Trading Greenspace for Greenbacks: Developer Proposes Plan to Preserve Leslie Canyon

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By Chelsea Kopta

Summary

There's a new plan to save one of the last little pockets of untouched land in Richland. And it's not by a preservation group. Believe it or not, it's a developer.

Story Published: Nov 12, 2009 at 6:16 PM PST

RICHLAND, WA -- It's not everyday a home builder and grass roots group meet eye to eye. But that's exactly what developer Kurk Watts plans to do. He's working with several city groups to preserve one of the last little pockets of undeveloped land in Richland.

"It would be nice to have untouched areas that people could walk along the creek and so it was an opportunity that I thought might work for both of us," Watts told Action News.

As most plans go it didn't start off that way. Originally, Watts planned to plow down his 15 acres of land in Leslie Canyon for homes, until one of his old high school coaches with ties to the Tapteal Greenway Association approached him with an idea: sell it to preserve it.

"So I hemmed and hawed and said maybe if everything works out," Watts said.

An idea would come years later. Watts went to City of Richland with a proposal for a a land swap: three acres at Leslie Canyon for roughly four acres in Horn Rapids.

"Do you think that would be a win-win?" Action News asked. "Yeah, I think so," he said.

"It would be a nice north-south connector which we don't have in south Richland," Richland Parks and Recreation Director Phil Pinard said.

Richland Parks and Recreation reps had been eyeing the land with visions of a soft-surface trail that could span miles. Watts' property could be the start of that trail.

"It could be if we get it all the way. We eventually want to have access from Claybell Park through Columbia Park Trail," Pinard said.

Of course, maps shows building a trail would hit physical barriers like cutting through the golf course and streets. But Pinard said a bigger deal-breaker is cost.

"It would be a nice trail to have. Would it be real necessary and a real need? That's what we're determining," he said.

The land for both Leslie Canyon and Horn Rapids area are currently being appraised. In the past, land in these parts has gone for tens of thousands and it's that final price tag which will determine if the city or Taptela purchase the land. Ideally, Watts hopes he'll break-even on the swap. But it's a risk, he said, he's willing to take.

"It's just another venture," Watts said. "If it goes, it goes. If it doesn't? No big deal."

City leaders said a formal decision won't likely be made for a month or two.