Samaritan Healthcare to swap land

Irrigation district to move office for hospital expansion

MOSES LAKE — Three Columbia Basin entities moved closer to exchanging property to expand Samaritan Healthcare and relocate the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District watermaster office.

In April, Samaritan Healthcare, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District signed a memorandum of agreement to work together in finding a suitable replacement property and facility for the irrigation district. The current property, located at 514 S. Buchanan St., needs to be available to the hospital for expansion, explained district Manager Craig Simpson.

"It's going to be a land and property exchange and also the buildings necessary for the watermaster section," Simpson said.

The hospital would most likely use the property as parking, enabling further extension, Samaritan Vice President of Planning and Development Scott Campbell said when discussions first began in March 2006.

"The memorandum of understanding sets the process we're going to follow to eventually do the land exchange," Campbell said Tuesday. "It identifies which reports need to be done, it identifies an acceptable piece of property to be acquired and new buildings for the irrigation district need to be constructed."

Bureau Assistant Area Manager Bill Gray said efforts have been off and on as priorities for the different agencies shift around.

"We're back on it now, we've got the MOU signed between the three parties to lay out what we're going to be doing and now it's just a matter to kind of start working through that, get an idea of values and locations," Gray said. "This is kind of a triple win. It would be good for the hospital, good for Reclamation and good for the irrigation district."

Simpson said the entities originally looked at some existing facilities available to the east of Moses Lake to determine whether it could be remodeled or upgraded to suit the needs of the watermaster section.

"After looking at what was available, it was determined it may be more cost-effective to build from new on a separate parcel which may have no facilities or minimal facilities on it," he said. "It's part of the process, trying to determine where a piece of property which suits the watermaster section could be located, and then whether or not we can build a replacement facility for essentially the same cost of the appraised value of the Moses Lake watermaster section."

The district is trying to move the office out of downtown Moses Lake and away from residential areas to eliminate any potential problems, Simpson said, noting the district stores chemicals on the site.

"We just don't feel the irrigation district operations are really conducive to being in a residential setting," he said.

The new location would have to be some place centrally located to the watermaster section coverage area, he said. The district is eyeing the general area between Wheeler Road and North Frontage Road by Interstate 90 to about as far as Road N, Simpson said.

Campbell said the memorandum of understanding sets the process as lasting 24 to 36 months from April.

"The process has started, we feel good we're making progress but we've still got a long way to go," he said.

Simpson echoed Campbell, saying the project is still in its infancy.

"We're hopeful the process will go smoothly, but it's a pretty big project," Simpson agreed. "There are a lot of parts there that need to happen."

Simpson noted it still needs to be determined what kind of a budget the project is working on.

"All three entities are working fairly well together right now," he said. "Hopefully we can come to an agreement which works well for the district and the hospital, and has the bureau's blessing the meantime."