OTHELLO — As the Othello City Council is considering changes to the city’s zoning code and comprehensive plan, one proposed change would make it impossible for the Othello School District to develop some property on the north side of town.

Superintendent Chris Hurst told the council during a regular council meeting on Monday, Jan. 27, that a proposed rezoning to light industrial of 80 acres on the south side of Lee Road between Seventh and 14th avenues would prevent the district from building a new school there. The school district bought the property for $2.5 million several years ago.

Hurst told council members the district is trying to find a solution to the problem, including a possible “land swap.” Hurst, however, could not give any other details on the land swap, noting that he had not yet told the Othello School Board about the proposal.

“We need time to work with the city for a beneficial solution,” he said.

When asked if he could estimate how long it would take the district to work out a land swap deal, Hurst said he “couldn’t put a time frame on it.”

Under the current zoning plan, the district is free to build a school on the land. However, the acreage sits next to what will be a major Avista substation on a road with heavy truck traffic to and from McCain Foods, SVZ, Simplot and several other food processing firms.

That’s the reason Othello has proposed rezoning the land for light industry. The city seeks to rezone the land also to preserve — with the help of Adams County — an industrial corridor along the entire length of Lee Road from Route 17 west to North Broadway Avenue.

The city has been holding a series of public hearings for the past few months to discuss changes to the zoning code and comprehensive plan, with council members hoping to have a final vote on the proposed changes sometime in early February.

“I think it behooves us to work with the school district,” Mayor Shawn Logan said. “There is a significant public investment in that property.”

Logan reminded council members that the Othello School District donated an acre for a new reservoir, and that the city council should not get in the way of the OSD’s attempt to plan for its future.

“The right solution will come forward,” Logan said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].