Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
The City of Yelm and Blue Fern Development have an agreement in place after Yelm City Council approved a purchase and sale agreement of the city’s 640-acre plot, following a 6-1 vote.
Councilor Tracey Wood was the lone ‘no’ vote against the purchase and sale agreement of the property. Councilors Joseph Richardson, Joshua Crossman, Stephanie Kangiser, Brian Hess, David Johnstone and Terry Kaminski each voted in approval of the deal.
Todd Stancil, Yelm city administrator, noted that Blue Fern Development has agreed to pay the City of Yelm “a minimum” of $16,500,000 and “a maximum” of $18,550,000 for the property and its development over the next 12-to-19 years. He added the variables in pricing would depend on the exercise of extensions and exchanges for additional non-refundable extension fees for the property.
According to Stancil, the timeline for the sale agreement of the 640 acres began on June 11, 2024, when Yelm City Council authorized Mayor Joe DePinto to sign an agreement with Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate firm, to provide consultation options for the property.
In two separate Yelm City Council study sessions on Oct. 1, 2024, and Nov. 1, 2024, options were presented to councilors and a direction was provided to pursue marketing for land and gauge interest levels in developing the property as a master planned community (MPC). Representatives from Kidder Mathews met with multiple interested development groups — specifically companies with expertise in MPCs — but Stancil noted “most developers” decided against pursuing the property due to various complexities.
Then, on Aug. 12, 2025, Stancil said Yelm City Council met in executive session with representatives from Blue Fern Development, who expressed interest in purchasing the city’s property and developing it as an MPC to maintain its current zoning status. The organization presented the city with an initial purchase offer.
Representatives from Kidder Mathews and Yelm’s City Attorney, Brent Dille, to reach the sale agreement — which includes considerations and a plan to connect State route 507 to Tahoma Boulevard.
Lastly, on Oct. 28, 2025, Yelm city staff, Dille and Kidder Mathews representatives met in an executive session to discuss the negotiated purchase and sales agreement that was executed by Blue Fern Development.
Johnstone asked Stancil for clarification on whether or not there is a deal in place for DDD, owners of a neighboring 610-acre property, in regards to current perimeter properties near the 640 acres. Stancil told Johnstone there is not a current deal in place with DDD, which led to additional discussion.
“I have a concern and it’s the breakdown of the zoning for the 640,” Johnstone stated. “It appears to be all residential. So currently, right now, we could have the entire 640 developed with no commercial.”
Stancil responded, “that’s based on the previous master plan that was developed with the 1250. Without an agreement with DDD, the 640 would have to have its own master plan conceptual that would come before council.”
Johnstone added that his concern is that the agreement references a future agreement, and that it seems like the buyer can object to anything they deem unreasonable — which he noted is not defined within the agreement.
DePinto told Johnstone that Yelm City Council would have a big say in the development. Dille added that there are fail-safes built in, meaning if developers construct something that council doesn’t approve of, they cannot proceed. DePinto added that while they can walk away at certain points throughout the project, so could the city.
“This isn’t just a sale agreement. We’re going to be working with them closely to make sure Yelm is developed in a way that the community and city council wants. This doesn’t sign away everything for the City of Yelm. There’s a certain path we’re taking. I think the entitlement schedule is a great way to look at it,” DePinto said. “There’s nothing that’s set in stone in all of the different steps on this. We can absolutely have our impact and our say, and that’s what we should be doing. This should be more of a partnership than a sell it and walk away type of deal.”
Duana Koloušková, Blue Fern Development representative, said the organization is a residential developer and that they’ve been very forthcoming about what they do.
“I personally have worked on multiple master planned communities across Washington state and in three states as well,” Koloušková said. “I just want to say, and I know we’ve had the opportunity to present to council, and tell you we’re very confident in our work here and very much looking forward to partnering with the city. That being said, your legal council, your representatives, everyone has been very clear with us that there is a process. This is the beginning of the process, and we very much understand that as Blue Fern.”
After her statement, Stancil began to describe the timeline and noted the first phase in the development project would be determining feasibility. He noted that the feasibility process could take up to two years before it is completed. Additionally, Yelm would be paid $850,000 for the work, he said.
Once feasibility is completed, and the City of Yelm has received that money, the project will begin to move forward into Phase 1 and Phase 2.
“The way it was structured was to encourage a full buildout of all the phases,” Stancil said. “If they build Phase 1, and they say ‘we’re out, we can’t build the other 400 acres,’ now we’re left with the 400-acres that we still own, and we also have a 3.2 mile and 110-foot wide roadway that goes through this entire property, and at which point, the remaining parcels are probably worth much more than they are currently because of the infrastructure that would be put in.
“The other piece with this is the roadway. We know we’re going to need 24.3 acres of land from DDD in order to complete this 3.2 mile stretch of road,” Stancil continued. “The contract includes money to do right of way acquisition of that property needed to put the road through. They’re also going to work with us. I know we mentioned this before, but there’s different ways to help us pay for this road. For us to build this roadway, there’s a minimum of $50 million to build this 3.2 mile stretch of road and connect it to 507. Blue Fern can do it much more economically, to the tune of maybe $20 million less than what we could build it for.”
He added that Blue Fern Development will work with the City of Yelm to find different funding mechanisms for constructing that road, and reiterated that building the road has always been a priority in this project.
“Your representatives have really pushed us on that phasing plan. We do really hope we’re doing a partnership in that respect, because we got pushed pretty hard by your staff. We’re good by that because it means you’re doing your job, and that makes us feel more comfortable than if you weren’t,” Koloušková said. “While this is a particularly important milestone, it is milestone one of quite a bit. We have a lot of work to do.
“From our perspective, what’s cool about a master plan like this is that it’s a very rare circumstance where we can have a true partnership with a jurisdiction, as opposed to plunking down a 50-unit subdivision in the middle of an existing grid, for example,” she continued. “The value is very much there for everybody, regardless of the DDD consideration.”
