Bonney Lake residents will have a new place to run their dogs and a place to do some gardening this year as plans for a new dog park and community garden were announced this week.

Mayor Neil Johnson, Jr., made the announcement at Tuesday night’s Council workshop that he has designated Viking Park as the location for a Dog Park and the property next to Lions 4 Kids, located at 18424 89th Street East as the area for our first Community Garden.

Both locations are considered to be temporary and will represent one-year trial runs of both projects.

In addition to identifying land, it was announced that two separate citizen groups will be doing the lion’s share of the work in preparing these areas for use.

The city, however, will participate with some initial labor for both and irrigation for the community garden for the trial period.

Johnson cited community interest and partnerships with local groups as reasons these two projects were able to come together.

“It is great to see these types of partnerships develop, where the city isn’t relied upon for the prime source of funding and local citizens step up to make it happen,” Johnson said in a press release. “Our goal is to evaluate both the Dog Park and Community Garden for a period of one-year to see how they come together and if the demand is there from the community for their continued use.”

For more information or to get involved with either project, contact Community Services Director Gary Leaf at 253-447-4334 for more information.

Check back at www.blscourierherald.com later this week for expanded stories on both projects.