By Dennis Box
The Courier-Herald
The Bonney Lake Senior Center is getting a couple of new additions.
An upstairs addition, which extends off the back of the center, will be used for meetings, conferences and classes. Below the meeting area is a storage area for refrigerators and freezers, which includes a laundry room.
Along with the extra space, a Cummins QuietSite generator is in the process of being installed. The generator will provide enough electricity for lights, heat and cooking during a power outage. The generator will help the center act as a Red Cross emergency shelter. The center has always been a Red Cross shelter, but City Administrator Don Morrison said the generator makes it a much better option.
“Without power it's not much of a emergency shelter,' Morrison said. “During the windstorm in February it was difficult to serve lunch. Now we will be able to run the kitchen.”
Similar generators are already in operation at City Hall and the Public Safety Building.
The addition, including the generator, is budgeted at about $180,000. The city received a Pierce County Community Development Block grant of $89,000. The grant money came from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The storage area located below the upstairs addition will allow staff to locate all the center's refrigerators and freezers under one roof.
Some of the freezers are now in the city shops across from City Hall.
Senior Center Director Sue Hilberg said the storage area will “make a huge difference. It's much more efficient and cost effective.”
Morrison said he expects the project to be completed by the end of August.
Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.
