With plans in place for both the Downtown and Eastown sections of the city, the Bonney Lake Planning Commission will now turn its attention to a large stretch of land in between: Midtown.

In fact, the first order of business will be defining what exactly constitutes “Midtown” for the purposes of planning and design standards.

“We’re trying to define the boundaries,” Planning Manager Heather Stinson said.

The topic of Midtown was a major point of discussion at a Nov. 18 joint meeting between the City Council, Planning Commission and Design Committee. The meeting was called so all three groups could be on the same page as the city prepares a Comprehensive Plan update for next year, but the primary discussion topic was the addition of a Midtown subarea plan.

Councilmember Laurie Carter, whose ward includes the Midtown section of the city – defined in the Comprehensive Plan as “Bonney Lake’s commercial center of gravity” and stretching along state Route 410 to 214th Avenue East – said she has heard from many constituents wanting a full area plan like those for other sections of the city.

Carter said discussions at the meeting leaned toward marking Midtown’s western border as Fennel Creek, which passes under SR 410 to the east of Angeline Road, but before the commercial area known as Junction 192.

Having a mix of commercial and residential land unlike the other two named sections of the city, Carter said, and including the creek will allow Midtown to build on “what a gem that is” and how it connects the varying parts of the city.

“Fennel Creek goes through Midtown and wraps all the way out to Eastown,” she said, adding that she researched the “Riverwalk” in Austin, Texas, a mix of residential and commercial buildings that abut the banks of the Colorado River, as a possible way to highlight the creek and attract shoppers and tourists to the area.

Carter said once the area was defined, one of the major topics of discussion was about moving people from the neighborhoods to the shopping centers.

Because of the varying geography, many routes between neighborhoods are blocked by what Carter called “the Great Walls of Midtown,” retaining walls along the steep slopes that block traffic flow. Carter cited the walls behind Walmart and Albertson’s as well as the one that defines the eastern boundary of the Target shopping plaza.

“It prevents people from going from shop to shop but also prevents people who live there from walking to do their shopping,” she said. “There’s no connectivity.”

Other issues for residents of Midtown dealt with a shortage of parks in their section of the city, as well as how to deal with the mix of commercial and residential zones, unlike Eastown, which is all commercial land.

“Midtown is more mixed than Eastown is, so the zoning is different,” Carter said.

She also said residents discussed several properties for potential parks, including a chunk of land behind Walmart that is inaccessible by any roads. Carter suggested turning the land into a park with switchbacks leading up the hill to the neighborhoods. That would provide residents with access to the plazas without having to drive around the various walls or deal with traffic on 410.

“We need to have more access to our shopping,” she said.

Other discussions dealt with how to keep noise and light pollution from spilling into residential sections from commercial areas.

Stinson said further discussions dealt with the look of buildings and plazas in the area and though the Comp Plan describes Midtown as “automobile-oriented,” she said there is a push toward creating design standards that prevent “big seas of parking.”

Stinson also said there is a push to develop standards now because of expected developement, both residential and commercial, in the land formerly known as the Washington State University Demonstration Forest.

“If we wait too long we won’t have them,” Stinson said of design standards.

Stinson said though Eastown was originally planned as more of a light industrial area, it is trending to further commercial development and the recent discussion seemed to extend Eastown’s design standards to Midtown.

“The nature of the two areas really seem like they’re going to be about the same,” Stinson said, describing plans to create frontage roads and other design standards to place buildings closer to the sidewalks with hidden parking areas.

The next step in the process will be for the city council to approve the Planning Commission’s workplan for next year, which will include work on a Midtown plan with plans that it will be part of next year’s full Comprehensive Plan update.

Both Stinson and Carter characterized the joint meeting as a success.

“We got more of a direction,” said Stinson, speaking from a planning standpoint.

“It helped everybody understand what we are looking for,” Carter said, calling it a “culmination of everything I’ve listened to for the past three years.”

“Now it’s up to the Planning Commission,” she said.