A small group of Woodland residents had the opportunity to see all of the work put into a yearslong effort by the city’s Rotary Club as structures have been put in place and much of the underground work has been completed on the first phase of Scott Hill Park.
On May 18, the Woodland Rotary Club hosted a small event at the site of the future park at the end of Scott Hill Road. Favorable weather helped showcase a wide field with a walking path, maintenance building, picnic shelter and a fencing structure for a softball and little league field.
The work is part of the first phase of the park’s construction. Sandy Larson, the Rotary Club of Woodland’s Scott Hill Park project chair, said work will continue on the first phase before people can play ball on the fields, but the project is taking a more definitive shape.
This year, the project received $350,000 in the state capital budget. That money will be used to complete the paving of the first parking lot for the facility, Larson said.
Being able to showcase the progress on the location was one of the benefits of the open house, Larson said.
“The people that are coming up, oftentimes, they haven’t been here before,” Larson said.
When complete, the project will feature several athletics fields for baseball, softball and soccer with parking and support facilities to host games. The initial cost was previously projected to be $16 million for all of the phases to be built out, though Larson believes it will likely be higher.
Though the current park only has a few structures, which includes fencing, it required extensive work underground in order to make it usable for the recreational purposes it’s designed for. Larson said the above-ground structures were completed during the first part of the year.
The first part of the walking trails, which will total some 1.3 miles once fully built out, has already been a draw for nearby residents.
“That’s one of the big things that the community has wanted, is the walking trails,” Larson said.
As to when the larger parts of the project are completed, that relies on the methods of funding the project can secure, Larson said.
“It just depends on how construction goes,” Larson said.
Larson has been involved with the project since the idea for the park came to fruition more than a decade ago. It’s been a grind to build enough momentum to get the current work done.
Seeing the work in person shows the effort was not in vain, Larson said.
“Anything they can do here really thrills me because when you start from scratch … it’s just been donations and support from people (and) grants. You’re at everybody’s mercy,” Larson said. “It’s not like you’ve got a pile of money.”
As more features are added to the park, people will be able to visualize what the completed project will look like, Larson said.
“It’s pretty much the same story, only it’s a little farther now, and it feels good,” she said. “It really feels good.”
