Two Moses Lake annexations under consideration

MOSES LAKE — Two separate property owners have requested annexation into the city of Moses Lake, and Moses Lake City Council members have agreed to consider the requests. Vivian Ramsey, interim community development director, said considering the request does not mean the properties will be annexed. 

“At this point in the annexation process, if you’d like to see this annexation continue, you need to decide whether you’re going to accept the proposed boundary of the annexation or modify it, decide if you want to keep the proposed zoning and to determine if the property will assume the indebtedness of the city,” Ramsey explained.  

One parcel, 11230 Nelson Road, is the site of the former Edwards Nursery. It's owned by MVP Homes, said Dan Leavitt of Western Pacific Engineering, representing the applicants.  The second property is 1258 Road F NE in Mae Valley, behind The Links at Moses Pointe. The owners are Bob Friese, Trish Ferguson and Jake Sligar, according to Seth Bishop of Columbia Northwest Engineering, representing the applicants. It’s about 3.5 acres.  

Leavitt said MVP Homes wants to add city water and sewer and change the connection to East Nelson Road. The owners are proposing to add a road that would connect June Avenue with the existing Moses Lake Avenue, which runs past Groff Elementary School. 

The owners asked that the property be zoned R-2, which mandates medium density and allows for a mix of housing, from single-family homes to fourplexes. Leavitt said that it matches its existing zoning. 

Eventually, he said, the owners want to rezone it as commercial property. 

“The owners would like to have some kind of mixed use. Some residential, but also some commercial,” Leavitt said. 

The C-1 zoning allows for a variety of commercial uses, including restaurants and gas stations, professional offices and day care facilities, among other things. Parks and playgrounds are allowed uses, as well as storage and warehousing facilities. Multi-family housing is allowed in some circumstances.  

“With all the residential around it?” asked council member Mark Fancher. 

Leavitt said the property owners planned to ask for the C-1 designation. 

“With this use, there would be allowance for residential and commercial (uses),” he said. “There would be some mixed use.” 

The property across Nelson Road is zoned as commercial, he said, and is the site of an apartment complex.  

Ramsey said if council members wanted to continue consideration of the proposal, they could accept the initial request with the existing zoning and consider any requests for a zoning change from the applicants later. Whether or not to grant a zoning change request would be up to the council.  

The Road F Northeast property is across the street from existing residential housing, and Ramsey said the property owners are asking for R-1 zoning, which is single-family housing. That would match the existing zoning of the property across the street. Council member Don Myers said that adding that property would make for odd-looking city limits.  

“I have a problem with the boundary. Our city limits boundary is quite – unorthodox,” he said. 

That is close to the limit of the city’s urban growth boundary, Myers said, and anything outside the UGB cannot be annexed into the city. 

With the request to annex petitions accepted, city officials will look at the ability of the city to provide services to the properties and review the economic impacts of annexing the properties.  

The annexation process requires two separate resolutions, according to RCW 35.10.217. The first accepts the application for annexation, while the second resolution approves the annexation itself. A public hearing is required before the annexation is approved.  

    A piece of property on East Nelson Road, formerly the Edwards Nursery, is one of two parcels where the owners have requested to be annexed into Moses Lake.