The Moses Lake School Board approved moving forward with the potential sale of property located at the northwest corner of the intersection of West Valley Road and Paxson Drive during its Dec. 16 meeting.

“It’s basically being sold back to Grant County,” said Moses Lake School District COO Jeremy O’Neil. “We purchased it at a price of ($851,000), and the prior administration arranged a sale to Grant County at $1.2 million, so this resolution is the first step in the process.”

O’Neil said the next step in the process is to schedule a public hearing, which will be advertised prior to the event. Grant County commissioners will need to approve the purchase on their end. The process had been started in 2019, he said, but changes in state law related to governmental entities selling property to one another had caused a delay in selling the land. It had originally been purchased in anticipation of a school campus being placed there.

Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines said the county has been ready to move forward with the purchase of the land for some time. He added that changes to the administration at MLSD had led to delays.

“We’ve already held public meetings. We’ve already done a capital facilities (plan) and budget amendment. We stand ready to make that payment to the school district in the process, so it’s just kind of languished with the change in personnel,” Gaines said.

No response was received from Grant County officials regarding what the property may be used for.