Council close to buying school property
Published 1:02 pm Thursday, December 11, 2008
Dennis Box
The Courier-Herald
The City Council is set to take the plunge on another piece of the Bonney Lake park puzzle.
At their Aug. 17 workshop, council members moved a resolution forward calling for the purchase of an undeveloped 3.8 acre parcel next to Bonney Lake Elementary School for $225,000.
The property is at 18715 80th St. E.
"This is a good deal for a couple of reasons," City Councilman Neil Johnson said. "It keeps it from being developed, and we get an enhanced soccer field and an area that can be a different kind of park for us. There can be nature trails or mountain bike trails. We need to have a variety of different kind of parks."
The Sumner School District has pledged to use the money from the sale to convert the existing play field into a soccer field.
This is the third action the council has taken in the past year to gain park lands for the city.
Earlier, Councilman Dan Swatman convinced the Cedarview Homeowners Association to deed the Cedarview park to the city.
"It's a good deal for the for both sides," Swatman said. "The association was looking at $50,000 of park improvements and that's too much for homeowners. The homeowners gave up the park for free because it makes more sense to have the city improve the park."
The Cedarview park will need ball field and playground equipment improvements.
The third park land acquisition is the 12.55 acre Schuur Brothers parcel adjacent to Allan Yorke Park that was condemned by the city May 25.
Some of the council's expenditures have caused friction between Mayor Bob Young and the council. Spending a part of the $3 million in surplus funds is a particular sore spot.
"They're spending a lot of it and by year's end we won't have any left," Young said. "Somewhere we will have to get it back. We've had to put a considerable amount of money up for the condemned property. If the park bond passes we're OK. If it doesn't pass it comes out of general funds."
According to Young, the surplus was earmarked for the new City Hall and he was directed by an earlier council to set the money aside.
"That has always been a point of contention with this mayor," Swatman said. "The council's role is to set funding priorities. The mayor can stash all the funds in the world over there. Council decides where it is spent, but if the mayor doesn't want it spent, it will never be spent."
An example of the budget strain between the two governing bodies is a street sweeper that was funded by the council in 2003 and never purchased.
"If I choose not to spend the money that's my prerogative," Young said. "I decided we didn't have enough streets for a street sweeper. They can appropriate all they want. What's wrong with saving money? We didn't spend as much as they wanted and that's on purpose. "
The need to add parks to Bonney Lake increased the pressure to use the surplus funds to buy land now rather than later.
"That fund is being spent because we need to get thing done today," Johnson said. "We've lacked the leadership necessary to make this a first-class city. Things we budgeted and passed, the mayor is not following through on. As far as parks are concerned, the money spent now is money ahead. We have to play catch-up."
Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald
