MLSD sells land back to Grant Co.

MOSES LAKE — Grant County officials will be buying back a piece of property from the Moses Lake School District.

Moses Lake School Board members approved the sale during the regular meeting Thursday. Grant County Commissioners had already approved the agreement.

The votes by both the school board and the commissioners were unanimous.

The purchase price is $1.2 million. The property is located between the existing Grant County Fairgrounds and Paxson Drive.

Grant County Commissioner Rob Jones wrote Monday that county officials wanted the land back.

“When the school district decided they no longer had a use for the property, it was important for the county to acquire it back,” Jones wrote. “At the very least it gives a light and sound buffer between the neighborhood and the fairgrounds.”

School district officials had purchased the property for about $851,000 to build a new high school following the approval of a school construction bond in 2017. But ultimately district officials and school board members decided to build at a different location.

Jeremy O’Neil, MLSD chief operations officer, wrote that the proceeds from the sale will go into the district’s capital projects fund.

“Those specific dollars have not yet been dedicated to any particular project,” O’Neil wrote.

The section of Paxson Drive across the street from the property is a residential neighborhood. County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said county officials wanted to avoid additional residential development directly adjacent to the fairgrounds.

Gaines said the land will remain undeveloped, at least for now.

“We don’t have any current (development) plans,” he said.

Both Jones and Gaines said the land does provide the potential for the development of the fairgrounds

“It allows for future expansion possibilities and removes the concern of land lock,” Jones wrote.