Moses Lake parks plan includes new Longview park

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake city officials want to make some changes to Sinkiuse Square and build a new park in the Longview neighborhood. Those were the projects included in the city’s capital projects improvement plan for parks.  

City manager Rob Karlinsey said city officials think Sinkiuse Square, at the intersection of West Third Avenue and South Ash Street, may need some reconfiguring. 

“We have some events there, but we noticed that it is kind of underutilized. We think we can reconfigure it and kind of open it up a little bit better,” Karlinsey said.  

City officials don’t plan to rebuild the entire space, he said.  

“We think we can kind of move things back and configure the space so it’s more useful and inviting,” he said. “And we also want to put a splash pad there.”  

Any new water feature would follow the lead of the fountain already in place, he said. 

“All of the jets would be flush with the ground. That way, if you want to have an event or something, you could just turn it off,” he said.  

Karlinsey said a similar water feature in a town he worked in previously attracted people downtown.  

“We see it as much as an economic development thing as a parks thing,” he said.  

The goal would be to attract more people year-round, and the feature could be turned off in the fall, which would leave additional event space, he said.  

Any changes to Sinkiuse Square would be done in consultation with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, he said. 

While Moses Lake has a lot of park space, there’s not a lot in the Longview neighborhood, he said.  

“This is a neighborhood that doesn’t have close access to a park,” he said. “It’s a lower-income part of the city, and we feel like they could use a park there.”