MEDICAL LAKE — One of country singer George Strait’s many memorable songs is typical of the genre of the girl leaving the guy.
It cries out that “If you leave me, I won’t miss you,” and if you believe that, the song continues, “I got some oceanfront property in Arizona; From my front porch you can see the sea.”
That song might have come to mind by audience members during some light-hearted debate by the Medical Lake City Council at its March 3 meeting where for nearly 10 minutes officials discussed the purchase of a parcel of property for a grand total of $141.28.
Yep, not $14,128 or $1.41 million, but 14,128 pennies put another way, and the discussion not only had some comedic overtones at times, but also proved educational.
City Administrator Doug Ross brought the matter to council as to whether they should spend this odd sum for an equally strange parcel of property that is currently, and probably will remain, underwater.
Located at the west end of Firth Street and bordered by Fourth Avenue, the parcel measures approximately 200 to 300 square feet, but sits submerged in Medical Lake.
“I was contacted by the Spokane County Assessor’s Office and they said, ‘Hey, there’s this piece of property that’s coming up for sale. I think somebody probably forfeited on the taxes,’” Ross explained. “They asked if we would be interested, and I said, I would take it to the council.”
Why buy submerged property? Besides the fractional cost compared to most city expenditures, the property doesn’t have a whole lot of use other than it adds to the goal of protecting the shoreline for very little money.
“Quite honestly, it prevents someone from buying it and coming up with 20 clever ways to use it, which it can’t be used because of our shoreline regulations and the rules,” Ross said.
The city stepped ahead of anyone else who might think it has further value, but Ross reminded, “You can’t put a dock without the primary structure, so someone can’t just buy it and put a dock over it.”
Councilwoman Jessica Roberts questioned just how a piece of submerged property could be offered for sale, to which Ross suggested, “It was platted and obviously the lake came up at some point and I don’t really have a great answer for you.”
An adjacent piece of submerged property is still for sale, but it is attached to land across the street — a triangular parcel — that once served as horse pasture.
At one point the two parcels were likely one, before the road went through it and Ross reminded council that most of Medical Lake was platted in the 1890s.
When all the questions and possibilities were pondered, Roberts motioned to buy the property and minus Don Kennedy, who was away with an excused absence, the vote was unanimous.
One other notable decision included the approval of a lease at a ceremonial cost of $1 for the former city fire station with Spokane County Fire District No. 3 which is now the fire protection agency in charge in Medical Lake. District 3 is currently in the process of remodeling the station and to be fully compensated, should the lease be terminated, those improvements will become the property of the city at no charge.
Bids for the forthcoming water intertie with the city of Spokane have been received with the lowest being $641,000 — well above the projected $500,000, Ross said.
It was also reported that the city’s compost trailer will make its 2020 debut on Monday, March 16.
The next meeting is Tuesday, March 17, at 6:30 p.m.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)