I never have liked the saying “I told you so,” only because it doesn’t feel good to be proven wrong. With that in mind, before I joined the Bonney Lake City Council, in early 2003, I warned our leaders of dealing with the Weyerhaeuser/Quadrant group.

When I became a City Council member, I tried my best to persuade my fellow council members that the city was in the driver’s seat, regarding the former WSU forest, and they listened and were ready to vote  down Weyerhaeuser/WSU/Quadrant’s amendment, to the city of Bonney Lake’s comprehensive plan for the 149 acres of WSU forest. The Bonney Lake Comprehensive Plan is a guide to land use, development, city facilities, utilities, annexations and quality of life. Knowing it would not pass, Quadrant/Weyerhaeuser/WSU pulled their proposal at the last minute.

Quadrant’s (Quadrant is the real estate arm of Weyerhaeuser) WSU forest proposal made serious changes to the city’s comprehensive plan, such as single family zoning expanded to seven to nine units per acre. This type of land use change will forever change a city and communities and should be decided by the City Council members, who we vote in, not a developer. After my council tenure had ended Quadrant/WSU brought their proposal once again to the city.

I was a citizen, once again, speaking at City Council and Planning Commission meetings, to remind council members and planning commissioners of the major flaws in the proposal and the devious practices of Quadrant towards cities and citizens alike. Many of my concerns that I shared with the council and commission have been articulated by Ms. Carter, in her recent columns in The Courier Herald. I also predicted that there would never be a YMCA built on the few acres of the forest given to the city, in the proposal. The land that was to be deeded to the city was made up of mostly wetlands and storm ponds/drainage ditches for the entire 149 acres. The rest of the “free” land that the city was to receive were the treed areas that outline the forest, that has and will, camouflage the overbuilding and destruction of the forest. The city’s lack of water and sewer capacity did not deter the council and planning commission from passing the proposal. The need for more of these resources have and will continue to raise the current citizen’s water, sewer and garbage rates, along with other taxes, all for the benefit of WSU/Quadrant’s plans for overbuilding and destroying our city’s quality of life. Then City Council member Laurie Carter was the only no vote.

I pleaded with Planning Commission Chair Randy McKibbin and fellow commissioner, Katrina Minton-Davis, who both  voted to pass the WSU proposal. Both Randy McKibbin and Katrina Minton-Davis are now City Council members. Using logic and quality of life as a guide, I cannot fathom how Mr. McKibbin and Ms. Minton-Davis could both pass such a proposal. The WSU/Quadrant proposal was flawed and biased, in favor of WSU/Quadrant, and has forever negatively changed our city’s guide to zoning and its future. Randy McKibbin, unfortunately, is running unopposed for his council seat again, in the upcoming election.

This is a travesty, given Mr. McKibbin’s pro development voting record. The new 2013 Quadrant proposal to install a traffic light, was a deal breaker to their previous proposal, so at the last minute WSU/Quadrant removed that part of the proposal that was passed. Now they’re back, and guess what? I told you so. They want to place that same traffic light they said they would not do last time. We will not get a YMCA anywhere near the former 149 acre forest. So much for keeping their word. Citizens of Bonney Lake, the future of our community is in your hands too. Educate yourself on our city government, including City Council and Planning Commission members, etc. that have power to make foolish decisions that we and our children will literally pay for.