Moses Lake withdraws fairgrounds appeal

Allows improvements to move ahead

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake City Council withdrew their State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) appeal to a sewer system proposed for the Grant County Fairgrounds.

Council approved the withdrawal last week.

The Washington State Department of Ecology Permit Unit Supervisor Giny Darrell said the permit to allow the septic system at the Grant County Fairgrounds was not officially denied yet but each entity was informed it would be.

Ecology is recommending the denial of the permit application because there are sewer hookups on three sides of the facility, she said. The sewer hookups belong to the City of Moses Lake. She said the best reasonable alternative would be to hook up to the city system rather than build a system at the fairgrounds.

In the past the Grant County Board of Commissioners have been hesitant to hook up to the city system because they would be required to annex into the city limits giving the city council power to remove livestock from the fairgrounds. The city council advised they would not remove livestock from the fairgrounds.

The withdrawal of the SEPA appeal allows for upgrades of commercial buildings, horse barns and other 4-H barns, Grant County Commissioner LeRoy Allison said. Without the approval of the septic system at the fairgrounds, the county is unable to make improvements to the restrooms. Kitchen facilities in some buildings will be moved outside. Due to the delay of the construction process brought by the city's appeal, the construction and improvements to other buildings is delayed, he said.

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, requested the city to withdraw their appeal during the council meeting so the fairgrounds could move forward with other improvements. She said if the city waited any longer, it could be too late for the construction to begin.

Citizen Rich Walpole questioned why the city will not allow the county to hook up to sewer services without annexation. He was concerned with the expenditure of funds for septic system since another utility source was close.

Councilmember Richard Pearce moved to withdraw the appeal and Councilmember Bill Ecret seconded.

Council approved the withdraw of the appeal.

The proposed system was an underground septic system connecting all restrooms at the fairgrounds, Allison said. Without the new system, nine old septic systems will continue to be used. He said the proposed septic system was designed to meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards and was to be an improvement to the aging infrastructure.

"That wasn't good enough for the City of Moses Lake," he said.

The proposed system would have pumped up to 14,500 gallons of sewage per day as approved by the Washington State Department of Health, Allison said. The proposed system was to be handled by Health, not Ecology, he said. Systems pumping more than 14,500 gallons of sewage per day are handled by the Department of Ecology.

"Moses Lake engineers went directly to the Department of Ecology to raise awareness, then Ecology stepped in," he said. "It's very frustrating when we're trying to improve one of the county's only parks."

Allison said Moses Lake benefits from the events brought to the fairgrounds area including the Washington State Potato Conference and other trade shows. The fairgrounds are used for those events and he hoped to create proper infrastructure to make the events on site so people didn't have to travel between the fairgrounds and Big Bend Community College.

"The city council seems to have lost sight of that," he said.

The fairground improvements were supposed to be completed by February but will not be completed until February 2009 due to the city's appeal, Allison said.

The SEPA Determination of Non-Significance was originally denied by the Moses Lake City Council because there wasn't enough information available on the design of the septic system.

Moses Lake City Council members met with Grant County engineering staff prior to withdrawing the appeal where they learned about the septic system.

Engineering staff advised there were seven underground holding tanks. It would pump up to 14,500 gallons of sewage per day over a five-month period during the peak season including fair time. The system would have been pumped over a period of time to not go over the daily gallon limit. The surface above the system would have been covered with concrete. It was expected to last at least 20 years based upon expected growth of the county.