The Snoqualmie Arts Commission will dedicate a new piece of public artwork at 10 a.m. Feb. 11  on the front steps of the Snoqualmie Community Center,  35018 SE Ridge St.

The sculpture, titled “Tah Dah,” stands 18 feet high with the top section revolving in the wind.

New Snoqualmie artwork

The dedication will occur just prior to the grand opening of the Snoqualmie Community Center and Snoqualmie Valley YMCA open house.

According to a Feb. 7 press release from the city of Snoqualmie, “Tah Dah” is one of more than ten works of public art in Snoqualmie. The two most recent works are in Snoqualmie City Hall – a glass mobile by Eden Rivers and a vitreous enamel mural of Snoqualmie Falls by Kathleen Frugé-Brown. Also at City Hall is a panel of five murals by Snoqualmie artist Dick Burhans depicting the Snoqualmie Valley timber industry.

Learn more about the Snoqualmie Arts Commission and artwork in Snoqualmie by contacting Nicole Sanders at nsanders@ci.snoqualmie.wa.us or 888-5337.

Free drop-off of wood debris from the recent storm is available Feb. 4 – 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of Snoqualmie Parkway and State Route 202.

No leaves, sod, grass clippings, food waste or animal waste will be accepted, nor construction debris or any other type of solid waste.

This service is offered courtesy of the City of Snoqualmie and is open to Snoqualmie residents and businesses. King County is offering other free drop-off points for citizens of greater King County. Check locations and times at www.kingcounty.gov.

The Snoqualmie Parks & Recreation Department will host a free 45-minute workshop for homeowners on how to assess tree damage and take corrective steps that may salvage limbs that are not too badly damaged. The workshop will be on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 1:00 p.m. at the Snoqualmie Community Center/ YMCA, 35018 SE Ridge Street on Snoqualmie Ridge.

Also, soft-surface and wood-chip trails damaged by the recent winter storm have been cleared and are open for use.
For more information, contact Joan Pliego with the city at 888-1555, ext. 1125 or go online at www.cityofsnoqualmie.org.

Free wood debris recycling will be available on Feb. 4-5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., to all King County residents at four locations: Cedar Falls, Enumclaw, Kent and Shoreline.  See below for full details and contact information.

Locations:

·        Cedar Falls Drop Box, 16925 Cedar Falls Rd., North Bend

·        Enumclaw Recycling and Transfer Station, 1650 Battersby Ave. E, Enumclaw

·        Shoreline Recycling and Transfer Station, 2300 N 165th St., Shoreline

·        Kent’s Russell Road Park, 24400 Russell Rd., Kent (external)

Details: These events are open to King County residents only. No contractor or commercial loads at the Kent location. The collection sites and events are exclusively for wood debris from the recent storms. Stumps, logs and limbs no longer than six feet in length are allowed. Please place material on a tarp or sheet of plywood for ease of removal.

Restrictions: No brush, leaves, grass clippings, sod, soil, construction or other debris. People bringing wood debris are reminded to secure their loads.

Contact information: King County Solid Waste Division – 206-296-4466
Website: http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/garbage-recycling/storm-debris.asp

“We have made it easy for residents to dispose of debris so they can quickly put the storms of last week behind them and move on with life,” he said.

Free wood debris recycling for King County residents will be available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 28-29, and again on Feb. 4-5 at four locations:

·         The Shoreline, Enumclaw and Cedar Falls solid waste facilities. For directions and hours, visit http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/index.asp.

·         At Kent’s Russell Road Park, 24400 Russell Rd., Kent. Clean wood debris will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

“People living in our unincorporated and rural communities are facing numerous challenges in the wake of the wild weather of the last two weeks,” said Metropolitan King County Council Chair Larry Gossett. “This is one way to ease the financial burden that will come with cleaning up the damage to their homes and property.”

“In the aftermath of a major storm, it is important that King County work with citizens who are doing their part to recover,” said Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who represents Southeast King County. “The people who are bringing in debris from the storm are often not just helping themselves; they are also pitching in and helping their neighbors as well. I applaud the decision to help citizens recycling this wood debris.”

“Some rural residents in areas with more trees suffered significant hardships in the aftermath of last week’s severe winter storms,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, who represents northeast King County. “Much of the damage was not covered by homeowners insurance, but they can take advantage of this opportunity for free disposal of waste wood. Those who incurred storm-related costs and damages also are reminded to report them at www.kingcounty.gov/damage.”

