Policy board votes to sell county-owned Battleground building at fair market value

The Urban County Policy Board on March 9 recommended selling a county-owned building at 701 East Main Street in Battleground on the open market and directed staff to return with allocation recommendations for any proceeds.

Staff presented three options for the property, purchased with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds in 1993 and leased to Sea Mar since 2009: a direct sale to Sea Mar for $1 with a five-year restricted-use covenant; a sale at fair market value; or no change to the county’s ownership and lease arrangement. Rebecca Royce summarized previous staff findings, saying the county’s 2019 estimate for building rehabilitation was about $1.7 million and that the building’s assessed value is roughly $467,000. Royce also said Sea Mar had reported serving “over 900 clients each month with, with over 600 of those being in person.”

Public commenters raised concerns about whether the downtown site is the right use of a high-visibility property and asked whether a $1 sale with only a five-year use covenant would allow Sea Mar to sell and retain proceeds afterward. Darius Veregen asked directly whether a $1 transaction would permit Sea Mar to “sell the property and keep the full proceeds” after five years; staff said the board could require covenants and noted HUD had previously approved a direct sale under certain conditions but that legal language and conditions would be part of the closing process.

Michelle Shuster, Clark County director of Property/Facility Services, urged the board to act, saying delays allow the building to deteriorate and increase renovation costs. "Every day that the county does continue putting off making decision, that building's condition continues to worsen and deteriorate," she said.

Several board members said their priority is preserving services for North County residents but also noted that if Sea Mar can continue to provide WIC and related services from other Sea Mar sites (staff mentioned Hazeldale and Vancouver) the county could reallocate sale proceeds to local projects. The board voted to recommend a fair-market sale. The motion passed on a voice vote; the transcript does not record a roll-call tally.

On the proceeds, the board rescinded a previously approved $200,000 maintenance allocation related to the building and directed staff to present a recommendation for allocating sale proceeds once the sale is complete. Staff described options including a targeted RFA for Battleground projects, applying proceeds to contingency awards from the current round, or rolling funds into the next RFA depending on sale timing and HUD process requirements. Staff warned that proceeds would return to the CDBG program and that using them could affect the county’s HUD timeliness ratio if not managed within deadlines.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the fair-market sale process, coordinate required appraisals and county sale procedures, and return to the board with recommended allocations for sale proceeds and required contract or amendment language. The board and staff emphasized the need to guard timeliness to avoid possible reductions to future CDBG allocations by HUD.