EPHRATA — A section of farmland near Moses Lake was attractive to the Grant County Public Utility District in part because it allowed the PUD to avoid what might have been expensive environmental mitigation.  

Utility district commissioners approved the purchase of 159 acres at the intersection of Kittelson Road and Road L Northeast on Oct. 8. The PUD paid $10.145 million for 159 acres. 

Commission Chair Tom Flint said the site provided some advantages because of its location. It’s also farm ground under cultivation, and Flint said that too was an important consideration. 

The Eastern Washington desert is classified as shrub-steppe, and property that meets the undisturbed shrub-steppe designation is subject to mitigation. Mitigation can include buying additional undisturbed property to replace land being developed, and Flint said commissioners took the possible cost of that into consideration when looking for property. 

“When you consider that, you’re better economically to pay the assessed value,” Flint said. 

And it’s in a good spot, he said. 

“That location is really good for our utility,” Flint said. “It’s central to a lot of our service areas. Our (outage) response time is much better there than almost anywhere else.” 

A new Moses Lake service center is a few years away; the PUD facilities master plan projects construction in about 2029. 

During the Oct. 8 commission meeting, commissioner Larry Schaapman said the PUD is looking ahead. 

“We’re long-term thinking this –- they’re not making any more land,” Schaapman said. “Things are getting more expensive to buy. From my perspective, it was a good piece (of property) that the staff worked diligently in finding. This puts us in a good spot for the future.” 

According to the facilities plan, the existing service centers in Moses Lake and Ephrata are too small and in need of repairs. The Ephrata service center is first on the list for replacement, and PUD officials are working on the purchase of 34 acres for a new one. 

The purchase was first approved in April, but the process is still ongoing. The PUD paid $525,000 to Grant County for the property, located next to the site of the new Grant County Jail. At one time the property was the Ephrata Raceway. 

Flint said the purchase should be finalized in January.  

“The other issue there is the roundabout,” Flint said. 

The Ephrata maintenance facility and the new jail will be located at the intersection of Nat Washington Way and State Route 282, already a busy corner. A roundabout at that intersection has been under discussion for a few years, but Washington Department of Transportation officials hadn’t scheduled that for construction at the time the jail project was reviewed. The DOT was concerned about traffic impacts if the jail was completed before the roundabout, said Grant County Central Services Director Tom Gaines in a Grant County Commission meeting earlier this year. 

To keep the jail project moving county officials agreed to build the roundabout, projected to cost about $4 million. The PUD will pay part of the cost, and Flint said PUD commissioners think the DOT should pay some of the cost too.

That’s still in negotiation, he said.