“The recent winter storms downed trees and branches, leaving significant debris in their wake,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, who represents North King County. “Waiving the fee for storm-related debris at the Shoreline Transfer Station will assist north end residents who are cleaning up after the storms.”

“There are neighborhoods in Kent littered with tree debris from not only the snow and ice storms of last week, but the high winds that have come through the region this week,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson who represents Kent on the County Council.  “Free recycling for area residents demonstrates a high level of responsiveness from County government following these major storms.”

The collection sites and events are exclusively for wood debris from the recent storms. Stumps, logs and limbs no longer than six feet in length are allowed – no brush, leaves, grass clippings, sod or soil can be accepted. These events are open to all King County residents. People bringing wood debris are reminded to secure their loads.

King County Solid Waste Division Director Kevin Kiernan says residents have several additional storm debris disposal options available, including curbside recycling (yard waste cart) and commercial recycling companies that charge a fee for their service, but may prove to be more convenient for some residents.

Storm debris disposal information is available online at http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/index.asp, or by calling the recycling hotline at 206-296-4466 or 1-800-325-6165 ext. 64466.

There are a few options, starting with a special storm debris collection from noon to 4 p.m. on Friday, and 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturday at the North Bend Public Works Yard at 1155 E. North Bend Way.

Cheryl Proffitt-Schmidt, administrative services director for the city of North Bend, said this event is only for North Bend utility customers and citizens must bring a copy of their North Bend utility bill to the collection site.

Allied Waste, now called Republic Services, is helping with the special collection. Proffitt-Schmidt said the collection is only for wood debris from the recent storm, and that all limbs and branches need to be cut into four-foot lengths.  No other form of garbage or recyclables may be dropped off.

“We just knew there was going to be a big need for this,” she said, “It’s only for these two days, but if the floodgates open and two days aren’t enough, then maybe we’ll schedule more days.”

Joan Pliego, Snoqualmie’s communications coordinator, said the city will hold a free collection point for woody debris at the former holiday tree lot, on the corner of Snoqualmie Parkway and State Route 202, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Feb. 28 and Feb. 29, and again on Feb. 4 and 5.

She pointed out that the collection is only for Snoqualmie residents and that no leaves, sod, grass clippings, food or animal waste will be accepted

Sammamish is also holding a special storm debris collection this weekend. Mike Keller, the parks resource supervisor, said he’s expecting a pretty big turnout.

“We’ve held these after storms in the past and easily collect hundreds of yards,” he said.

Again, this is only for Sammamish residents and only tree branches and yard debris will be taken. Collections will be held at Beaver Lake Park ball fields, 2526 244th Ave. S.E., and East Sammamish Park, 21300 N.E. 16th St.

Collections will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

If you’re not a local resident, Doug Williams, spokesman for King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, said garbage haulers have told him that customers may set out twice the normal amount of trash at no extra charge on the next regular collection day.

He said the county is not offering any special collections for storm debris.

“We want everyone to be able to clean up the mess this storm left us, but try and get another use out of it such as firewood,” Williams said.

He also said the county’s website offers a list of companies that remove downed trees and fallen tree limbs, and then recycles the waste, usually for landscaping uses.

That website is: http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/wdidw/material.asp

Michele Mihalovich: 392-6434, ext. 246 or editor@snovalleystar.com

Thousands of people across the Valley had power restored Jan. 22, according to the website for Puget Sound Energy.

Snoqualmie Valley schools will reopen on normal hours Jan. 23. Heat and power have returned to all Valley schools, a press release stated. If anything should change overnight, the Valley school district advised checking online at www.svsd410.org. Unless posted otherwise, classes will go on as scheduled.

The district will make up for the four lost days at the end of the school year. The last day of school is now June 15.

The recovery from the long week of icy roads, blackouts and collapsed tree limbs began around Jan. 20, with Snoqualmie Parkway reopening after a two day closure.

As of Jan. 22, both State Routes 202 and 18 have reopened. In Snoqualmie, Tokul Road and Lake Alice Road have also reopened. In North Bend, Southeast Edgewick has reopened, as well.

Snoqualmie’s North Fork Road Southeast remains closed at the 7200 block as of Jan. 20.

Fall City’s Neal Road Southeast remains closed 200 feet from the intersection of State Route 203. That closure predates the storm.

