Moses Lake homeowner opposed parking ordinance
Moses Lake added a lane to Canterbury Lane eliminating parking from the road.
MOSES LAKE - A Moses Lake homeowner asked the city to reconsider part of an ordinance, saying his tenants won't have a place to park.
Jason Hall spoke to the city council during a recent meeting about changes to parking on Canterbury Lane.
The changes were part of an ordinance amending parking regulations in the city. It deleted some sections, moved some restricting parking to the correct category, and added some places where people weren't allowed to park.
One of the places was where Canterbury Lane intersects with Wheeler Road. Municipal Services Director Gary Harer explained the city added a turning lane, allowing people to turn either right or left onto the road.
"This new change will no longer allow my tenants of the duplex to park on the street," Hall wrote in a letter to the city council. "The 'no street parking' affects me because there is not (and since 1953 has never been) a curb cut to allow my tenants to park on my property."
Hall asked the city to consider cutting the curb to allow his residents to park on the property, he wrote.
"The reasons that I feel that this is a reasonable request is based on the fact that a majority of the increased traffic at this intersection is due to the approval of additional businesses and expansions of businesses like the hospital, the Moses Lake Community Health Clinic, Grant Mental Healthcare," he wrote.
He continued, stating he is in favor of growth, but doesn't feel the changes should negatively impact the surrounding properties, causing them financial hardship or affect their property value.
Harer said the city added the lane to improve safety at the intersection. Traffic backs up at the intersection since people are waiting to take a left-hand turn onto Wheeler Road. The intersection now has a left-only lane and a right-only lane.
"Sometimes people get very impatient and sometimes the car goes before it should," he said. "That's one cause of accidents there. Some of the cars there were getting over in that parking lane to take a right," he said. "So we put some temporary striping down. We got a lot of positive response to that."
City Manager Joe Gavinski explained the area of the city was annexed in 1954 with the buildings in place. The city doesn't have a plan filed for the property.
"We have no building permit file, neither does Grant County. So we have no history as to why no curb cut was required there in the first place," he said. "We're assuming that is the way we got it."
Gavinski said an agreement might have existed when the property was constructed, allowing people to use the curb cut on the neighbor's property to access the lot.
"That is why we're pretty insistent on holding the standard when we deal with something, so we don't have to come in and clean up a mess like this," Mayor Jon Lane said.
Hall explained he was recently informed his tenants can't use his neighbor's curb cut anymore.
When Lane asked if street parking was a public space, Gavinski answered it was public space.
"There is no individual right to parking in front or the side or down the street, you just park where you can, when you can," he said.
Councilmember Brent Reese asked if the owner would be responsible for the cost of cutting the curb.
Gavinski said traditionally the property owner is responsible for the cost, and the city hasn't ever paid for expanding a curb cut in a situation similar to Hall's.
Harer estimated it would cost about $3,000, depending on the contractor, and price of the materials.
Reese said it seemed like Hall's best option was expanding the existing curb cut on the neighbor's property so it extended to his property.
"That's the only thing that I can think that can happen here," he said. "You're going to have to take a bite in the shorts."
Reese and Councilmembers Richard Pearce, Bill Ecret, David Curnel and Mayor Jon Lane approved the ordinance without changing it or funding a curb cut. Councilmember Karen Liebrecht opposed it. Councilmember Dick Deane was not present.
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