Business owner gets hope for zoning problem

A local businessman who wants to relocate his business despite resistance from Grand Coulee left a city council meeting Tuesday night with some hope.

Mike Horne, owner of MPH on Midway, wants to relocate his car and boat repair business a few hundred feet north, but has run into a zoning problem.

He said it has been his dream to own his own building and get set up for retirement. The very reasons people object to his business, Horne says, are the things he wants to correct.

He would like to purchase a building just north of the Pepper Jack’s parking lot.

Horne went to the city for a building permit, was issued one for $650, and later told he could re-do the building, but couldn’t locate an auto repair business there.

The plans call for him to raise the roof on the building so he can put in a couple of bays so he can work on cars and boats inside.

“I would like to build a steel building out behind so I will have plenty of room inside to work,” Horne stated.

The most common criticisms Horne has about his current location is that cars and boats sometimes line Midway Avenue.

“If I could relocate, I could keep all that inside where it wouldn’t be seen,” he says. He also notes that he gets a lot of business from people who are visiting the area. “They spend money locally,” he said.

When Horne applied for a building permit he wasn’t told about the zoning problem when city personnel assumed he was applying for his current location. But paperwork, including plans for raising a roof and adding big bay doors to the side of the building, included the right address.

“Did they think I was going to open an ice cream shop?” he asks.

He now rents his business space from Ray Harrington and has been at this location for the past 10 years.

He says he can’t get rid of much of the machinery outside that people complain about because it belongs to his landlord. The move would change that, he claims, and would eliminate a safety problem caused by backing out onto Midway Avenue.

The council called a special meeting to discuss the issue on Sept. 29. As far as he is concerned, the meeting was unsatisfactory.

Horne says he has some support from the council, and wanted last night (Tuesday) to see if members would be vocal about his zoning problem.

They were vocal indeed. Councilmember Paul Townsend said he would like some answers in regard to Horne’s interest in relocating. He stated he would like to see a re-zone or a permit for a non-conforming business. He asked that council members appear before planners and that the issue come up two weeks from now when the council meets again.

All council members spoke to the issue and at the least gave Horne some hope that he may eventually be able to relocate.

Debbie Starkey, who owns the building next to where Horne wants to relocate, spoke in opposition.

Horne was pleased that the council showed interest and it raised his hopes to remodel the building on which he holds an option to buy, he said.