The city of Snoqualmie issued an e-mail asking residents to clear ice and debris from storm drains, as Snoqualmie Public Works crews work on this issue but needed the residents’ and business owners’ help to reach all affected drains.

At Snoqualmie Pass, as of 8:31 p.m. Jan. 22, eastbound traffic on Interstate 90 is stopped at milepost 56 and westbound traffic is stopped at milepost 61, due to avalanche control. It’s snowing with gusty winds west of the summit.

Prior to the stoppage, traction tires were required and chains were required for vehicles over 10,000 pounds in gross weight. Oversized vehicles were prohibited.

Still, thousands of people remain in the dark across the Valley, according to the website for Puget Sound Energy.

Even as the snowfall stopped, calendars, plans and schedules kept collapsing. The latest victim was the Jan. 21 grand opening of the Snoqualmie Community Center and the YMCA. The city has yet to reschedule, according to a press release from Joan Pliego, public information officer for the city of Snoqualmie.

On a bit of good news, Pliego added that after a two-day closure Snoqualmie Parkway reopened Jan. 20.

The city called on its residents to clear ice and debris from storm drains, as Snoqualmie Public Works crews work on this issue but needed the residents’ and business owners’ help to reach all affected drains.

According to the King County Road Alert email, several roads elsewhere in the Valley remain unusable as of Jan.20.

State Route 202 remained closed from Snoqualmie’s Salish Lodge and Spa to Fall City. State Route 18 is closed both ways from Snoqualmie to Southeast 231^st Street, milepost 16 in Maple Valley.

Lake Alice Road and North Fork Road Southeast in Snoqualmie remain closed due to downed trees.

Tokul Road Southeast between Southeast 53^rd Way and Southeast 60^th Street is also closed.

In North Bend, Southeast Edgewick Road from 464^th Way to the end area remains closed.

In Fall City, Neal Road Southeast remains closed 200 feet from the intersection with State Route 203.

At Snoqualmie Pass, a power outage west of the summit has made chaining up a more dangerous job than usual.

At 11:45 p.m. Jan. 20, the Washington State Department of Transportation stopped traffic at milepost 56 and westbound at milepost 61, for avalanche control.

Lastly, Eastside Fire & Rescue reported a minor fire in North Bend left no injuries. At 2:53 a.m. Jan. 20, firefighters arrived at the 45100 block of Southeast 130^th Place. Occupants of the house told authorities they had placed candles on a cardboard box when the fire began. According to an EFR press release , nobody was injured and the building suffered minimal damages.

According to Puget Sound Energy, 603 customers in Fall City, 4,953 customers in North Bend and 5,148 in Snoqualmie have suffered power outages in the last 24 hours.

The city of Snoqualmie has closed Snoqualmie Parkway in both directions at Fisher Avenue due to downed power lines across the roadway, a city email stated.

The email added that police and fire units have arrived on scene and it’s unknown how long the street will be closed.

State Route 202 in both directions from Fall City to Snoqualmie has been closed due to a landslide.

In North Bend, fallen trees closed Southeast Edgewick Road from 464^th Way Southeast to the end area.

In Fall City, Neal Road Southeast is closed 200 feet from the intersection of State Route 203.

State Route 18 is also closed from Auburn to Issaquah-Hobart Road in both directions

Lastly, westbound Interstate 90 is closed at Snoqualmie Pass for avalanche control and between Cle Elum and Ellensburg due to multiple collisions. Eastbound, the pass and the highway remain open, though traction tires are required.

The Snoqualmie Valley School District cancelled classes for the third consecutive day. Mount Si High School will extend the semester and Finals Week to accommodate any lost days.

The Finals Week schedule will go as follows

On the first full day back: Language Arts, World Languages and CTE

On the second full day back: Social Studies and Science

On the third full day back: Math, Physical Education, Arts and TSE

No finals on Friday.

They will all get to stay home instead of having to brave the snow-slick streets on their way to and from school.

The National Weather Service forecast for the night of Jan. 15 calls for snow showers in Snoqualmie, with up to half an inch of snow accumulating.

On Martin Luther King day, chance of precipitation will reach 80 percent, with up to an inch of snow accumulation possible. That night, up to three inches of snow may fall.

In North Bend, expect a little more snow early on, with up to four inches falling by Monday night.

The Valley will see snow all the way until Wednesday night in North Bend, with possible accumulation of five to seven inches in Snoqualmie and nine in North Bend.

