By Dennis Box, The Courier-Herald

Playing, hiking, having fun and gathering together is about to become a priority in Bonney Lake.

Special Project Planner Steve Ladd of the Community Development Department made a presentation at the City Council workshop March 2, proposing a Comprehensive Plan update that would add 47 acres of community parks, 15 acres of neighborhood parks and seven miles of new trails inside the city.

"Historically parks in a city usually come about from philanthropic donations of land," Ladd said. "Bonney Lake as a city came along quite late in 1949. They've had a poor start compared to other cities and now the city has to compete for very expensive land."

Currently Bonney Lake has two public parks – Allan Yorke at 21.5 acres and Lake Bonney Park at 1.3 acres. By comparison, Enumclaw has 13 parks.

The parks plan calls for two more fully developed community parks to be built by the year 2022. The estimated cost would be around $5.8 million.

These parks would include fields and equipment for baseball, softball, soccer and multi-purpose fields, tennis and basketball courts, playground equipment, picnic areas and trails.

Using the same timetable, the city would add three neighborhood parks of approximately five acres each. The plan calls for these parks to be used primarily for passive recreation with play equipment and possibly hoops for half-court basketball.

Included in the park plan will be an addition of seven miles of trails that will connect at both ends with the Foothills Trail.

The trail will begin at Victor Falls and follow Fennel Creek north and east until it connects with the Foothills Trail in Buckley.

When complete, the trail will span from Bonney Lake to Orting, Puyallup and Sumner on one end and Enumclaw to Buckley to Wilkeson on the other. The trail will connect with the interurban trail allowing trail access to Auburn, Kent and Seattle.

Money for the parks will likely be raised at least partly from impact fees on developers. Other sources of revenue will be grants, general obligation bonds and the city's general fund.

Along with the park plan is a proposal by the Community Development Department for a community center or civic center.

The City Council is interested in a 40,000 square foot facility that would act as a senior, youth, community, performing arts and conference center.

"Bonney Lake is coming of age," Mayor Bob Young said. "The parks and the community center concept are a goal and this is where we want to go."

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com