Bohemean Estates annexation voted down by City Council

Published 3:56 pm Thursday, April 30, 2009

By Dennis Box, The Courier-Herald

A vote to begin the annexation process for Bohemian Estates, located near Inlet Island, went down to defeat at the Bonney Lake City Council workshop on Jan. 20. The 31-acre, 33-home development was rejected 5-2 after extensive debate and several attempts to move the discussion and vote to a later date.

"Willy-nilly development outside the city is not in the city's best interest," Councilman Dave King said. He brought the motion to accept the four-part pre-annexation process, stating, "We are at loggerheads. I know some citizens are going to disagree with this, but I'm going to move to accept this motion."

Council members Neil Johnson, Cheryle Noble, Dan Swatman, Phil Deleo and Mark Hamilton voted no. Council members King and James Rackley voted yes.

Although the annexation measure failed, Mayor Bob Young stated he felt certain the measure would return before the council.

"I encouraged the developer to come back," Young said. "The reality is we have to give them water if it's available. It's in our water distribution area. If the council says no or puts a moratorium on that piece, then it can be taken out of our water service area. But I don't think we will get there. Cooler heads will prevail."

Another issue raised at the workshop by Deleo was that the southern part of the property is a wetland pond that otters, raccoon and herons use as a habitat, but the county's commitment to manage the area is a question.

"What is Pierce County doing to manage the wetland?" King asked.

Noble strongly supported halting the annexation process and expressed concern over the city's building and development plan

"I hope this sends a message to our mayor," Noble said. "Until we take care of our water, we are not looking outside our borders."

At the Jan. 13 City Council meeting, a number of people spoke about the poor water quality in the Inlet Island area.

At the workshop Deleo stated, "the water quality issue is not just during our drought. It's a year round issue."

During last summer's drought, Ball Park Well was used and the high iron and manganese turned the water brown and unappetizing. Deleo reported his water is still cloudy until it sets for a few minutes.

"We have water issues, both quality and quantity that we have to finalize," Councilman Neil Johnson said. "I disagree with the way we are growing. We need to focus on our citizens. We may need to say 'OK county, go ahead and build it (Bohemian Estates),' and if it does come into the city, and it probably will, they can hook into Tacoma Water. I think we can let Tacoma Water serve outside our city limits, let us serve the people within our borders."

The developer and owner of the property is Ludvik Stribrny, owner of Euro-Way Homes Inc. Stribrny can bring the annexation issue before the City Council again at any time.

"The reason this went down is because of people's concern about water quality, not quantity," Young said. "If the quality is down we need to work on that. But this is a changing world in water, we have options. Once we get the filtration plant on line and the at-grade storage that will solve a lot of problems. Once the fluoride issue is out of the way we can negotiate a better price with Tacoma Water if we need to, and Auburn water is another option."

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald