ESD relinquishes interest in land for Oakpointe, approves two replacement levy measures for upcoming election

Published 9:00 am Thursday, December 4, 2025

There was a fair bit of action with the Enumclaw School District last week.

First, the school board amended its School Mitigation Agreement with Ten Trails Developer Oakpointe — a crucial step in selling a plot of land in Black Diamond to fund the construction of a new elementary school.

Second, the district placed two replacement levy measures onto the February 2026 special election ballot.

Here’s how all three items will affect the near future of the Plateau and local education.

MITIGATION AGREEMENT AMENDMENT

Known officially as the “First Amendment to the Amended and Restated Comprehensive School Mitigation Agreement,” the change comes down to ESD releasing its interest in a 40 acre parcel of land to Oakpointe for $40 million to fund the construction of a 550-plus student elementary school.

It should be noted the values of the land, according to attorney Denise Stiffarm from Pacifica Law Group, who represented the district in negotiations with the developer, is significantly less than $40 million, she said at the Nov. 24 board meeting.

Additionally, the developer is able to use this newly-acquired land for residential purposes, but not for building any additional homes.

But since $40 million is not nearly enough to build an adequately large school, Oakpointe is also financing $25 million for the project, to be repaid via mitigation fees.

This is a highly unusual agreement, as developers typically do not provide funds for public facilities in this fashion. That said, Oakpointe has a vested interest in this project as well.

“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,” Oakpointe spokesperson Tyler Pichette said in a past email when the amendment was first introduced to the ESD school board. “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.”

Oakpointe will also providing an additional $3 million specifically for one all-weather baseball field and one all-weather soccer fields.

ESD would not be required to repay Oakpointe for these funds. However, the city of Black Diamond and ESD would have to share the fields — the district gets priority on school days and events, while the city gets priority all other days.

Finally, the district would also release its interest in an adjacent auxiliary site in exchange for another.

REPLACEMENT LEVIES

Two replacement levies will be appearing on local ballots for the February 2026 special election.

One is the Education Programs & Operations levy; the other, a Instructional Technology Improvements Levy.

The EP&O levy, formerly called the Maintenance & Operations levy, is up for renewal every four years. According to the district, it “bridges the gap between what the state provides… and the actual cost of running schools.”

In recent years, this levy revenue has made up around 16% of the district’s total operating budget, making it the far more financially consequential of the two replacement levies being proposed.

The tech levy has helped fund various tech improvement and maintenance projects across the district for the last 13 years, and has been up for renewal every six years.

It’s important to note that these are not new property taxes, and the district estimates that the tax rates will not increase if the measures are passed.

That would leave the EP&O levy with a tax rate of $1.74 per $1,000 in assessed property value; the tech levy, 28 cents per $1,000 APV.

For a home valued at $600,000, the combined levies would result in a $1,212 tax bill.