Clatsop County agreed Wednesday to a $463,200 sale of nearly 8 acres in the North Coast Business Park in Warrenton to Columbia Memorial Hospital for a relocated and expanded care clinic.

County commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the sale. The clinic will be located on Ensign Lane a few hundred feet east of 19th Street.

The hospital opened a care clinic in the nearby Warrenton Highlands shopping center in 2013. In the first full year after it opened, the facility saw more than 6,500 visits, said Erik Thorsen, the hospital’s CEO. In 2017, that number climbed to more than 20,000.

“So as we watch the Warrenton community grow, we really believe our services and the need for our services will continue to grow,” Thorsen said.

Because the hospital is a nonprofit, it is exempt from property taxes. As a result, its bidding price was higher than others, and it will accept responsibility for any wetland mitigation costs, Clatsop County Manager Cameron Moore said.

The hospital will now look to pay off wetland mitigation costs and pursue a design for the care facility, Thorsen said. A timeline for when it will open has not been established.