The Enumclaw School District has officially made land available to sell to Ten Trail developer Oakpointe in order to fund a new elementary school.

The Board of Directors passed a resolution declaring the 43-acre plot “surplus” during the Oct. 21 meeting.

“Tonight represents the first real step forward toward the goal of building a new elementary school in Ten Trails,” Director Tyson Gamblin said at the meeting. “This is not a final vote. It’s the first formal step in what will continue to be a public, transparent process.”

The plan — so far at least — is to sell this plot to Oakpointe for $40 million. The actual value of the land is unknown, but Oakpointe CEO Brian Ross has said that the developer will pay fair market value.

The land was originally set aside by Oakpointe for the school district to build a high school — but that assumption was based on outdated student population growth data, and more recent projections show that Enumclaw High won’t reach capacity for at least the next decade.

However, ESD’s elementary schools are filling up quickly, and Black Diamond Elementary is already bussing dozens of students (at one point, up to 100) to schools further south.

That need for an additional elementary school in the Black Diamond area drove ESD to put forward a $253 million bond (which would have funded a new school in Enumclaw and Black, plus a new sports field and performing arts center) to residents in November 2023, but it failed abysmally with 75% of voters rejecting it.

The district declined to attempt another bond to fund construction of a Black Diamond school, but another bond in February 2023, which would have funded an Enumclaw-area school, failed, as did an April 2025 levy for “critical maintenance” across the district.

“…[O]ur voters have three times said ‘no’ to new taxes. We’ve heard that message loud and clear. This proposal gives us a way to build a new Black Diamond elementary, giving those students a local school they can call home, without raising local taxes,” Gamblin said. “That’s exactly what our community told us to do: be creative, be responsible, and don’t increase the burden on taxpayers.”

This deal, then, is expected to benefit both parties, as it will help ESD deal with overcrowding at its elementary schools and Oakpointe — which has experienced less-than-anticipated growth, in part due the lack of an elementary school — which would receive a public amenity to attract new Ten Trails residents as well as more land on which to build out.

However, $40 million will not be enough to fund construction of an elementary school, so Oakpointe is also financing a further $25 million as a loan, with 6% interest on withdrawn funds.

The current proposed agreement stipulates that ESD would only pay back the loan via mitigation fees that developers must pay when they build housing units in Ten Trails. This means that no other district funds will be used to pay back the loan.

Finally, Oakpointe is providing another $3 million, specifically for an all-weather soccer field and all-weather baseball field.

ESD is not required to pay back these funds, though the district and the city of Black Diamond would have to share the fields — the district gets priority on school days and events, while the city gets priority all other days.

ESD would also pay for operation and maintenance, but the cost will be shared by Black Diamond.

All in all, this is a highly unusual deal between a public entity and a private developer.

“This is a truly unique agreement we’ve been working through with the Enumclaw School Board. We’re not aware of any other examples where developers have provided funds for public facilities in this way – but this is logical, it benefits everyone, and it’s the right thing to do,” said Oakpointe spokesperson Tyler Pinchette. “Constructing a school on this empty, 12-acre parcel in the middle of Ten Trails will invigorate the community and provide a much-needed resource. And it will be another great selling point for this growing city.”

As mentioned by Gamblin, this is only a first step in selling the 43 acres, as the city of Black Diamond also has to review and approve the deal, which has not yet been approved by ESD or Oakpointe.

Further action could be expected in the next month or two, a school district lawyer has said; a public hearing on the release of interest in property is scheduled for Oct. 28.