Businesses hang in during construction

Merchant reactions mixed as project progresses

MOSES LAKE — As they watch basalt columns go up in Sinkiuse Square, downtown businesses are counting the days until the end of the construction period.

"They're getting very excited that it's nearing the end," Moses Lake Business Association Executive Director Sally Goodwin said. "It has impacted business. There's no doubt about that. We knew it would. But they have worked together as a unit and worked hard to maintain as much status quo as possible."

Businesses are looking for a wonderful holiday season, Goodwin noted.

"They're going to need it," she said.

Goodwin said some businesses have closed extra days or remain closed for more hours than typical.

"This hasn't helped them at all but that was a decision they made," she said. "By the end of this month, we know that things will be back together, and we're going to hit it hard."

A grand opening open house is planned from Nov. 16 to Nov. 18, with a tree-lighting event Nov. 17. Goodwin said trick-or-treating is planned from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 31. Another tree-lighting ceremony takes place Dec. 2, during the annual agriculture appreciation parade.

"That will be the first time for a lot of these people to be downtown," Goodwin said of the events. She notes some people have been downtown more to support the businesses.

Goodwin said initial concerns about the impact the construction would have on downtown merchants were correct.

"A few people panicked and really thought this was going to totally put them out of business, and it hasn't done that," she said. Goodwin points to 25 businesses who joined together in a construction-period promotion. "It could have if they weren't proactive, which they have been. (The project) has been beneficial to them. They had to work at it, they couldn't just sit back during the construction and say, 'Oh, I'll wait until it's all over with.' That doesn't work. They knew it wouldn't. I don't think any of them have done that."

City of Moses Lake Project Engineer Richard Law said things are moving very well on the project, which should finish around the end of November. The Ellensburg-based contractor MRM Construction has been working extra hours to keep on schedule.

"Right now we are basically on time," he said. "We had a little bit of problem with the 50-year-old water main that we were replacing. The old material was very fragile, and we had an unanticipated break, some things that cost us some time."

Law dispelled rumors that the width of the sidewalk was miscalculated.

"There will be two 12-foot wide travel lanes through the center," he said. "On each side of that will be a parallel parking lane that will meet Department of Transportation standards. There's been no mistakes."

At the crosswalk areas, the parking lanes have been eliminated and sidewalks widened, so that those locations will have 12-foot lanes, enabling pedestrians to cross at a very narrow area. The city council wanted to create a pedestrian-friendly walking area downtown, Law explained.

Law added some people incorrectly think the intersections will be roundabouts.

"It might be a semantics thing where on the Division Street and Third Avenue intersection, it's going to be a standard, four-way stop intersection," he said. The Ash Street and Third Avenue intersection will be another four-way stop, but at the center of the intersection will be a planter or traffic island holding the Rotary clock that used to be in the square. "It's not technically a roundabout because roundabouts have merge lanes, only this is going to be a four-way stop intersection with a traffic island in the middle."

Law said the city tries to be in close contact with the Moses Lake Business Association, attending regular meetings and answering questions, most of which are scheduling questions. Feedback has been positive overall, he added.

"Many of these business association people have been the ones that have been pushing for this project for many years, and so they are excited to finally see it happen," he said.

Crews are expected to lay asphalt on the first third of the project this week. Law said the intersection probably won't open until the asphalt has cured and signs and striping are in. The second two-thirds of paving will probably come the week of or after Halloween, he added.

Merchant response about the impact of the construction is mixed.

For store owner Sue Torrence, business far exceeded her expectations.

"I was hoping to do a certain dollar amount just to hang in there, and we've been doing great," she said. "People are actually coming down saying, 'Thank you for hanging in there,'" and they're supporting us. I am overwhelmed some days."

Torrence thought each business owner has their own little niche. Those that were busy before will still have their customer base, she said.

"That's what I've found: My same regular people and new ones too," she said. "And I think a lot of people are curious what's going on down here."

Pet store owner Eric Helvie said the construction hurt his business.

"We make a lot of our money by walk-in travel," he said, estimating that's been cut by at least two-thirds. "Nobody down here means nobody purchasing anything."

A lack of funding held up Helvie's opening of a new section of his store, but he thought diagonal pull-in parking and the opening of the Division intersection could be a part of the answer.

"It's common knowledge that this area, in general, business does not do as well in the summertime, and the area of August up through December is probably one of the biggest sales periods of the entire year," he said. "Instead of working on this project over the summer, when we're already at a slump, they took and worked it at the highest point of the year. Had they worked on it during the slump, it's like, OK, we would have all been able to weather that because we're already used to that, but now we had to weather a double whammy, and that really stung."

Helvie said several businesses relocated, and he came close himself.

If business stays slow for the rest of the construction period, he said, "it may kill us. It may be the final nail in our coffin. I don't want it to be, and we've taken every step we could to make this work, but it's hurting us."