By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald

Bonney Lake's downtown plan took a step forward Oct. 24 when the City Council approved the purchase of 4.5 acres of land for $2.5 million.

The land is behind the Bonney Lake Library, bordered by state Route 410 and Angeline Road. The address is listed as 18426 SR 410 and 9320 Angeline Rd.

&#8220This is very exciting,” Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman said. &#8220We've been working on doing this for a long time. The ultimate solution is not going to be the city's total design, but the city can light the match.”

Councilman Dave King pointed out the funds will be coming from the city's ending fund balance. He informed those present at the meeting the previous administration had overestimated expenditures and underestimated revenues, bringing unanticipated revenues to the city's general budget.

King asked City Attorney Jeff Ganson if there was any &#8220illegality in such action taking place.”

Ganson said no.

Swatman said the city did not know exactly what would be done with the piece of property, &#8220but there are a lot of possibilities available. This is one of the deals we can do to get things started. Things are going to start coming along and I think people are going to be surprised.”

The council and city administration have been working with a group of downtown business leaders trying to come up with a plan for turning the triangular area between 184th Avenue East, Sumner-Buckley Highway and SR 410 into the true downtown for the city where people can walk to shops and restaurants.

Swatman said the most recent move to acquire property close to the downtown area came out of the council's desire to abandon plans to build a city hall on the six-acre site next to Target and &#8220concentrate public investment in the area around the library, fire station and post office.”