Yelm working toward agreement with Blue Fern Development on 640-acre property, financial responsibilities

As the City of Yelm works toward a development agreement with Blue Fern Development over a 640-acre property, managed by the Redmond-based business, Mayor Joe DePinto said the city is carefully navigating the expensive and expansive process.

DePinto, on Monday, June 22, told the Nisqually Valley News that the city is actively negotiating toward a development agreement with Blue Fern Development.

He noted that Bob Stowe, with Stowe Development and Strategies, recently “came on board” and has helped the City of Yelm navigate through the complexities of this development agreement. The mayor claims that Stowe has a lot of experience in this field of work, working with tax incremental funding.

“He’s worked with these types of funding options that we’re exploring right now,” DePinto said. “Just to be clear, that incremental taxing district is only going to be on those people who come to Yelm. The new growth is supposed to pay for the growth, not the current residents. What we’re funding through that incremental tax is mainly the Southern Loop. That’s been the priority for my administration — making sure we do this the right way and making sure infrastructure is in place before these houses get put up.”

That infrastructure, according to DePinto, includes the proposed Southern Loop, previous water tower additions, parks and recreational spaces, sewer lines and other central infrastructure that needs to be in place before housing can be developed.

Additionally, DePinto said the City of Yelm is negotiating with Blue Fern Development as to which entity will be paying for what.

“That’s where we’re at right now. Bob Stowe is helping through a lot of this. It’s part of the negotiation phase for the development of the 640 acres,” DePinto said.

DePinto said he would like to see as much of the Southern Loop completed as possible, noting that’s the biggest priority of this project from his administration’s perspective.

While the normal Yelm Loop is slated to be constructed — which DePinto believes will help a lot with traffic congestion in the city — DePinto said there needs to be another southern bypass road built. He noted in addition to the Southern Loop, he envisions a road constructed that goes behind Prairie Elementary School and Safeway to connect near Walmart.

As the City of Yelm and Blue Fern Development get closer to finalizing plans, DePinto said there will be opportunities for the public to comment on the agreement.

“We’ll have more public comments. We’ll have more city council meetings,” DePinto said. “The city council still has to approve a lot of the stuff here too. Every step that we go, there’s milestones. Both the city and Blue Fern Development have to agree upon moving forward. If it doesn’t work out for us or for them, we walk away or they walk away.”

DePinto claimed that he and the City of Yelm want to ensure this project meets and aligns with the vision of Yelm residents, while also ensuring that growth and sustainability of the project itself is sustained.

“This is a project we’re going to be doing for 10, 20 years,” DePinto said. “These houses aren’t going to go up tomorrow. It’s going to take years and years, potentially decades, for the whole thing to be put up. We need to make sure we do it right so future residents don’t have another Yelm Loop situation where it’s worked on for decades.”