Bonney Lake council and planning commission prioritize homeowner‑impact code updates, defer others

Bonney Lake city staff told a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission on March 3 that the list of proposed code and policy updates would require roughly 620 staff hours but the city has about 425 available, placing the city $195 in staff‑hour shortfall without consultant help.

"We're estimating it'll take us about 620 staff hours. We have an estimate of about 425 staff hours that we could dedicate," said Jason Sullivan, the city's director who presented the packet. He said staff recommended adding roughly 175 consultant hours to close the gap and asked the council and commission to identify priorities.

The packet included deferred items (administrative lot splits and unit lot subdivisions, targeted for completion by July 27, 2027) and a slate of proposed work: an impact‑fee update tied to the adopted capital improvement list; construction code cleanups tied to the 2021 code cycle; a routine six‑year capital improvement plan update; consideration of reverting a locally added residential fire‑sprinkler requirement to the state baseline; an administrative variance process; recommended shoreline regulation changes to allow bulkhead repair via a shoreline exemption (a change that would require Department of Ecology approval); street‑naming and addressing updates; a consolidated code‑enforcement title; geological hazard code updates; and revisions to accessory structure and sheetrock provisions.

Council members focused discussion on the near‑term financial impacts for homeowners. "If we're looking to reduce some costs for building homes, the fire‑sprinkler system has a much higher cost and impact to homeowners than adding one layer of sheetrock," a councilmember said, urging that sprinkler rules be a top priority. Several members recommended keeping mandatory or overdue items (impact fees, construction‑code cleanups, the CIP) on the short list and prioritizing items that most directly affect property owners.

Staff clarified process implications: removing locally stricter technical requirements (for example, the city’s extra sheetrock requirement) requires drafting an ordinance and submitting it to the Washington State Building Code Council for approval because the city would be making the code less restrictive than state baseline rules.

Given those limits, the council agreed to continue refining priorities. Staff proposed moving the formal work‑plan amendment to the next City Council meeting so council could see a refined package and take a final vote.

What happens next: Staff will refine the prioritized list, estimate remaining consultant needs, and return the work‑plan amendment for a council vote at the next scheduled meeting. The council also directed staff to prioritize work that reduces direct homeowner costs while preserving required statutory items.