Bold vision for the future of West Richland. Public invited to speak up
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Public input invited before May 6 vote on 7,600-acre plan.
- Lewis & Clark Ranch 1st phase: 750 acres, 2,120 jobs and 3,533 housing units.
- Full buildout: about 30,500 homes and 18,300 jobs over 100 years.
West Richland residents have two final opportunities to shape a bold vision that could add 100,000 new residents to the sprawling Lewis & Clark Ranch over the next 100 years.
The 7,600-acre ranch is the crown jewel of the Frank Tiegs LLC empire and is targeted for redevelopment over the coming decades.
After more than five years of work to create the legal framework for development, the city is inviting public comments before the city council gives it final approval next month.
Once approved, the plan will establish the rules for how the site develops in the future, from how roads and utilities are extended to the types of homes, businesses, schools, parks and other facilities are built.
The planning commission holds a public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 9.
The city council plans a hearing at 6 p.m. April 21. Both will be in the council chambers at 3100 Belmont Blvd.
The city council is tentatively set to vote on the final ordinance when it meets at 6 p.m., May 5.
Lewis and Clark Ranch
The ranch represents about half the land in the West Richland city limits, making it a rare development opportunity. The city annexed it in 1981, but it remains largely agricultural and undeveloped.
Generally, it is bordered by the Yakima River and Rupert Road.
The current “Transition” designation would allow about 750 acres to be developed.
Frank Tiegs LLC, controlled by the heirs of the late agricultural titan Frank Tiegs, who died in 2024, has long sought to transform it into a collection of neighborhoods, businesses, industry, schools and recreation amenities.
In January 2021, it applied to West Richland to amend the comprehensive plan and zoning code to allow broader development.
The legal and environmental review process began immediately but was paused by the city in late 2022 before the council restarted it in early 2025. Last summer, it released a draft Environmental Impact Statement that sets the stage for the new rules.
Development possibilities
The city has several options.
It can leave the existing rules in place. It can adopt the version proposed by the owner. Or it can go with a third option, which the council has said it prefers.
That option traces the Tiegs plan, but with more attention to protecting sensitive areas along the miles of Yakima River waterfront.
As proposed, Lewis and Clark redevelopment would launch with a 750-acre first phase.
That would bring development supporting 2,120 jobs and 3,533 residential units in the first phase.
At full development, the 7,600 acres would accommodate about 18,300 jobs and nearly 30,500 residential units or roughly 100,000 people.
The neighborhood would be served by a gridded street network organized around walkability and easy access to city services.
A brief history
Frank Tiegs LLC isn’t the first owner to envision something other than farm circles dotting the landscape.
In a 2008 report on West Richland’s economic future, Barney & Worth Inc. outlined plans by the descendants of the ranch’s original owners to redevelop it with a horse-centric destination served by its own airport, golf course and limited industry and commercial development.
The descendants of Arch MacDonald and Don McKay planned to transform half the ranch into five-acre lots for horse owners.
The proposal appears to have given rise to the name “Lewis & Clark Ranch” and included using 2,000 acres for a golf course, parks, airport and open space, 1,500 acres for residential use, 639 acres for civic, retail and commercial use and about 300 acres for industrial development.
“(T)here are certainly challenges and issues associated with this concept.... However, if the Lewis & Clark Ranch were to become a reality, the economic impact would almost certainly make West Richland the premier residential/visitor destination in the region....” the report concluded.
Learn more
Learn more about the current vision for Lewis and Clark Ranch at westrichland.org
This story was originally published April 6, 2026 at 3:35 PM.