desire for measured growth.
“I think we should stay small,” he said. “My vision is a small town that grows into a small city that grows on its own accord.”
Readers can watch a recording of the forum on the Chamber of Commerce website, woodlandwachamber.com/gallery.
