Jefferson County is hoping to buy a 14.4-acre property in Port Townsend to build housing for the homeless, and the proposed campus would “include a shelter and full wrap-around services,” according to county officials.

The land is located on the south side of West Sims Way just east of Mill Road.

County commissioners met Monday to talk about a letter of intent to buy the land for the homeless housing project.

In their unveiling of the proposal this week before county commissioners, officials noted that Jefferson County has an “intractable homeless problem” that was made worse by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Homeless people have been staying at the county fairgrounds in Port Townsend since last year, resulting in continuing complaints from those who live in the adjacent residential neighborhoods.

The land near West Sims Way has been listed for sale by John L. Scott Real Estate, with an asking price of
$1.495 million.

The property has a market value of $316,308, according to the Jefferson County Assessor’s Office. It is owned by Pacific Funding, FPH Land and Winchester Investment Corp. of Edmonds.

Jefferson County hopes to grant funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to pay for the property. Officials expect the proposal to fit with provisions of the federal COVID-19 funding law because the project is considered infrastructure.

The concept for the homeless campus was developed by Cherish Cronmiller, executive director of OlyCAP.

County officials have prepared a “letter of intent” to buy the property, which will give the county 60 days to finalize the purchase.

Representatives from the three corporations that own the property signed off on the letter of interest late last week.

Officials said the letter will allow the county to complete its “due diligence” on the purchase, which would include an appraisal by a certified appraiser and discussions with Port Townsend building officials.

The term sheet attached to the proposed letter of intent includes a purchase price of $1.495 million.

Closing of the sale would happen by Dec. 1 or sooner, according to the term sheet.

County officials met early last week in a private executive session to talk about the potential purchase of real estate.

Interim County Administrator Mark McCauley told commissioners at their meeting earlier this week that the property had development constraints due to a critical aquifer area on the land.

“Roughly half of the parcel is buildable we believe,” McCauley said.

Still, he noted that a housing project in Port Townsend had 44 units on a half acre.

He asked commissioners to think about what was possible on the property even if only 8 acres of it could be developed.

“Imagine what we could put there,” he said.

Commissioner Greg Brotherton said the letter of intent would give the county time to talk about potential infrastructure needs.

The cost of the property is also substantial, he said.

“It will be a substantial outlay,” Brotherton said.

“This is not a cheap piece of land,” he added. “Not that there are any cheap pieces of land anymore.”

Still, the property has potential. County officials also noted that it is buffered from Sims Way by a greenspace property owned by the city of Port Townsend, and nearly surround by the mill on other sides.

Commissioner Kate Dean raised concerns that the letter of intent included the purchase price.

“I certainly don’t want to be locked into a price that has not been negotiated before we have an appraisal,” Dean said.

Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Philip Hunsucker said the language in the letter of intent documents did not commit the county to the price listed.

Commissioners then voted unanimously to approve the letter of intent.