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Council approves purchase of former utility parcel at Mullen Road for affordable housing development
Summary
The council voted to acquire a roughly five-acre LOTT Clean Water Alliance parcel at 5025 Mullen Road for $450,000, conditioned on affordable-housing use; staff said the site is developable and will be offered to an affordable-housing partner.
The City Council on June 3 voted unanimously to authorize the city manager to acquire a roughly five-acre parcel at 5025 Mullen Road Southeast from LOTT Clean Water Alliance for $450,000 plus half of escrow and closing fees, provided the site be used for affordable housing consistent with state law and recently adopted local code.
Community Development staff presented a due-diligence summary: an appraisal returned a $700,000 market value; LOTT agreed to sell at $450,000—their purchase price—if the city used the property for affordable housing under RCW provisions allowing surplus public property transfers at below-appraised value. Staff reported a gopher-study found no gopher habitat and that pre-submittal review with public-works engineering, building and planning concluded the parcel is developable. The site sits across from Camas Middle School and is zoned open space/institutional.
Under the terms of the April 16, 2025 purchase-and-sale agreement, the city may reacquire the parcel for non-affordable-housing uses only by repaying the $250,000 difference up to appraised value plus an inflation adjustment. Staff recommended acquisition and said discussions with an affordable-housing developer would begin after closing; staff plans to return to council with a development-sale agreement and specific terms.
Outcome: The council approved the manager’s authority to acquire the property at the $450,000 price, plus half escrow and incidental fees. The motion passed unanimously.
Why it matters: The parcel is positioned as an affordable-housing opportunity near a school and could support ownership or rental units depending on partnering arrangements; the city's ability to purchase at below-appraised value depends on state surplus-property rules and the local ordinance (Ordinance 16-73) enacted earlier in the year to enable surplus-property transfers for affordable housing.
What happens next: City staff will continue developer discussions and prepare terms of disposition; if the city later decides not to use the parcel for affordable housing it must repay LOTT to reach appraised value per the purchase-and-sale agreement.
