Planning department realignment discussed

EPHRATA — The Grant County commissioners visited Ephrata City Hall Wednesday, spending two hours discussing a wide range of topics with city officials.

The commissioners, LeRoy Allison, Cindy Carter and Richard Stevens, decided earlier this year to visit the cities and towns of Grant County to discuss issues important to those communities.

The commissioners first discussed effects of a February realignment of the county's planning department.

Dave Nelson, county fire marshal and head of the building department, is now overseeing the planning department, too. Former planning director Scott Clark, who was unhappy with the realignment, resigned.

The realignment was necessary because the planning department was plagued by delays processing paperwork and was not meeting the county's standards for customer service, Stevens said in February.

The planning department is supposed to handle individual land-use applications, zoning reviews, shoreline permits, environmental reviews and sign-off for building permits.

The planning department is now more efficient and continuing to improve, the commissioners assured city officials at Wednesday's meeting.

"If it's not working better, you need to tell us," Stevens said.

In an unrelated issue, the commissioners and Ephrata Mayor Chris Jacobson agreed more must be done to crack down on residents, in the county and city, who are accumulating illegal amounts of junk on their property.

"It sounds like we have similar issues, it's just on a different scale," Bruce Reim, Ephrata's mayor pro-tem, told the commissioners.

The county's code enforcement officer is citing residents regularly for the apparent violations, the commissioners said. The existing ordinances were written to prevent accumulations of junk, such as old cars.

But judges are dismissing the tickets in court on minor technicalities, Allison said.

Authorities should determine the worst four or five violators of the ordinances and go after them, discouraging others in the process, Allison said.

The final issue discussed was the future prospect of having a NASCAR-ready speedway in Grant County.

Racetrack developer International Speedway Corp. (ISC) has for now abandoned efforts to build a track in Western Washington after encountering stiff opposition from officials there and resistance at the state Legislature.

A proposed racetrack near Bremerton, Wash., would have cost $368 million. ISC is still searching for a location for a racetrack in Washington, but has not disclosed where it's considering.

Some in Grant County, including the Moses Lake City Council and Mayor Ron Covey support having a NASCAR racetrack here.

The Ephrata City Council voiced similar support for NASCAR in the county earlier this month, instructing city staff members to gather additional information.

Still, the city council has questions about how the track would be paid for.

Ephrata City Councilmember Ben Davis questioned on Wednesday whether the county could provide security for a massive racetrack.

Along with Jacobson, city councilmembers attending the meeting with the commissioners included: Davis and Reim, Kathleen Allstot, Steve Lovitt and Christine Youngberg. Former Ephrata Mayor Les Parr also attended the meeting.