The Swiss Sportsmen’s Club and the city of Bonney Lake are getting close to an agreement that will allow the club to go through with plans to build a 960-square-foot bathroom and shower facility without having to install a new fire hydrant, as required by city fire codes.

The issue first arose last year when the Swiss applied to add a new shower and bathroom to their property.

Though the structure is small, its classification as a commercial structure would have required the park to hook up to the city sewer lines and install curbs, sidewalks and gutters along 198th Avenue.

A new fire hydrant would also be required, according to fire codes.

In November, the city and the Swiss agreed to a developer’s agreement that classified the structure as a “public facility” (as the property is zoned) instead of commercial and exempted the club from the sewer and sidewalk requirements.

However, the agreement did not cover the fire code requirements and states “The Swiss Park must adhere to all City planning and permitting requirements which are unaffected by this agreement.”

When the issue of the hydrant came up, a cost estimated between $1,500 and $1,800, Swiss Park again balked at the cost and again contacted the city to see if a deal could be made.

“We’re just a little club trying to make ends meet,” Swiss Sportsmen’s Club Chairman Lou Ulrich said Thursday.

City code creates four classification of buildings, each with their own requirements for fire flow and hydrant proximity: Single- and two-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial and industrial.

Once the structure was classified “commercial,” city code dictates a hydrant within 300 feet of the structure.

The closest hydrant is presently located across 198th Avenue, approximately 356 feet from the structure’s location, according to Ulrich.

In addition, the club produced a letter dated only “1949” and signed by the city’s first mayor, Kenneth H. Simmons, that discusses in a “P.S.” the city installing a hydrant for the club’s protection.

In a letter to the city dated March 4, Ulrich stated the development agreement clarifies the restroom is not a commercial building and “would be exempt from fire codes.” The letter also references the 1949 letter regarding the hydrant.

“Our club strongly feels the city is obligated to provide our facility with a fire hydrant,” Ulrich wrote.

In a March 8 letter from Mayor Neil Johnson to Ulrich, Johnson wrote the provision of fire hydrants is governed by the fire district and based on the building and fire codes and any waiver would have to come from the fire district and building official.

Johnson also wrote that the city looked into the letter and while the P.S. indicates the city would install a hydrant, none of the signed agreements of minutes of an April 1952 meeting in which the city council unanimously approved the water agreement included a hydrant.

“Again, no mention was made of a fire hydrant,” Johnson wrote. “Since this occurred 59 years ago, we are left to wonder if the matter was dropped, a hydrant was installed and subsequently replaced by one of the newer hydrants in the area, or what.”

On April 4, more than 20 club members took their case to the Public Safety Committee Meeting. According to Committee Chairman Mark Hamilton, the “game plan” moving forward is to try to amend the developer’s agreement to include an exemption for the hydrant, which he said East Pierce would agree to because of the nature of the structure.

East Pierce Deputy Chief John McDonald said Thursday the fire district can not arbitrarily waive the hydrant requirement, but said a developer’s agreement and a decision to allow the building without the hydrant is a “policy decision that falls within the purview of the city council.”

McDonald said the district would not put forth a recommendation to the council, but would abide by whatever decision they made, though he did call the shower building a “relatively low hazard” because of the nature of the structure.

Ulrich said the club hopes the hydrant issue can be waived.

“If they waive it and let us move on without a fire hydrant we’d be happy,” he said. “It’s been a long process.”

The issue will move to the Community Development Committee before heading back to the city council.