According to the Seattle Times, state’s department of transportation anticipates no avalanche-control measures on Interstate 90, given the thinness of the mountain snowpack

As of early evening Jan. 15, Snoqualmie Pass had no chain requirement in place. Oversized vehicles were prohibited.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

As of 11:01 a.m. Nov. 23, most Western Washington rivers are cresting, and the Snoqualmie is expected to crest just below flood stage.

As of 6 p.m. Nov. 23, King County has issued a  provisional Phase 1 alert, with the caveat that no flooding typically occurs on Phase 1.

The National Weather Service flood watch stated a possibility of minor flooding exists Nov. 23 at night or Nov. 24 in the morning on the Snoqualmie River, as the crest moves downstream through the lower reaches.

The flood watch will remain in effect until early Nov. 24, and it will affect King, Lewis, Snohomish and Thurston counties. Clallam, Jefferson, Mason and Grays Harbor counties are no longer under flood watch.

A flood watch means a flood may happen but it’s not certain of occurring.

According to the King County website, at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 23 the sum of the flows on the Snoqualmie River’s three forks was 8,640 cubic feet per second.

At 6,000 cubic feet per second or Phase 1, the county issues an internal alert.

At 12,000 cubic feet or Phase 2, flooding may occur in the Valley’s lowlands.

At 20,000 cubic feet or Phase 3, flooding of varied depths occurs across the entire Valley.

At 38,000 cubic feet, some residential areas may experience dangerous high velocities and flooding of homes.

Check back often at www.snovalleystar.com. for further updates.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

The Snoqualmie Valley Veterans' Memorial Park central monument is unveiled Nov. 11 during the Veterans Day dedication ceremony. Four local World War II veterans, Bob Hamerly, Wally Koering, Dave Lake and Jim Posey, uncovered the granite monument with the names of Valley residents who died during wartime. (By Greg Farrar)

Several hundred people gathered in downtown Snoqualmie for the dedication of the Snoqualmie Valley Veterans Monument under gray skies that turned to rain during the ceremony.

The dedication began with the tolling of the bell that rang in the town 93 years earlier to signal the end of World War I.

Snoqualmie Valley lost 12 men in that war. They are among the 77 men and one woman on the monument’s memorial to those who have died while in the U.S. Armed Forces. A temporary stone was in place for the ceremony. The finished memorial will be installed later this winter, said Cristy Lake, a member of the monument committee.

Four local World War II veterans walked slowly to the temporary memorial stone, which was covered by a dark red cloth. The old men pulled the covering off, revealing the names of Valley residents cut down in their youth.

The crowd collectively leaned forward. People whispered the names. Camera shutters whirred. Flashes fired. And a light rain fell.

Two of the Valley’s elected officials – state Rep. Jay Rodne and U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert – read each name aloud. A bell tolled once for each name. At the end of the list, the honor guard of local veterans fired three volleys.

The monument has been years in the making. The effort was driven by a dedicated group of volunteers, including Lake.

It was paid for by money collected from fundraisers, donations and the sales of commemorative bricks. Mr. K’s Construction, a North Bend company, donated labor and materials.

Workers finished at 10 a.m., said Marty Kester, the company’s owner.

Some landscaping still remains to be finished. Given how late it is the fall, the monument’s flowers won’t be planted until the spring, he said.

His crew did plant a blood sycamore in the monument. The sycamore calls back to the now-gone company town of Snoqualmie Falls. In one of the town’s neighborhoods, sycamore trees lined the streets.

Seven men from Snoqualmie Falls died in World War II.

After the ceremony, some people lingered over the memorial stone.

Josh Kepfer stood in the rain, which was coming down heavier, reading over the names. He held his son David in his car seat.

The North Bend man and U.S. Army veteran was thinking of friends he’d lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It’s a lot emotion, a lot of emotion,” Kepfer said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

A representative from the Public Employment Relations Commission is handling the mediation.

During the talks, the city and the union have signed off on tentative agreements on non-economic issues that will be incorporated into the final collective bargaining agreement. The two sides reached consensus on language regarding the agreement’s duration, vacations, court appearances and disciplinary letters. Under the tentative agreements, the new contract would be in force through 2013.

The city and the union are still at odds over language in a bill of rights for the city’s police officers and a different management rights clause proposed by the city, according to City Attorney Pat Anderson.

Both sides agreed to table their differences until the next contract is negotiated in 2014.

