The Hermiston School District could spend up to $3 million to
purchase the Umatilla County Fairgrounds.

Monday night, the district’s Board of Education unanimously
authorized interim Superintendent Wade Smith to begin negotiations
to purchase the property from Umatilla County. The authorization
does not guarantee an agreement will be reached, but it gives Smith
the opportunity to offer the county up to $3 million from available
bond funds to acquire the 28-acre site.

The purchase has been discussed as part of an ongoing process to
develop the proposed Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center, a
multi-use facility that would be located near the Hermiston
Municipal Airport. If the EOTEC plans come together, the site would
be the new home of the Umatilla County Fair and Farm-City Pro
Rodeo.

The school district’s purchase of the 28-acre Umatilla County
Fairgrounds site was listed in an events center memorandum of
agreement signed in November by representatives of all five
stakeholders: Umatilla County, the City of Hermiston, the Hermiston
School District, the Farm-City Pro Rodeo and the the Umatilla
County Fair.

That agreement did not include an estimated sale price for the
fairgrounds but said the purchase would include 28 acres of
property, in-ground and above-ground utilities, wells and water
rights. The agreement also mandated the district to provide the
county the potential to lease the site until 2016, if needed, and
said the purchase price of the fairgrounds site will go toward
development of the new events center, a facility with an estimated
$21 million price tag.

The district has had an ongoing interest in the fairgrounds
property, which is adjacent to the Hermiston High School campus.
HHS was renovated and reopened in 2002. During a construction bond
campaign in 1998, the district said the current high school
facility could serve up to 1,600 students. Through creative
scheduling, officials upped that capacity estimate to 1,750.

In the 2010-11 school year, Hermiston High School’s enrollment has
been about 1,450 students, but at a growth rate of 50 students per
year, Hermiston High School would hit its expanded capacity in
2017.

To meet that demand, the district has considered three primary
options: construct a “growth annex” off site; construct a larger
high school on a new site; or acquire adjacent land to expand the
campus.

“We believe the purchase of the fairgrounds property at this price
makes sound financial and programming sense for our community,”
Board Chairman Phil Hamm said in a district press release. “Without
additional property to expand the high school campus to meet
anticipated student populations, we were faced with alternatives
representing staggeringly high costs for our taxpayers.”

District officials will now meet with Umatilla County officials to
discuss negotiations over the next few weeks, as well as
communication with other affected groups, such as the Fair Board
and the Hermiston Senior Center, which is located on the
fairgrounds.

Property negotiations would include a five-year lease option for
both the fair and the senior center to continue to use the current
facilities.

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