By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald

The city is hoping to put up seven signs about historical times around the area.

The City Council passed a motion at the council workshop July 1 authorizing the staff to submit a grant for historical signs to the Pierce County Historical Preservation Program. If approved, the grant would bring in $7,000.

The total estimated cost, with installation for seven 20-inch by 30-inch cast aluminum signs comes to $14,000. City leaders have agreed to contribute the additional $7,000 needed.

A grant team met and decided the historical sign project was the best choice for the application. The team was comprised of members of the Bonney Lake Historical Society, Joel Thompson, executive assistant, Gary Leaf, community services director, and Glen Storebeck from the Pierce County Library.

The proposal would place a sign at Allan Yorke Park regarding the history of Lake Tapps; at Ken Simmons Park describing the Ken Simmons Resort; at the Art Park, located at the intersection of Church Lake Road and Sumner-Buckley Highway, for the Naches Trail; on the Sumner-Buckley Highway behind Target, which was an Indian gathering site; the Kelly Farm, and the Church of the Nazarene on Myers Road, which was the first church established in Bonney Lake.

The seventh sign would either be located at the Skystone site near the Naches Terrace Development or on the hop farm behind the Kelley Farm.

Leaf said an archeological group is submitting a grant for an interpretative sign for the Skystone. Archeologists believe the stone was used by Indians for astronomical calculations, possibly to calculate the summer and winter solstice.

“If they get their (grant approved) we can put a sign up at the hop farm,” Leaf said.

According to Leaf the city already has the $7,000 in matching funds in the “beautification budget. There may even be enough money to etch pictures on the signs.”

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com