King County Meadowbrook Bridge rises above the Snoqualmie River during the January 2009 flood. Snoqualmie would assume the cost of maintaining the bridge if it annexes the Weyerhaeuser mill site.

Snoqualmie City Council has approved an agreement between the city and property owners of a former Weyerhaeuser mill that paves the way for a vote on annexing the property.

The vote on annexation could come as soon as Nov. 14.

While the pre-annexation agreement passed with unanimous support at the Council’s Oct. 24 meeting, several council members expressed reservations about added infrastructure maintenance costs the city would take on by annexing the property.

After annexation, the city would assume responsibility for maintaining the Meadowbrook Way Bridge, Mill Pond Road and a stretch of Reinig Road.

Maintaining the two roads and bridge could cost Snoqualmie more than $25,000 a year, according to a fiscal impact study by the city. The costs are currently covered by King County.

These added costs come at a time when the city is already struggling to find a way to pay for the upkeep of its existing infrastructure.

“I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I have strong reservations as to this annexation,” Councilman Charlie Peterson said.

“I think you speak for more than one of us there,” said Councilwoman Maria Henriksen.

The city’s administration is firmly in favor of the annexation, arguing that Snoqualmie can absorb the added costs, and the long-term benefits far outweigh the costs.

The fiscal impact study projected that taxes collected by the city from the annexed area would cover the added annual costs.

But some council members don’t want Snoqualmie to assume the multimillion-dollar price tag of rebuilding the Meadowbrook Way Bridge in 15 to 25 years.

Mayor Matt Larson supports the annexation, saying that it will benefit Snoqualmie. The greatest benefit to the city will be having control over what happens on the large industrially-zoned site that sits across the Snoqualmie River from the city’s historic downtown.

The council also approved zoning for the site if it is annexed into the city at its meeting. It would be similar to the existing zoning but slightly more restrictive.

Until 2003, Weyerhaeuser operated a lumber mill on the land.

For decades before, the mill was an economic engine for the Snoqualmie Valley.

City officials hope that it can be again.

In 2010, DirtFish Rally School opened on the site. The business teaches rally car driving.

Questions about whether the business constituted redevelopment of the site prompted King County and Snoqualmie to begin discussing transferring the land to the city.

At the same time, a grassroots group, Your Snoqualmie Valley, formed to oppose the annexation.

At the Oct. 24 council meeting, Your Snoqualmie Valley member Warren Rose said if Snoqualmie votes to annex the property, the group will fight the decision in court.

Many of the group’s members want DirtFish shut down. They say the school is ruining their quality of life and will lower property values.

Other members are concerned that the city is sidestepping its own flood-mitigation policies in the annexation process.

Officials from DirtFish say that they are good neighbors.

A sound study of DirtFish that was commissioned by Snoqualmie in August found that the school is operating within legal noise limits.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

While the pre-annexation agreement passed with unanimous support at the Council’s Oct. 24 meeting, several council members expressed reservations about added infrastructure maintenance costs the city would take on by annexing the property. After annexation, the city would assume responsibility for maintaining the Meadowbrook Way Bridge, Mill Pond Road and a stretch of Reinig Road.

Maintaining the two roads and bridge could cost Snoqualmie more than $25,000 a year according to a fiscal impact study by the city. The costs are currently covered by King County.

These added costs come at a time when the city is already struggling to find a way to pay for the upkeep of its existing infrastructure.

“I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I have strong reservations as to this annexation,” Councilman Charlie Peterson said.

“I think you speak for more than one of us there, Charlie,” Councilwoman Maria Henriksen said.

The city’s administration is firmly in favor of the annexation, arguing that Snoqualmie can absorb the added costs, and the long-term benefits far outweigh the costs.

The fiscal impact study projected that taxes collected by the city from the annexed area would cover the added annual costs.

But some council members don’t want Snoqualmie to assume the multi-million dollar price tag of rebuilding the Meadowbrook Way Bridge in 15 to 25 years.

Mayor Matt Larson supports the annexation, saying that it will benefit Snoqualmie. The greatest benefit to the city will be having control over what happens on the large industrially-zoned site that sits across the Snoqualmie River from the city’s historic downtown.

The Council also approved zoning for the site if it is annexed into the city at its meeting. It would be similar to the existing zoning but slightly more restrictive.

Until 2003, Weyerhaeuser operated a lumber mill on the land. For decades before, the mill had been an economic engine for Snoqualmie Valley.

