The Bonney Lake City Council received testimony from seven people Dec. 8, during a hearing regarding the development agreement for the Washington State University Demonstration Forest.

At the end of the night, the council voted 6-1 to extend the hearing to this week’s council workshop; results of Tuesday’s session could not be reported here.

The forest consists of 150 acres of land south of state Route 410 between South Prairie Road and 214th Avenue East.

Under the development agreement, 35 acres – including 4.75 acres under a sale agreement for a medical office building – would be zoned for commercial use, 47.4 acres would be dedicated to the city for recreational use and 64.7 acres would go for residential with three acres of private open space.

Under the land to be dedicated to the city, 34.6 acres are for recreational use, 5.4 for a YMCA or community recreation center, 5.4 for a perimeter buffer/trails, and two for a triangular park at 214th and South Prairie Road.

Former councilwoman Cheryl Noble asked, since the development agreement has not been finalized, if it would be available to the public once approved.

Mayor Neil Johnson said there will be some changes made and the final document would be available to the public.

Noble asked if any changes would be made to a section stating: “WSU and Weyerhaeuser may terminate the city’s use hereunder for convenience at any time upon giving the city one year’s prior notice, and at the expiration of the use the city shall quietly turn, yield, surrender or render the trails to WSU?”

“Is this like, give the land and take it back in 2035?” Noble asked.

City Attorney Jim Dionne said the section Noble questioned deals with the use of the forest land, prior to it being developed.

“As soon as we get this development agreement, we’ll open the forest up to public use and that is what they (WSU and Weyerhaeuser) reserve the right because of unforeseeable circumstances.”

Dionne said the land the city receives will never go back to Weyerhaeuser or WSU. There is a 15-year restriction that the city would not use the land in competition with Weyerhaeuser or WSU, he added.

“We must keep it for forest and park land for at least 15 years,” Dionne said.

Noble said the public does not have “use of the forest and hasn’t for years.”

Dionne said he expects some changes to be made by testimony given at the public hearing. He said before the council votes on the approval of the agreement, residents will have another opportunity to speak on the matter.

Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman asked Dionne if the council would have to have another public hearing if the agreement was modified.

Dionne said the issue is if the city “drastically changes” the development agreement significantly enough where the public did not have the right to have a hearing.

Swatman said one of the “sticking points” was an additional traffic light on state Route 410.

“The agreement – as the public sees it – does not include that concept,” Swatman noted.

Dionne said, “If the city agrees with the engineer’s recommendation to have a signal, then we (city) will support it.”

He said if the developer and city engineers recommend a signal be placed on 410, the matter will go before the council for a vote.

Larry Ingraham, managing member of Emerald Properties and a co-developer of the Greenwood project in downtown Bonney Lake, said it was not a good time to conduct a public hearing on a development agreement that is “still changing.”

“This is not a good time to do this, when we don’t know what it is,” Ingraham commented.

Community Development Director John Vodopich said the Planning Committee started hearing public comments in September.

“The same process with this development agreement is the same process as Ingraham’s property on Main Street,” Johnson noted.

Winona Jacobsen, a Planning Committee member, said the Comprehensive Plan came before the committee July 1.

Jacobsen suggested changing the land-use designation from public facilities to allow medical offices and allow more time to consider options for residential development, saving forested areas, or developing recreation facilities.

William Klein, a Bonney Lake resident and board member of the Sumner Soccer Association, told the council that fields are needed in the city.

“We really need the fields, we need green space for our families,” he said. “Our kids are getting pushed off the fields and have nowhere to go – especially lighted fields in the winter.”

Buckley resident Betsy Schultz said the city should allow for construction of medial facilities on a portion of the land, but take additional time to consider development of the remaining property.

The council also passed a motion 6-1 requiring e-mails that had been received by the city clerk by midnight Dec. 8 be allowed on the record for the public hearing on the rezoning of the WSU Forest.

Councilwoman Laurie Carter said she had received several e-mails that had not been forwarded to the city clerk.

Roger Watt, a Bonney Lake business owner, said no taxes have been paid on the forest because it was under WSU’s name and is tax-exempt.

Watt said residents – though their real estate taxes – have been supporting the use of the forest and that residents should have more say in what happens to the property.

Councilman James Rackley said no taxes have been paid on the land for about 60 years.