Should the Town of Cathlamet lease a site in Erickson Park for construction and operation of a community food bank?

The Cathlamet Town Council will address that question when it meets next Monday.

The council held a workshop meeting Tuesday to discuss the issue and gather citizen input.

Three food banks operate in the Cathlamet area. The Wahkiakum Food Bank operates out of a space at the county's Human Services campus up the Elochoman Valley Road. Several local churches sponsor it.

The Helping Hands Food Bank operates out of the River Rat Tavern building at the foot of Broadway Street. Its coordinators say it could be forced to vacate the building, which has been for sale for some time.

A new food bank operates out of St. Catherine Catholic Church. Its sponsors, associated with the St. Vincent De Paul Food Bank in Longview, say they are cramped for space.

Several weeks ago, representatives of Helping Hands and St. Catherine food banks approached Cathlamet Mayor George Wehrfritz to ask if the council might consider a long term lease of a parcel of town property so they could build a building to house a community food bank.

They suggested locating the bank on one of the town's parcels on South 2nd Street, near the Elochoman Slough Marina.

Wehrfritz liked the idea but suggested Erickson Park.

With the relocation of the wastewater treatment plant, the area around the marina will be open for redevelopment, and a food bank might not fit in with the new neighborhood, he said.

The park has several advantages as a potential site, proponents say. It offers convenient access and parking for food bank patrons, and it offers anonymnity that would be lost in a location in the main part of town. It has adequate open space to build a sufficiently large enough building to meet the needs of food banks for many years. It is near the community garden, and it could house a demonstration kitchen to teach people how to prepare food from the bank or the garden. The land is public land and could be available at a low cost that would allow food bank partners to finance construction of the building.

Wehrfritz acknowledged that he couldn't find an example of a food bank being located in a public park elsewhere in Washington. However, following precedents isn't always the wise action, he said.

"They don't always work in your favor," he said.

Proponents Fred Johnson and Craig Brown said they had studied other locations before approaching the town. None of the other sites were as conveniently located, or they had costs associated with them.

"Erickson Park would be a good location," Brown said. "It would be a breath of fresh air."

Some in the audience of about 20 people expressed reservations.

Hans Fluckiger, who has worked in the Wahkiakum Food Bank, suggested the site at the county's Elochoman campus could be expanded.

Brown responded that the Wahkiakum Food Bank has shorter operating hours than Helping Hands, and a lack of bathroom facilities becomes a problem.

"The (program) needs are a little different," he said, "and you don't have facilities for a demonstration kitchen."

Cathlamet resident Jim Reed questioned the use of park property for a building.

"Aesthetics--how do they count," he asked. Locating a bulding next to tennis courts may not be pleasing aesthetically, he said.

"And we hold this park in trust for the future," he said.

"Do we want this in Erickson Park?"

He suggested that there could also be unforeseen consequences of locating a building in the park.

"If the food bank stumbles, are we left with a problem," he asked.

He suggested considering another location in the back of the park or perhaps a piece of school district property adjacent to the park.

Councilmember Steven McNicholas said he would like to have a consensus agreement among the stakeholders, including the three food banks, school district and Wahkiakum County.

Wehrfritz said he would ask the council at its Monday meeting if members would support locating the food bank in the park.

If so, then the process could proceed with picking an exact location, negotiating a lease, and designing and constructing the building.