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Wednesday, January 9, 2013 | 75 cents
What’s Inside News .......................... Pages 1-4 Business........................... Page 5 Views..................................Page 6 Sports.................................Page 8 Classifieds ..............Pages 11-14
Justice Center to be ‘de facto city hall’ By Brian Beckley Staff Writer
Panther swim takes a win Sports, 8
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With the “interim” pulled from its title months ago, the city of Bonney Lake has begun to make improvements to the Justice Center that should turn it into a “de facto city hall,” according to city administrator Don Morrison. “The council decided to move people over here rather than try to lease it out,” Morrison said, referring to the original
plans to lease out part of the building as office space. “We’re losing the lease potential, but it’s not leased out now,” he said. Tenant improvements are presently under way at the 22,000-square-foot building with a completion date of late February or early March. According to Morrison, administrative services, including the city clerk’s office,
See Moving, Page 4
A worker installs a pipe on the second floor of the Justice Center as part of improvements being made for city employees. Photo by Brian Beckley
Building permits numbers up in 2012
A chilly charge into 2013
• Breaking news • Columns from Don Brunell, Rich Elfers and others • Letters • Obituaries • Pierce County happenings
Weather Expect it to be cold and wet today, Wednesday, with a 90 percent chance of rain and highs around 45. The rain should change to snow showers after 10 p.m. as overnight lows fall into the low-30s. Rain and snow showers continue Thursday and into the weekend with highs in the low 40s and a total accumulation of less than an inch.
By Brian Beckley Staff Writer
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Hundreds gathered at Driftwood Point Park on north Lake Tapps Tuesday for the New Year’s Day Polar Bear Plunge. The plunge, once the personal tradition of a small group of family and friends, began as an open event in 2011. Two years later, attendance has blossomed, with many repeat polar bears and a few polar bears dressed in costume. “As you walk in, you think ‘Why am I doing this?’” three-year plunger Chas Fisk said. “But afterward you feel great.”
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News ..................................ext. 3 Classifieds...........................ext.1 Retail Ads .........................ext. 4 Circulation .......................ext. 2
Photo above courtesy Janice Thomas. Photo at right by Daniel Nash.
All in all, 2012 turned out to be a pretty good year for building permits in the city of Bonney Lake and 2013 is already looking promising as cost reductions for builders begin to take effect. Led by a 41 percent increase over the previous year in single-family residential permits the city brought in a 46 percent increase in building permit revenue, with indications that 2013 should continue a positive trend for the city. Community Development Director John Vodopich said while the numbers are no where near the city’s heyday in the middle part of the last decade, the 2012 numbers
See Permits, Page 4
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