300 acres of Richland orchards being torn out for new houses, apartments and a school
New homes, apartments, a school and city park could soon replace an aging Richland orchard.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources plans to start converting 300 acres of agricultural land behind the sprawling Queensgate retail complex into a mostly residential development starting in early January.
The lots are off Kennedy Road, stretching north to the Yakima River, behind the Queensgate Target store, on the southwest border of Richland and West Richland.
The city of Richland rezoned the property about two years ago from agriculture to commercial, residential and public uses, said a state release.
This property is currently leased as an orchard but the fruit trees were reaching the end of their useful life, said the state, and the farmer informed DNR they did not plan to renew the lease.
“These parcel transfers and leases will be a win for the Tri-Cities, our schools and taxpayers,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, the elected official who oversees DNR, said in the release.
“State trust lands raise much-needed revenue for our schools, and these parcels will continue to do so for future generations while also allowing the Tri-Cities area to continue to develop and grow,” she said.
The state it will continue to lease two of the new lots zoned for commercial development.
One lot is zoned for school development, and another lot for a city of Richland park.
The other six parcels are zoned for a variety of residential uses and will be sold at public auction.
About 175 acres are zoned for low- to medium-density housing and about 40 acres for apartments. Another nearly 60 acres are currently zoned for commercial use.
The Richland School District has no immediate plan to build a school in that neighborhood.
The 300-plus-acre tract is among the millions of acres granted to Washington at statehood by Congress in 1889 to provide revenue to support school construction throughout the state, said the release.
“This once-rural agricultural land is now surrounded by development on all sides in the heart of the booming Tri-Cities,” said the state.
Revenue from the leases on the lots that DNR is keeping will continue to provide nontax revenue for school construction in Washington state.
The sale of the other lots will be used to buy other property elsewhere that is better suited for generating revenue to support building schools. The state says rezoning and development of the parcels will grow the property tax base for local services.
DNR plans to begin removing the orchard trees after the lease expires Dec. 31.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.