Owners look to annex land

Process in motion that could affect more than 100 acres near country club

MOSES LAKE — A few area landowners looking for future water and sewer service for their land have started a process that could lead to the annexation of more than 100 acres into the Moses Lake city limits.

The land, which sits south of Interstate 90 and west and north of the Moses Lake Golf and Country Club, is currently included in unincorporated Grant County. The annexation process is one of three in the works with the City of Moses Lake, and the Moses Lake City Council has directed city staff to draft a petition for annexation to continue the process.

At their meeting July 12, the council accepted a notice of intent to commence annexation proceedings, based on a recommendation from the Moses Lake Planning Commission. Annexation is one method for city growth, and Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski said that growth often comes with a landowners desire for the water and sewer service offered by the city.

"The city has water and sewer to offer," Gavinski said, adding that the service is usually the reason property owners wish to be annexed.

That water and sewer service is one reason John Fetterolf said his clients are looking toward annexation. Fetterolf is a professional engineer with Hopper, Dennis and Jellison Consulting Engineers out of Pasco, and is representing the Kunze Farms Investment Company in the annexation process. The Vancouver company is one of two landowners who have commenced annexation with the city.

"We have a property that we're looking to develop in the future, into a residential subdivision," Fetterolf said.

The Kunze Farms property is the portion of the land to the west and north of the country club. Fetterolf said his clients are trying to adjust lot sizes, and one way to do that is through water and sewer service. The Kunze farms request was originally slated without the land south of I-90, but the annexation request would not have been continuous with the Moses Lake city limits without that property, Fetterolf said, and the request has since included the annexation request portion south of I-90.

Fetterolf said his office is at the point in the annexation process where they are awaiting city staff to prepare a petition of annexation. The whole process could take three to four months Gavinski estimated, depending on questions had by the Grant County Boundary Review Board who will hear the request later in the annexation process. This annexation is one of a handful being discussed by the city of Moses Lake. The city and county have been in early stage talks about annexation of the Grant County Fairgrounds, although no annexation proceedings have yet begun. The city also has two other active annexation requests in the works other than the Kunze farms request, Gavinski said; one of those requests is a small parcel on the south side of Interstate 90, the other is a parcel in the Cascade Valley.

The Kunze Farms annexation itself creates a "fishhook" around the Moses Lake Golf and Country Club and properties that surround the country club. Pamp Maiers is one of the owners of the country club, and he said he is willing to meet with Kunze Farms about the company's annexation request, but he said the two haven't had time yet to meet.

The city, Gavinski said, has not received a request from the country club or the landowners around it. Gavinski said the "fishhook" type annexation request is not always an ideal one, but is one that occasionally does happen.

"It's just the way property gets annexed sometimes," Gavinski said, "based upon the desires of the property owner."