City holds hearing vital to FARM II

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, February 21st, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – The Pendleton City Council holds its regular meeting today (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. A public hearing and possible vote are scheduled that will help pave the way to making Blue Mountain Community College’s FARM II a reality.

The council will be deciding whether to turn over the property it owns in the area west of the Pendleton Convention Center. That property, combined with property owned by Round-Up, will become the future home of the facility which will include an indoor rodeo arena as well as classroom space.

The city will be turning over the land to Round-Up Holdings LLC, which will then lease the property to BMCC for at least 50 years. BMCC has received state funding as well as support from the city, the Pendleton Round-Up, Umatilla County, the Port of Umatilla, and the InterMountain Education Service District to develop FARM II.

The college has approved a design and build contract with Bouten Construction of Richland, Wash. Site preparation is expected to begin this spring. Construction is scheduled to start after the 2023 Pendleton Round-Up.

The drawing is a conceptual rendering of FARM II issued before funding was obtained for the project. We will publish Bouten’s design when it becomes available.