School Board members voted Tuesday night to authorize district staff to execute an agreement to buy a 40 acres of agricultural land for $1.15 million at 23009 70th Ave., south of 224th Street East, across from the Graham Fire Station.

The purchase agreement, already signed by owner Linda Crate, contains a provision to keep alive the memory of her son, Spanaway Lake High graduate Casey Crate. The district agrees to name a future facility “of significance” on the site in honor of Casey Crate, a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant killed in Iraq on Memorial Day 2005, said Rob Van Slyke, the district’s executive director of operations.

Art Crate Field, the stadium next to Bethel High School, was named after Casey Crate’s grandfather, who owned the former Loveland Mutual Light Co., Linda Crate said.

Linda Crate said she dropped her original asking price of $1.75 million on condition that the district name some facility at the site after her son.

“I just want to honor him, and that’s where he lived” for a couple of years, said Crate, who now lives in Spanaway. “It would be nice if it was in my lifetime.”

Linda and her ex-husband, Arthur “Rocky” Crate Jr., received the land from his father, Art, and mother, Mable Crate, as a wedding present in 1975. Now at age 65, she said she doesn’t want the headache of handling such a large piece of property.

District officials aren’t yet certain whether an athletic facility, the school itself or part of the school would be named after Crate, Van Slyke said, noting that the School Board must observe district policy governing the naming of facilities.

District administrators figure it won’t need the school for perhaps 15 years or longer and would have to pass another bond to finance construction. But they wanted to “bank” land while large sites are available, Van Slyke said.

Funds for the land will come from the district’s 2006 $175 million bond measure, which set aside $9 million for land for a future high school.

District officials thought that would be the amount needed to buy land for a high school in the northern reach of the district – in the Frederickson area – where growth is anticipated. But after searching the past couple of years, staff were unable to find affordable large parcels without wetland restrictions, Van Slyke said.

After rethinking the issue, they determined that land south of the urban growth boundary, where the Graham site is located, is less costly and could accommodate a sizable portion of students if school attendance boundaries were redrawn.

The district must also seek to change the land from its “rural farm” designation to a zone that allows schools.

The property is open land, except for a residence. The agreement allows the current renter to live there for 90 days after closing in exchange for maintaining the property. Once the district gains control of the property, it plans to use the site for an agricultural education program.

The $1.15 million purchase price falls between the district’s commissioned appraisal of $945,000 and the owner’s appraisal of $1.75 million, Van Slyke said. The agreement also calls for the district to pay about $26,000 in taxes for removing the land from an agricultural tax program.

The remaining money that the district had planned to spend on land for a high school will likely be used to buy parcels around elementary schools and land for other future schools, and to cover higher-than-expected construction costs, Van Slyke said. State law doesn’t allow the construction bond money to be used on general fund expenses, such as salaries or textbooks.

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694