Grant County waiting for new barn plans

EPHRATA — The Grant County Historical Museum is getting a new building to replace the barn destroyed during a 2009 fire.

The county is waiting for plans from H and H Builders, of Moses Lake, before starting the project to build a 60-foot-wide by 140-foot-long building.

The company bid roughly $314,000 to construct the new building.

A fire that started when volunteers were working on a vehicle in the barn destroyed the structure and artifacts inside.

Commissioner Richard Stevens said in a previous interview the insurance company is paying between $220,000 and $400,000 for the new structure.

Facilities Manager Vern Cummings said the county is waiting for the company to submit plans, before a building permit can be obtained.

“It’s pretty much a stock plan, but they still need to put it on the drawing board and bring it to a document that is acceptable to the building department of the city,” he said. “That’s what they’re doing now is prepping that.”

The building is a pre-manufactured shell and will be empty inside, Cummings said. The design of the inside of the building will be determined by the historical society.

“H and H will construct it and put the wood inside and do the siding and the carport and the concrete floor,” he said.

As soon as the county knows when the company has the pieces for the structure, the timeline for construction will start, Cummings said.

Museum Director Pat Witham is excited for the new building, saying the museum needs the storage space.

“We have donations in every feasible spot that has an inch of space,” she said. “We’ve gotten a lot of donations since the fire.”