The City of Yelm has different options to consider when deciding on the fate of a 640-acre parcel of land located southwest of downtown.
The City Council discussed various development ideas for the acreage, which is accessible only through private roads, at a study session meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
The options under consideration include developing the 640 acres, leaving it as is, selling it to a developer or using it as an eventual “master planned community,” which was initially approved in 2005.
“This is a huge decision. It’s probably going to be the biggest decision this council will make for decades — 640 acres is a lot,” Mayor Joe DePinto said. “With a master planned community, which it is slated for currently, if council wants to change it, they have the right to do so. This is going to double our city’s size. We’re going to have schools over there. We’re going to have government buildings. That’s at least what the plan is right now, under the master planned community.”
City Administrator Todd Stancil said city staff has internally discussed the 640 acres for the last two to three months and described it as a tremendous opportunity.
“We’d like to go out to do an RFP (request for proposal) to bring on a consultant that would help us give recommendations to the council going forward on this commercial property,” Stancil said.
Stancil added the consultants would consider what the city can do with the location, the best possible use of the acreage, how to work with property owners near the location to gain property access and how to gain access itself.
“Bringing on an independent third-party consultant to look at that and help give us suggestions or ideas on the best path forward for the city we think is probably the right move,” Stancil said. “I’m not saying we all haven’t had good ideas because we’ve had some. That might be what it ends up being at the end of the day, but, from my side of things, I sat down and thought this is a tremendous opportunity for the City of Yelm. We’re going to get one shot to do this the right way. What do we need to do?”
Brent Dille, the City of Yelm’s attorney, said Yelm originally ended up with the 640 acre parcel in 2005 after a landowner failed to pay their share of a limited improvement district.
“There was an assessment against this property, and the landowner failed to pay, so the city repossessed it,” Dille said. “That doesn’t mean that assessment just gets to go away. It stays on the books, and someone is going to end up having to pay that assessment. What we did was borrow a whole bunch of money, and now we need to repay that back. Now, the city owns the 640 acres. It could just sit there, or as Todd suggested, we should try to look into how the city could utilize it.”
Dille added that previous City Administrator Michael Grayum allocated American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds from the U.S. government during the COVID-19 pandemic to resolve the debt and become the landowners.
“Maybe the easiest thing is to log it and profit the money, then sell it to the neighbor. Or maybe we develop it, or maybe we joint venture to develop it, or maybe we sell it to a developer,” Dille said. “What can we do with it? What does it look like? If we keep it, what does that investment look like for the city? What is the return? I think someone that does it for a living can give you guys those options.”
Dille added a professional consultant is estimated to cost between $25,000 and $30,000 but would present various options to the council.
“I don’t think you want to limit yourself,” Dille said. “I think you want the real estate professional, development professional, to come and give you guys feedback.”
DePinto said after the meeting, the council will discuss the matter further at future meetings, as well as at the council’s retreat.
