Controversial property annexed into Ephrata

EPHRATA — Ephrata is annexing a 0.73-acre piece of land at the center of a debate about whether state law was followed.

The city council unanimously approved a request by property owner Larry Lenssen to bring the land into the city Wednesday.

The owner asked the city to annex the land after Grant County denied a permit to allow a house on the property. Planners noted the land was inside the urban growth area (UGA), and needed to be annexed before it could be built on. The UGA is the area the city can expand into.

An adjacent property was annexed into the city in 1994. The county planners consider the 0.73 acre piece of land part of the larger piece, but it wasn’t included on the original annexation request.

A group of Ephrata homeowners challenged the annexation, claiming the UGA boundary was redrawn by a former Grant County employee without taking it to a legislative body. There are no records about why the decision was made.

Glenn Chamberlain, an annexation opponent, said at a February Boundary Review Board hearing the boundary was established in 1999 after receiving input from county and city legislative bodies and residents.

“That’s why we should have planning commissions and that’s why we have city councils, who hold public meetings and public hearings is to get the public’s wish and the public’s desire, prior to making ordinances  and RCW’s,” he said.