Correction April 1, 1:45 p.m., The agenda for the 6:00 p.m. April 1 meeting includes a final vote on this change. The original article said that a voted hadn’t been scheduled. The Observer regrets the error.
The city of Richland has paused sales of surplus property so the Richland City Council could work on “clarity” in Richland Municipal Code 3.06, according to Richland City Manager Jon Amundson. The “clarity” includes allowing surplus land sales for below market value and a special process for a buyer that is “uniquely qualified or suitable applicant.”
The council unanimously passed the changes, Ordinance No. 2025-07, on March 18 with only one comment from Councilmember Ryan Whitten. The ordinance has been scheduled for a second and final vote at the April 1 meeting.
Two surplus land sales are paused.
The sale of two city parcels, one at Columbia Point North and the other at 24 Lawless Drive appear to be paused. According to information that accompanied the proposed new code, “The city’s recent utilization of this code section brought to light deficiencies that will be remedied by the proposed edits included in Ordinance No. 2025-07.”
The city has recently been negotiating with a firm, Cascade Development Partners, Inc. from Vancouver, Washington, for development at Columbia Point North and Tim Bush, a local developer who has purchased city-owned land before. Bush was the only bidder for the city’s property at 24 Lawless Drive.
Bush has been involved with at least six property transactions with the city since 2018 when he negotiated for two remnants of Lawless Park, One of those pieces is adjacent to 24 Lawless and potential buyers were advised by the city that they’d have to cooperate with Bush to build a road into the two properties
Records obtained through the Washington Public Records Act, revealed that the city has been working with Cascade since at least 2022. The city skipped Requests for Proposals with the development of Columbia Point Property and used a Request for Qualifications. Two other developers responded.
The new code includes a provision that allows the city to follow that pattern for “uniquely qualified” buyers and were “added for additional protection of the city,” City Attorney Heather Kintzley told the council at the March 18 meeting. She referred to the changes to the 1984 code as a “housekeeping effort.”
The Observer reached out to the other two developers who responded to the Request for Qualification for the North Columbia Point Project. One returned a phone call and said that his firm wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of submitting qualifications had they known the city was already working with another developer.
Proposed amendments
The revised code includes the following changes:
1) simplifying the disposition process to eliminate a request for proposals (RFP) for a “uniquely qualified or suitable applicant,”
2) selling surplus property “for less than fair market value,”
3) allowing the council to agree to a negotiated sale as a result of a specific request without the requirement to advertise the sale.
4) adding “exchange” and “auction” to the list of disposition methods.
5) including the Richland Planning Commission as well as other city committees in the process.
“Council and staff have indicated a desire to provide greater clarity in the municipal code prior to any future disposition of surplus property,” City Manager Jon Amundson wrote the Observer in response to a request for an update on the sale of 24 Lawless Dr.
Richland officials visited Cascade Developer projects at least as early as 2022.
When Cascade Development Partners, Inc. presented their proposal for Columbia Point North at an October 24, 2023, workshop, no one mentioned that the city had been working with them at least since September, 2022, on development in Richland.
Records obtained by the Observer included correspondence among the five city officials who flew to Portland on September 26, 2022, to visit a Cascade project in Vancouver.
The trip wasn’t listed as “travel” in any city council agenda. Amundson explained to the Observer in an email that he, Deputy City Manager Joe Schiessl, Economic Development Manager Amanda Wallner, Economic Development Committee Chair Bradley Bricker and Richland Mayor Michael Alvaraz did not stay overnight and flew in and out of Portland. Under those circumstances, Richland Municipal Code 1.01.040 doesn’t require permission.
The city issued an RFQ for the property on May 28, 2023, and two other developers responded to it.
Amundson wrote the Observer, “Cascadia has been engaged in discussions with the City of Richland about development opportunities well before Tracts D &E.”
Amundson added, “Our initial introduction stemmed from their interest in developing the former City Hall site.”
The city has worked with Tim Bush for years and he submitted the only bid for 24 Lawless Drive.
On Nov. 4 the city of Richland received one bid in an advertised sale of 24 Lawless Drive. Tim Bush, the owner of the adjacent property, submitted the bid.
Bush had purchased the adjacent property from the city in a negotiated sale in 2018. The 2024 request for bids included the requirement that any buyer had to cooperate with Bush to build a shared road into the property,
In an email from Amundson about 24 Lawless he wrote that neither Bush nor any other buyer was currently negotiating to buy the property.
Second vote scheduled for April 1 meeting.
The agenda for the April 1 meeting includes a second vote on the ordinance