Richland, WA- After owning the land for over a hundred years, the Department of Natural Resources is adding to the following Tri-Cities area.
Just over 300 acres of land were granted to the state of Washington in 1889 to create revenue to build school within the state.
In December of 2020, the owners of the orchard let DNR know the orchard had reached its end leading to them clearing the area.
The state had begun clearing the 300 acre plot and is no thinking about the use for the land.
As of now, the plan is to section off the acres into ten sections.
Two of the sections will be dedicated to commercial and retail shopping areas.
One will go towards building a school and another to a City of Richland park.
The last six sections are planned to be residential properties such as, apartments, townhomes and houses.
The sections are in procession of preparation for what DNR calls “public auction.”
Hilary Franz, Commissioner of Public Lands says, “These parcel transfers and leases will be a win for Tri-Cities… 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.”
As of now, there are no official dates on when construction will begin but their focus is to clear out the areas.
