What’s in a name?

That’s what the Lacey City Council seemed to say during a workshop Thursday evening on the future of the Woodland District.

The Woodland District is the urban area of Lacey currently being touted as a new “Urban Village”.

Perhaps – they wondered –  re-development of the district might proceed faster if it had a different name.

Lacey City Manager Scott Spence pointed out that Woodland was named after the original name of Lacey.   Issac Wood had taken out a donation claim and named the area  after himself.  When the community applied for a post office it was rejected because there was already a Woodland by Vancouver.  The post office was named Lacey after the lawyer who drafted the request put his own name on the document.

Spence pointed out that we had a lot of Woodland in Lacey including Woodland Creek and Woodland Community Park.   He wondered if another name for the urban district might not be more appropriate.

Many names were kicked around several of them after local businesses or landmarks.

In the end, the Council told staff that the issue of a new name for the Woodland District was worth exploring.