Moses Lake council approves variance for coffee shop

Concern over procedures and code enforcement voiced during Tuesday meeting.

MOSES LAKE — A downtown coffee house seeking to expand to allow drive-through customers cleared the first hurdle with the Moses Lake City Council during a hearing on Tuesday. Derek and Daphne Martinez, the owners of The Favored Farmhouse at 415 S. Alder St. near the corner of Alder Street and Fifth Avenue on the south edge of downtown, applied for a deviation from city code. The variance would allow them to put in a driveway with access to Alder Street with the intention of eventually putting in a drive-through window on the coffee house’s south side. Council members voted 5-0 to approve the deviation, with Council Member David Eck absent and Council Member Deanna Martinez recusing herself from the vote because of a series of email exchanges she had with the Martinezes, to whom she said she is not related.