By this fall, it appears higher learning will be available on the Sammamish plateau.

With a 6-1 vote, the Sammamish City Council authorized City Manager Lyman Howard to execute a signed memorandum of understanding with Central Washington University officials and move forward on an operating lease agreement for the property formerly occupied by Mars Hill Church.

Councilmembers Tom Odell and Ramiro Valderrama both called the move a long-time coming. Mayor Don Gerend said he was “enthusiastically” in support of the MOU for the 22.4-acre property, which the city purchased in March 2015 for $6.1 million.

“I am 100 percent excited about this and just the vision of getting higher education up here on the plateau for all of our 62,000 people,” Gerend said. “My son had to go to Bellevue College for Running Start and it disassociated himself with [his] high school. Here, the opportunities for the students to stay at home, be able to take Running Start, go back to the high school and get into the after-school activities, it’s just exciting.

“It’s exciting for continuing education, and quite frankly, Central Washington is so excited about it. They’re envisioning ending up with a four-year campus here and I can’t think of a better use of that property.”

Howard called the MOU a precursor to a longer-term lease agreement. In a brief overview of the parameters set by the MOU, Sammamish finance director Aaron Antin stated the lease was to be in place by March 21, with the final lease agreement coming back to the council for approval. Programming at the site is to begin in the fall of 2017. Along with Running Start, the university is expected to provide continuing education for adults, professional certifications and coursework that leads to baccalaureate or master’s degrees.

The initial lease term, Antin said, would be for three years with an option for a lease extension in five-year increments. The rent for the initial three-year term would be $60,000 per year.

Councilmember Tom Hornish was the dissenting vote. Hornish took issue with the MOU and the amount of financial return the city would theoretically see under the agreement, which Howard estimated to be a net of $20,000.

“I just can’t go along with the use of taxpayer money when we need money to do other things that I think the taxpayers would appreciate more so,” Hornish commented. “To have $6 million invested to get that type of return [is] just not good enough for me.”

Howard said there were escalating clauses in the MOU “encouraging” the university to purchase the building down the road.

“If they do not purchase [the building], there are substantial increases in the lease rate in future years,” Howard said.

Gerend noted that after the first three years, the base rent will raise a minimum of $60,000 annually.

“[There’s a] strong incentive for them to buy the property from us, get our money back and have what we had envisioned in the first place when we bought the property,” Gerend said.