Longview Tracts grant bid unsuccessful

City now looking at options for development sewer system

MOSES LAKE — Residents in one city neighborhood will have to a little longer for some much-needed improvements.

Moses Lake city officials have been notified that their quest has failed for a block grant that would have financed sewer connections in the Longview Tracts neighborhood, an area of town that has been a target for improvements by city officials in recent years.

The city was one of 40 to apply last year for a grant from the Community Development Block Grant Program, an annual grant that allows applicants to seek as much as $1 million for improvement projects. Only 15 projects were awarded the grant this year.

"This is very competitive," said Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski.

This was the second time the city had applied for the grant since Moses Lake annexed the Longview Tracts neighborhood from Grant County nearly a decade ago. The city annexed the neighborhood with the objective of bringing sewer to its residents, Gavinski said. Bringing curbs, gutters and sidewalks is also in the long-range plans for the city.

"One of the reasons that area annexed," Gavinski said, "was many residents wanted sewer service."

The city has been successful with block grants in the past, but city officials didn't expect an award for this project. While income levels in the Longview Tracts neighborhood qualify the area for a grant of this type, the city of Moses Lake as a whole sits above the low-to-moderate income standards required for the receipt of block grant funds. Despite exceeding the income limits, city Community Development Director Gilbert Alvarado said Moses Lake applied for the grant anyway, with hopes that if they were awarded, the improvements would benefit the city as a whole.

In its proposal, Moses Lake applied for $819,000 for sewer connections for the Longview Tracts neighborhood, which would have paid for the connections for the slightly less than 450 residents of the neighborhood. The grant funding under this plan would have only gone toward sewer connections, and the price tag for bringing the sewer main through the neighborhood would have gone to the city of Moses Lake.

City officials are now awaiting direction on what to do next with the project. Alvarado said the city can re-apply for the block grant again this fall. But other options are also on the table, like a public works trust fund loan the city could take out to pay for the improvements.

At this point, Gavinski said the city has to decide whether they want to make the improvements with or without the grant. With sewer would eventually come the curb gutter and sidewalk improvements. Those improvements would also lead to improvements to the streets in Longview Tracts.

"I think the city has an interest to see that those streets are installed," Gavinski said.