More than 25 people were in attendance July 14 to watch the Bonney Lake City Council breeze through a lengthy agenda.
The council, with Mayor Neil Johnson absent, passed two resolutions dealing with the design work for upcoming road projects, each tied to the upgrading of intersections to accommodate current and future traffic.
The first resolution addressed the design of the intersection at state Route 410 and 214th Avenue and 214th from 96th Street East to 101st Street East.
The second was for the intersection of Main Street and SR 410. Both contracts were awarded to Shea, Carr and Jewell Inc.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time and I’m glad to see it moving forward,” Councilman Dave King said.
The cost for both designs is $467,000 and the projects are eligible for partial Traffic Impact Fee funding.
The council also voted unanimously to approve three resolutions accepting several projects, all completed under budget. Getting the council OK were:
• the Downtown Regional Drainage Facility contract with Tucci and Sons. The facility will handle stormwater runoff for the entire downtown area. More than $916,000 was budgeted for the project, which was finished $65,000 under budget.
• the watermain replacement for Ceder View and 188th Avenue East, completed by Les Russell Construction. The city budgeted $678,000 and finished $89,000 under budget.
• the watermain replacement at 95th Loop East and 181st Avenue. The city budgeted $504,000 and the work was done for $29,000 less.
Council members also passed, by a unanimous vote, an ordinance to prevent landlord or third-party billing agents from overbilling tenants for utility services without proper notice or disclosure of billing practices.
“It’s actually a consumer protection ordinance that only applies to three units or larger, so (there are) no issues with duplexes,” Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman said.
Swatman said troubles can arise in apartment complexes that are not originally equipped to bill individual tenants. Some companies are specializing in going to those complexes and putting on very small meters on water systems.
“When they do that, they start billing tenants directly and often at higher fees,” he said. “We don’t want people wholesaling our products such as our water at much high fees.”
Failure to comply with the ordinance will be a Class 1 civil infraction with a $250 fee.
In other action, the council:
• voted to update the Critical Areas Code to allow reasonable use of properties mostly or entirely covered by wetland and/or buffers.
“This allows for the reasonable use of property and establishes a process by which applications can be reviewed by the city’s hearing examiner,” said John Vodopich, the city’s director for planning and community development.
Applicants would be required to apply for a “critical area variance,” then conduct enviromental demonstrating the extent to which development is reasonable on the property.
• accepted a 2009 Byrne/JAG Recovery Grant of $100,926 on behalf of the Bonney Lake Police Department for gang prevention and suppression.
The grant is administered by the state’s Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. Funds will help the police department with the Pierce County Law Enforcement Gang Management Group and Regional Gang Task Force.
The money will be used to fund regular salaries and benefits.
• authorized a grant for $75,000 with the state Department of Ecology to update the city’s Shoreline Master Plan. The money will be used for a consultant to assist with collecting data and analysis and draft a new plan.
• granted an easement for Puget Sound Energy to install vaults for underground utilities for the Interim Justice Center on 90th Street East.
• set a public hearing for 7 p.m. July 25 on the city’s six-year transportation improvement plan.
