Oct. 18 — Property rights battle rages in Bonney Lake

The rights of private property owners are being debated in Bonney Lake these days. The owner of a former restaurant in the downtown area has converted his business into a bass-thumping nightclub whose late-night activities are annoying neighbors.

Does the property owner have a right to operate any business allowable under a city’s zoning regulations? Do residential homeowners adjacent to the nightclub have a right to the peace and quiet they enjoyed when the business served pasta and wine rather than hip-hop and rock?

As usual, problems of this nature occur in the transition zones. Residents might argue if the business had always been a nightclub, they wouldn’t have purchased their houses. The businessman can argue that the zoning always allowed a nightclub and just because one didn’t exist there in the past doesn’t mean it never would.

Bonney Lake City Council will have to sort this one out by a carefully constructed downtown plan that moves potentially objectionable property uses into the core of the city, and creating a smoother transition into residential areas.