County changes zone to allow for church

Less than a week before Christmas, Whitman County commissioners decided Monday to allow churches to be built in the Pullman-Moscow Corridor.

Real Life Christian Ministries petitioned the county to change its zoning code to allow churches in the corridor. The church wants to build a new building at the current site of Crossroads Nursery, which is located at the intersection of the Pullman-Moscow Highway and Pullman Airport Road.

Because churches are not included in the list of developments that can be built in the corridor zone, the church was not able to build without a change to the law.

Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the change.

“This decision allows our communities to grow together as communities,” said realtor Shelly Bennett of Moscow. “Not just a super highway.”

County code lists specific developments that can be built in the corridor. Most of the items on the list of permitted developments are related to commercial or industrial activity.

Ray Lindquist of Pullman asked if there was a reason churches were omitted.

Commissioner Greg Partch said they were just overlooked when the Pullman-Moscow Corridor zone was created.

“Mainly we just didn’t want it to become a strip mall,” he said.