Moses Lake revises annexation

Three acres outside of Urban Growth Area

MOSES LAKE - Approximately three acres of property was almost annexed into Moses Lake that was not within the Urban Growth Area.

Council unanimously approved to remove the acreage from the annexation Oct. 9.

The nearly 384-acre annexation located in the Wheeler Corridor referred to as the REC Solar Grade Silicon Annexation includes property from REC, Guardian Industries, National Frozen Foods and the state Department of Natural Resources.

The invalid acreage involved two separate pieces of land included with the annexation, Community Development Director Gilbert Alvarado said. The properties accidentally included are located near Wheeler Road and Road N Northeast and belong to National Frozen Foods and the Wheeler Water Association.

Alvarado said the Grant County Planning Department made a request for the City of Moses Lake to resubmit the annexation to the Boundary Review Board who found the mistake. The review board checks submitted annexations to make sure they are acceptable.

"I've already indicated to the county, we consider the annexation valid," he said. "We're not doing this over."

Alvarado said the review board had to work hard to locate the mistakes and he didn't think it was necessary to resubmit the annexation to start the process over.

Councilmember Bill Ecret moved to accept the corrected annexation request. Councilmember Jim Liebrecht seconded the motion.

The annexation was adopted on the first reading and deemed an emergency, which makes a second reading of the amended ordinance unnecessary.