Colville travel plaza rock sign to stay put

MOSES LAKE — A rock sign at the Colville Fuels Half-Sun Travel Plaza that is located in Moses Lake’s right-of-way will be staying where it is and will not be removed.

The Colville Fuels Half-Sun Travel Plaza was developed under the authorization of the U.S. Department of the Interior as a Tribal Trust Land. According to city documents, the project was not subject to review and approval by the city. A key feature of the project was landscaping, with a large landscaping stone/sign placed on a city right-of-way at the first entryway to the plaza.

The council was left with two options: authorize city staff to enter into a license agreement with Colville Fuels and let the rock remain in the city’s right-of-way or notify Colville Fuels their request to leave the rock in the right-of-way is denied and request it be removed. Colville Fuels, LLC Chief Operating Officer Chris O’Neil told the council Tuesday night the removal of the rock would be quite the undertaking for the tribe.

“At first glance it looks like it’s a rock that’s sitting on the ground right there. And if you look at it a little closer you’ll see that it’s actually cemented into that location,” O’Neil explained. “I think it would be a considerable effort to remove it from its concrete foundation and relocate it.”

Community Development Director Gilbert Alvarado told the council the placement of the rock does not present any safety risks to the public in terms of line of sight while entering or exiting the plaza.

The issue of the tribe building the plaza was a big issue in the community for a number of years. During Tuesday night’s meeting council member David Curnel said when residents first found out there was going to be a tribal truck stop in the city, there was a considerable public outcry against it. The council made the decision to put up all available roadblocks to hinder the plaza coming to the city. The council ultimately relented when they realized the city would not come out victorious in a court setting.

“Then you come to town, you compete against people who pay us taxes and you undercut them because of your tax situation and the ability that you have to do that. You balked at signing our MSA (Municipal Services Agreement) for months and months,” Curnel remarked. “You put up a huge sign that I have already had two complaints about (from) people who live just south of the residential area, that is just south of the truck stop, about how bright it is at night. And so I think there is a history here of what I would call not fair play.”

Curnel was in the minority among the four-member council Tuesday night. In his view the city should not allow the sign to remain at the location and it should become a code enforcement issue.

“I’ve been out there a couple of times and if I didn’t know, I wouldn’t realize that it was an issue. Because there really is no safety concern that I can see,” council member Don Myers remarked.

In a 3-1 vote the council decided to allow the sign to remain in the city’s right-of-way. If the council had chosen not to allow the rock to remain in the right-of-way, it would have become a code enforcement issue, and if there were no compliance by the tribe the city would have used all available legal remedies to remove the rock.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.