The Washington State Board of Natural Resources approved a slate of land transactions that will allow the Department of Natural Resources to sell several homesites while providing ongoing revenue for school construction and Klickitat County during its monthly meeting Tuesday.

 

The first Cliffside Estates inter-trust exchange transfers 20.25 acres near Trout Lake from supporting the Common School Trust into DNR’s Land Bank. A 301-acre portion of a 641-acre parcel in Clark County, equal in appraised value to the 20.25-acre Klickitat County parcel, will then be transferred from the Land Bank to the Common School Trust. 

 

The Board of Natural Resources approved DNR’s purchase of the Clark County parcel during its June 2023 meeting. 

 

The second Cliffside Estates inter-trust exchange will take the 20.25-acre parcel near Trout Lake from the Land Bank and exchange it with three segregated Cliffside Estates lots located nearby that total 19 acres and are currently managed to support local services in Klickitat County. 

 

The three residential lot parcels will be placed in the Land Bank ownership, which will allow DNR to sell them and use the revenue from those transactions to purchase replacement land that is more efficient to manage and better-suited to support long-term revenue generation.

 

Two of the lots (Lots 1 and 2) will be sold directly to the lessees who currently live on them, and the undeveloped third lot will be available for public auction. The Legislature granted DNR the authority to sell land directly to the public following the passage of HB 1460 in the 2023 session. The properties are the first to be transferred to public owners under the new law.

 

The Land Bank is a holding area for desirable properties acquired by DNR waiting to become trust lands, and former trust lands waiting to be sold. 

 

Maps and photos of the parcels involved in the proposed transactions are available at dnr.wa.gov/about/boards-and-councils/board-natural-resources.

 

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Courtney James

Communications Manager

Cell: 360-522-2534