MLSD seeking to sell two land parcels

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School Board will hold a public hearing at its July 25 meeting to take public comment on a resolution to declare two parcels of district property surplus. Board members approved the resolution at their regular meeting Thursday.

One of the two pieces is about one-half acre at the intersection of Second Street NE and East Wheeler Road, near the JR Simplot facility. Project Manager Brian Sewell said it’s too small for any school district use.

“It really has no room for the district to do anything on it, except pay taxes and make sure you’re taking care of the (noxious) weeds,” he said.

The second parcel is on East Yonezawa Boulevard, next to the site of the new Samaritan Hospital, currently under construction. Grant County officials have expressed interest in that property as a possible site for a new county morgue.

The morgue is currently located in Samaritan Hospital, but Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said in an earlier interview that the new hospital site doesn’t have enough room for the facility county officials think they will need as the county’s population grows. Gaines said during the school board meeting that county officials had first asked about buying a section of the property in November 2023, talking with then-Chief Operations Officer Jeremy O’Neil. O’Niel resigned in May.

County officials are interested in buying 2.75 acres. Gaines said he originally asked about another piece of district property across Yonezawa Boulevard, but O’Neil made the alternative suggestion of the parcel county officials are interested in now.

“In January, I talked to (O’Neil) about getting a formal appraisal. The county offered to do that, we paid for that, and that was delivered to the school district in March,” Gaines said. “There were two offers made — a verbal offer for $360,000, and an offer for $114,000 when Jeremy negotiated down the amount of land.”

After the appraisal was delivered school district officials stopped responding, Gaines said. With the new hospital under construction county officials need an answer, he said, and asked district officials to give some consideration to the county’s request.

Sewell said the property is not a separate parcel, although it could be broken off as a separate piece. The resolution approved by the school board would surplus about 89,000 square feet.

Sewell recommended including some requirements for design, so anything built on the property fits in with the existing MLSD buildings, the skills center, the transportation center and Vanguard Academy. Provisions for driveway access also will be part of any sale, he said. He recommended that the district do its own appraisal.

Sale of the land may be beneficial as the school district looks to shore up funding after two levy proposals failed in front of voters earlier this year.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com .