Bonney Lake’s annexation of the area south of city limits might be on hold for at least a year as the city moves toward a confrontation with the county over bringing the areas into the city.

City officials met Monday with staff members from Pierce County to discuss why the annexation has not yet been approved despite being passed by the Bonney Lake city council in August.

According to Administrator Don Morrison, the delay is “almost exclusively related” to the area known as Plateau 465, a swath of undeveloped land at the southern end of the annexation area.

Bonney Lake Councilmembers in July cited undeveloped parcel as a primary reason for annexing the area, with Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman calling the development the “plum” of the area whose development would help pay for the services the city would need to bring to the other parts of the annexation area.

Morrison said county officials told the city they want Bonney Lake to withdraw its annexation application in favor of working out a pre-annexation deal with the county that would essentially turn over to the county more than $7.5 million in cash as well as traffic and parks impact fees, part of an agreement the developer, Investco, struck with the county during the approval process.

The county has threatened to “invoke jurisdiction” on the project, which would send the matter to a Boundary Review Board Hearing that could drag on for months. Morrison said the deadline to invoke jurisdiction is Jan. 10.

“Unless there was a deal struck this week … it would be nearly impossible to have an election this year,” he said.

Morrison said the implication from the county was that the city would agree to the same stipulations as Investco, collect the money and then ship it off to the county.

With that, Swatman laughed out loud.

“Yeah, we tried to keep a straight face when they said that,” Morrison said.

Morrison estimated that traffic impact fees from Plateau 465, presuming a full build-out, would total near $12 million while park impact fees are estimated at $8.8 million, money the city would count on to help bring city services to the annexation area.

Swatman said the county was “stalling” and was trying to milk what they perceived as a “cash cow” and take that money off of the plateau.

According to Morrison, the county collects approximately $800,000 in taxes from the annexation area and only spends about $400,000 in the same region.

After a brief discussion, the council decided to not pull their application and instead force a hearing at the Boundary Review Board, which would force the county to layout its legal argument as to why these areas should not be part of the city of Bonney Lake.

They have all their cards and are not showing them to us. If it goes to the Boundary Review Board they will have to play those cards, Swatman said.

Mayor Neil Johnson agreed and also questioned the effectiveness of the Growth Management Act if counties do not allow cities to annex urban areas.

“I think we’re going to have to push this forward and have them lay it all out,” Johnson said. “I don’t understand how they are going to tell us we can’t go out and service this area.”