‘No room’ left at Tri-Cities school for new apartments. Boundaries to change
Construction of a 190-unit apartment complex on the Yakima River delta will reshape Richland school boundaries next school year.
The Richland School Board will hear a presentation Tuesday night about redrawing a 1.6-square mile wedge along the delta into the Lewis & Clark Elementary attendance boundaries.
The land is currently within the boundaries of Badger Mountain Elementary, which is already overcapacity by about 70 students.
The move is not expected to affect families currently attending Richland schools since so few residents live within the impacted area, said Bryan Jones, Richland School District’s assistant superintendent of educational services.
But it will impact future families living at the Bob, a garden-style complex being built at 703 Columbia Park Trail. It’s near the Steptoe Street roundabout and expected to open later this year.
“There is just no room at Badger Mountain right now,” Jones said. “It’s not a wholesale district boundary change, just a small edit to adjust to some small construction and growth at one of our elementary schools that is overcrowding.”
Lewis & Clark has about 440 students enrolled, while Badger Mountain has 620.
It’s unclear how many future students will eventually be added to Lewis & Clark if the school board agrees to expand its boundaries, Jones said. The school’s building in the southern core of Richland could fit another 90 students and has capacity for 530.
The Bob is the first apartment complex of its size in that area east of Highway 240.
The 7.2-acre site that it’s being built on was a manufactured home park held by the Young family for more than a decade. The name honors the family’s late patriarch, Robert Young, a prominent Tri-Cities developer.
The project has gone vertical in recent months, catching the eye of Tri-City commuters passing between Richland and Kennewick. Apartment buildings will be tucked between a Columbia Irrigation District canal, a motel and railroad tracks.
Jones said the school board will study the issue for the first time this week, but a decision will come back to them at a later date for approval.
In addition to the lower Yakima River delta, the wedge also encompasses land that makes up the Chamna Natural Reserve, Wright’s Desert Gold Motel and RV Park, the Richland Wastewater Treatment Facility and the Inland Asphalt Paving Company.
