On a cloudy Saturday Morning in Gig Harbor, the local YMCA was a hive of activity.

Parents and children took swimming lessons or did laps, members exercised on the weight machines and lines formed at the pickle ball courts in the gym.

It was exactly the type of activity and interest the members of the Bonney Lake City Council were hoping to see Saturday during a tour of the facility designed to give them a better idea of what they might expect in the near future for their own community.

Four councilmembers, a planning commission member and a city staff member all took part in the four-hour tour and discussion with members of the YMCA as preparations move ahead for a bond vote to bring a facility to the former Washington State University Demonstration Forest on state Route 410.

Bonney Lake is presently set to receive the second of two complimentary YMCA facilities slated for East Pierce County.

Officials for the city and the Y estimate a 50,000-square-foot facility paid for primarily through an $8 million bond to open in or around 2014. The council is presently working on a memo of understanding between the city and the YMCA that would spell out the specifics of any deal. A draft of the letter reviewed by the council would commit the city to $1 million in funding from the city’s capital budget, a bond measure to go before voters and the land for the facility.

The tour of the Gig Harbor facility began at the facility’s pool area, one of the major concerns of residents in the Bonney Lake and Sumner area. While Gig Harbor contains a warm-water pool with beach access as well as a cooler six-lane competitive lap pool, the facilities in Bonney Lake and Sumner are slated to each contain one of the pools, with the competitive pool slated for the Bonney Lake building.

According to Carolyn Oury, aquatics program director, the Gig Harbor pool serves 1,000 people per day on average.

Next on the tour was a small seating area and coffee shop, leased to Forza, which Y officials said is the most-utilized space in the building. The city officials also saw a child play area and the Teen Outreach Center, which included pool tables, ping pong tables and other games.

Like Gig Harbor, Bonney Lake’s facility is slated for a teen center that would include, according to the draft memo of understanding, free teen late nights, open to all teenagers in the city – member or not – every Friday and Saturday night.

According to YMCA Communications Director Michelle LaRue, between 500 and 650 kids use the Puyallup facility on an average Friday night.

Following a tour of the 77,000-square-foot building, councilmembers met briefly with YMCA President Bob Ecklund, studies have shown a need and interest in approximately 100,000-square-feet of program space in East Pierce County, set to be split between Sumner and Bonney Lake.

Sumner’s facility is slated to be built first, on a section of land known as Orten Junction located at the base of Ehli Hill.

“We all know from the research people go up and down 410,” Eckland said. “These two Y’s will serve both.”

Eckland also said they have found from their Puyallup facility that there is a diminishing level of happiness among members when the facility gets too crowded, so he would rather there be two buildings, though both would have the basics of a gymnasium, child watch, weights, teaching kitchen and a water feature.

Bonney Lake officials, which included Councilmembers Dan Swatman, Mark Hamilton, Dan Decker and Laurie Carter as well as Planning Commission member and city council candidate Katrina Minton and Facilities and Special Projects Manager Gary Leaf, focused their questions on plans for Bonney Lake, but also asked about a “Plan B” if the county council denies Sumner’s attempt to add the Orten Junction area to its Urban Growth Area.

Earlier this summer, Pierce County staff recommended the denial of the UGA change based on four criteria, though Sumner officials filed a supplementary report answering concerns on three of the areas. The remaining area is a current glut of commercial land in Pierce County, making the annexation and land use change potentially unnecessary.

A final decision is expected July 26.

Hamilton asked what the plan was if the county denied Sumner’s application.

“We’re anxious to get rolling ourselves,” he said.

Ecklund said he did not believe in a Plan B and the Y was proceeding based on building Sumner’s facility first because there is more fundraising in place.

Ecklund said Sumner has raised $5.8 million toward their facility. The YMCA was unable to identify many large donors for a Bonney Lake facility, which is prompting a bond to put before voters, though even Swatman admitted passing a bond would be difficult given the current climate.

A bond vote in Bonney Lake is expected next year.