City officials hope that it can be again.

In 2010, DirtFish Rally School opened on the site. The business teaches rally car driving.

Questions about if the business constituted redevelopment of the site prompted King County and Snoqualmie to begin discussing transferring the land to the city.

At the same time, a grassroots group, Your Snoqualmie Valley, formed to oppose the annexation. At Monday’s council meeting, Your Snoqualmie Valley member Warren Rose said if Snoqualmie votes to annex the property, the group will fight the decision in court.

Many of the group’s members want DirtFish shut down. They say it is ruining their quality of life and will lower property values. Other members are concerned that the city is sidestepping its own flood-mitigation policies in the annexation process.

Officials from DirtFish say that they continue to be good neighbors.

A sound study of DirtFish that was commissioned by Snoqualmie in August found that the school is operating within legal noise limits.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The city will put reflective “No Parking” stickers on the side of mailboxes affected by the ordinance, which the City Council passed at its Sept. 26 meeting.

The prohibition was fueled by complaints from the United States Postal Service that mail trucks have had difficulty parking near grouped mailboxes on the Ridge.

“Sadly, this is a matter of legislating good manners,” Councilman Bryan Halloway said at the council’s Sept. 12 meeting, when the ordinance was introduced.

Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said that enforcing the prohibition will be complaint driven.

“We won’t be out to browbeat people,” he said.

The ordinance gives police a mechanism to force people to move if they are parked in front of mailboxes.

The proposed map keeps the upper Snoqualmie Valley together in District 3 while rebalancing the county’s population between its nine districts.

Click to enlarge

Public hearing King County Courthouse 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 1 Council Chambers, 10th Floor 516 Third Ave., Seattle

District 3 is currently the most populous of the districts. Several earlier proposals had shifted some neighborhoods near North Bend into District 9 to the south.

That would have been a mistake, North Bend city officials said at the time.

“They identify with us,” Mayor Ken Hearing said.

North Bend officials feared that if the areas were moved to District 9, their residents would become an afterthought for its representative, Reagan Dunn, because the vast majority of his constituents live to the southeast.

King County Districting Committee members unanimously agreed Sept. 19 to release a final proposal for public comment and review. A plan must be adopted by Jan. 15 for the 2012 election.

The King County Charter says districts should be “with compact and contiguous territory, composed of economic and geographic units, and approximately equal in population.” Population data cannot be used to favor or disadvantage any racial group or political party.

The result is fair and balanced across the county, said Council-woman Kathy Lambert, who represents District 3.

The final proposal does change District 3. If the plan is approved, Lambert will no longer represent any part of Kirkland, Woodinville or Bellevue. At least some portion of each city is currently in her district.

“I knew it had to happen. I’m sorry to see those cities go,” Lambert said. “It’s like losing a child to college: You know it’s coming, but you’re sorry when it does.”

Under the final plan, she will continue to represent Snoqualmie, North Bend, Carnation, Duvall, part of Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah and Skykomish.

When drawing district borders, committee members don’t want to create any orphan areas, said Simon Farretta, the committee’s lead staff member.

Residents can share their thoughts on the proposal at a Nov. 1 public hearing in Seattle.

The five-person redistricting committee gathered input at a series of public meetings before releasing its latest proposal. The next hearing is the last step before the committee acts on the proposed map.

“Public testimony raised new ideas and helped us better understand communities of interest,” committee Chairman Terrence Carroll, a retired King County Superior Court judge, said in a statement. “Public input helped members come together around common principles and reach unanimous agreement on a proposed plan three months ahead of schedule.”

The County Council appointed the committee in January.

On the Web
See a map of the King County Districting Committee redistricting proposal at www.snovalleystar.com/tag/redistricting.

City Council members asked for more detailed analysis of the expected costs of annexation, and opponents criticized the study as incomplete.

The City Council is still considering a pre-annexation agreement between the city, DirtFish Rally School and the site’s owners: the Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Development Co. and Snoqualmie Mill Ventures. The owner of Snoqualmie Mill Ventures, Steve Rimmer, also owns DirtFish.

The agreement outlines conditions for annexation and expectations for the city and companies after annexation. It is the key to the annexation process, according to Snoqualmie City Attorney Pat Anderson.

Questions from Council members focused mostly on the potential maintenance costs of Reinig Road, Mill Pond Road and Meadowbrook Bridge.

Maintaining the two roads and bridge could cost Snoqualmie more than $25,000 a year according to the city’s study.

