Latter-day Saints prepare to break ground on new Moses Lake temple

MOSES LAKE — Construction workers have put up a fence, hauled out machinery, and done some ground preparation work, but construction has not yet begun on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ new temple in Moses Lake.

“We have not issued building permits for the temple or the stake center,” said Kevin Myre, a building official with the city of Moses Lake, on Wednesday.

However, the church said in a news release it expects to break ground on the new temple in October.

Myre said the city was still reviewing the building permit for the proposed temple but was very close to completing its review of the building permit for the church’s new stake center.

“They are grubbing and moving some dirt around, and that’s outside the realm of a building permit,” Myre said. “Site prep is not covered under the building permit.”

In 2019, the church bought two parcels of land totaling around 17.19 acres between Yonezawa Boulevard and Interstate 90 with the intention of building both a 20,000-square-foot temple and a 17,000-square-foot meetinghouse.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints currently has a stake center — the local headquarters for the church overseeing several wards and meetinghouses — on Division Street.

“We’re not quite sure what we’re going to do with the current one,” said Ryan Tulley, a physician and president of the church’s Moses Lake Stake, on Wednesday.

The church has four meetinghouses in Moses Lake where 11 wards — or congregations — and a young single adult group worship, according to data available from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.