Clark County board weighs sale, donation or retention of downtown Battle Ground WIC building

Clark County’s Urban County Policy Board on Nov. 10 debated whether to sell a county-owned building used by Sea Mar’s WIC program in downtown Battle Ground, convey it to Sea Mar for $1 with a restricted-use covenant, or retain county ownership and pursue renovations.

The building at 701 East Main Street was purchased with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds in 1993 and has been leased to the CMAR/Sea Mar WIC program since 2009. A county-commissioned 2019 MENG assessment estimated roughly $1,700,000 would be needed to bring the property up to current standards; Sea Mar’s senior vice president, Nick Ramirez, told the board his architect’s more recent review produces a similar $1,700,000 renovation estimate and that Sea Mar’s internal construction crew could perform phased work.

Why it matters: staff warned that options carry different programmatic consequences for the county’s CDBG timeliness (HUD’s required pace of spending). Michael Torres, the county’s program manager for community services, told the board HUD reviews the grantee’s account balance on May 2 each year; proceeds received after that date would not change a timeliness determination made…