“I’m not interested in annexing Reinig Road. I’m not interested in annexing Meadowbrook Bridge,” Councilman Charlie Peterson said.

City officials tried to leave Reinig Road and Meadowbrook Bridge out of the annexation, but that was not possible because the annexation was initiated the city and King County, and not by voters. Since it is a negotiated annexation, 60 percent of the area’s border has to touch Snoqualmie’s existing city limits.

The city thinks Reinig Road is in “horrible shape,” City Administrator Bob Larson said.

Mill Pond Road is in worse condition, and the city could close it altogether if the annexation happens, Larson said.

Bringing it up to city standards is expected to cost $12,000, according to the study. The annual maintenance cost is estimated to be $6,000.

Council members asked for more information about the estimated life span of Meadowbrook Bridge, which is a registered historic landmark with the county. King County rebuilt the bridge for $7.7 million in 2005.

In the short run, Snoqualmie will bring in more money from the proposed annexation site than it would spend on the land, said Finance Officer Rob Orton, who authored the study.

City officials expect that revenue from the site would grow from future development.

Still without any concrete development proposals, it is impossible to do a long term fiscal analysis of annexation, Orton said.

“Usually you have some objective plan in front of you that you can evaluate objectively, but I don’t,” he said. “That’s part of the conundrum.”

But even if no development plans exist at the moment, the area has potential for future development, the consulting agency Berk noted in its peer review of the city’s fiscal impact study.

Given the current economic climate, developing the site could take time.

“Redevelopment — it’s going to occur. Not tomorrow, but eventually,” Larson said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Three of the four plans unveiled by members of the Washington Redistricting Commission moved the 8^th congressional district to the east and across the Cascade Mountains. Another plan moved the cities into a more rural version of the current 1^st congressional district.

The commission is tasked with redrawing the state’s congressional districts and adding a new 10^th district due to population growth since 2000.

The four commissioners will now negotiate the final boundaries, which will be used for the 2012 election. If they fail to settle on a final map by Jan. 1, the state Supreme Court is responsible for redrawing the districts.

Residents can comment on the plans by email and at a series of forums in Olympia. at the commission’s website.

Based on their experience living in Seattle and Manhattan, they knew they wanted to get out of the city to raise their family. They settled on the Snoqualmie Valley.

The Jamers are not alone. The Snoqualmie Valley has drawn thousands of people to its idyllic setting to raise families. That trend has only continued in the past 10 years, according to data from the 2010 U.S. Census.

In the upper Snoqualmie Valley, 75.2 percent of all households are families, compared to 58.5 percent for all households in King County.

Valley residents have long seen the area as family friendly. In 2000, 73.8 percent of all households were families.

The slight increase could have come from the development of Snoqualmie Ridge, which drew many young families, including the Jamers. In 2010, 83.3 percent of all households on the Ridge were families. The Ridge also has the highest average household size for all Census tracts in the upper Valley, with an average of 3.28, compared to an overall average of 3.14.

“In the Valley, we feel heavily invested in our close community,” Kristin Jamer said. “We love local events like the Christmas tree lighting in Snoqualmie and the farmers market.”

They came for the tight-knit community, the natural setting, the proximity to urban amenities, the sense of safety and the area’s beauty.

They’ve been happy with their decision, Jamer said.

“The Valley’s community has been a wonderful support for raising our kids,” she said.

Like the Jamers, Tamara Davidson and her husband moved to the Valley six years ago to raise their family. They settled in North Bend.

“Snoqualmie Valley has the community feel we were looking for,” Davidson said. “I love that there are so many wonderful parks, hiking trails and community events here.”

But the Valley’s rainy nature can make life difficult when you have to watch young children. That is the situation Davidson, a stay-at-home mother, found herself in with her two boys, ages 3 and 5.

“There are a few kid-friendly indoor activities that keep us busy through the rainy season, but they are not always enough,” she said.

Being new to the area, she couldn’t easily turn to family for help.

“Since we don’t have family in the area, I also know how hard it is to get reliable care on short notice or for short periods,” Davidson said.

So, she opened Totz, a drop-in play center for children this spring.

Totz isn’t the only resource, though. There are other private and public childcare facilities. During the summer, Snoqualmie offers a supervised playtime in a city park once a week. The public libraries’ programming has many weekly and one-time events designed for young children.

