Vista Field's 92 acres and its airport have become a $286 million question for the Kennewick City Council.

Or is it $86 million?

A spirited workshop Tuesday saw two different scenarios but no decision.

The two-hour showdown featured a Kennewick businessman who desires to save the airport and numbers-crunching arguments disputing a consultant's report suggesting the air strip could be a rich field for developers.

The council will return to the issue in another workshop to which the Port of Kennewick commissioners and members of the Vista Field Task Force will be invited.

Seattle consultant Belt Collins, who was hired by the city to evaluate highest and best uses for the land owned by the Port of Kennewick, says the economic potential from closing the airport and allowing industrial, residential and commercial development could be $286 million.

The council had a first look Tuesday at the consultant's analysis, which examined four alternatives. The study said converting the land into a mix of development also could enrich the city's sales taxes by $1 million once development is at build-out in 2030.

But Carl Cadwell of Cadwell Laboratories claimed the consultant and city had overestimated the potential commercial and industrial growth by as much as 15 percent and inflated assumptions for development.