The Bonney Lake City Council on Tuesday took their first action of the year to officially instruct the city attorney to appeal Pierce County’s approval of Sumner’s Orton Junction urban growth amendment.
The unanimous decision came after an extended executive session during Tuesday night’s council workshop.
According to an email from City Administrator Don Morrison, the basis of Bonney Lake’s appeal is that “Sumner presently exceeds its allocation of commercial land under the WA (sic) Growth Management Act, and any expansion would be unnecessary and in violation of state and local land use regulations.”
Morrison also said similar expansion requests from Orting, Puyallup and Bonney Lake were all denied on the basis of ample commercial lands and called the exception made for Sumner “indefensible.”
The county council on Oct. 25 approved the UGA amendment for Orton Junction, a 182-acre project made up of commercial and low-density residential projects to be located on land that is mostly farms near the 166th Avenue East exit at the base of Ehli Hill. The project is also set to include a new YMCA for the city of Sumner.
The majority of the land for the project – more than 125 acres – was also designated agricultural resource land, meaning the land could not be developed—other than farms or spread out residential homes—without changing the designation. An agreement with preservation and environmental groups called the “Seven Principles Agreement” included a provision that each acre of lost farmland would be replaced by four acres of conservation-eased properties, which allowed the changes to go forward.
For Bonney Lake, however, primary opposition to the project came because the project would present a direct competition to plans in Bonney Lake to create commercial areas in its Downtown and Eastown sections.
In 2011, Bonney Lake was denied a UGA expansion request because the county said they did not do enough planning for the area to come into the city.
In his email, Morrison said Bonney Lake’s issue is not with Sumner or their application, but with the county’s process, which he called a “double standard.”
“Over the past two application cycles, several cities have had their UGA commercial land expansion requests denied on the basis that there was already an overabundance of commercial lands available for development,” Morrison wrote. “If that is true, then there should not have been an exception made for Sumner.
“What is good for the gander should be good for the goose – so to speak,” he wrote.
Morrison also said Bonney Lake values its relationship with Sumner and is hopeful that the issues with the project will be resolved so Bonney Lake could withdraw its intended appeal.