Clubs have formed to keep children engaged. Heather Tuip, a stay-at-home mother, has found help through the North Bend MOMS Club, which offers daily activities for mothers and children.

Tuip has a 5-year-old boy and a 21-month-old girl.

Having grown up in a small town, Tuip wanted her children to share that experience, so she and her husband moved to Snoqualmie seven years ago. But she felt isolated before she found the MOMS Club.

“I was feeling like the only stay-at-home mom in the Valley when I found the club through a flyer,” Tuip said.

The club has also been a support group for her during a difficult year.

“I don’t think I would be able to muster up much of a smile if I didn’t have the support of the friends I have made through the MOMS Club,” she said.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Steve Smith (left) and Karen Volkman have created a new life for themselves in Snoqualmie after leaving Washington, D.C., in the wake of Sept. 11. (By Dan Catchpole)

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, deeply shook the United States. The terrorist attacks in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Shanksville, Pa., caused the country to take a collective pause.

While targets were located in the Northeast, the effects of 9/11 reached across the country to the Snoqualmie Valley. The effects have been varied, but are still being felt today, 10 years later.

Some people re-evaluated their priorities in life. Others never looked at their jobs in the same light again.

Some answered a call to serve in the military. The families and friends of the victims have lived with a deep grief of having the lives of loved ones cut short by acts of formerly incomprehensible violence.

‘A terrorist attack’

Steve Smith and Karen Volkman were young and career-driven when they met in Washington, D.C., in 2000. Both were recent graduates, and had moved to the nation’s capital to advance their professional lives. Both worked as public policy analysts in downtown D.C. near Capitol Hill: Smith for the National Conference of State Legislatures and Volkman for Planned Parenthood.

Eventually, each of them wanted to raise a family outside the city, but at the time, they were happy living life inside the Beltway, where the chatter at a Georgetown bar on Friday night is as likely to be about proposed federal policy changes as the latest sports scores.

Friends had set the pair up, and by the fall of 2001, Smith and Volkman had moved into a place in Washington’s Woodley Park neighborhood, just north of Georgetown.

Volkman woke up feeling sick Sept. 11, 2001. She was too sick to go into the office, and stayed in bed. Smith was home from the office waiting to go to a dentist appointment mid-morning. A self-proclaimed “news junkie,” Smith turned on CNN.

At 8:49 a.m., CNN broke into a commercial to report that the North Tower at the World Trade Center in New York had been hit by a plane three minutes earlier. After a few minutes, Smith woke Volkman up and told her to turn on the television in their bedroom.

Early news reports had little definitive information. No one knew three more planes had been hijacked. Reporters were being told that a small plane had hit the building. Still, a unsettling feeling came over Volkman.

“I looked at Steve and said, ‘I bet it was a terrorist attack,’” she said.

The day’s events proved her premonition true.

‘Terrifying not knowing’

Smith called a friend who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency at its headquarters in Langley, Va. They were talking at 9:02 a.m. when United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

“There was a bunch of commotion in the background, and he said, ‘Yeah, I got to go,’” Smith said.

Smith and Volkman tried to get a hold of friends in New York.

“Of course, within no time the phone lines were jammed,” Smith said.

News media began to report about at least one other plane possibly being hijacked and headed for Washington.

“We didn’t know where it was. We didn’t know where it was going,” Volkman said. “It was terrifying not knowing.”

Like millions of Americans, the couple could only watch the day’s events on television.

They were helpless to do anything, except to keep trying to reach people in New York and Washington by phone.

At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, a couple of miles south of their apartment. From their building’s rooftop, they could see the smoke from the fire.

Little more than 20 minutes later, the South Tower collapsed. At 10:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pa., as hijackers and passengers fought for control of the plane. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower came down.

The shock of the events set in.

“Numb, just feeling numb,” Volkman said.

The couple wondered if they should just get in a car and drive. It didn’t matter where, so long as it was away from Washington and New York.

In the wake of the attacks, an eerie silence descended over the capitol. All flights were suspended, so the usually busy skies over D.C. were quiet.

A few days later, Smith went back to work for the first time since the attacks. The Metro was silent. Like many Americans, Smith and Volkman were still processing what they’d witnessed and how it changed their lives.

“After 9/11, there was so much uncertainty. It kind of made you realize what is important, that it’s not all about work,” Volkman said.

‘Never far from my mind’

Volkman was from Bellevue and was thinking about moving back home. The anthrax attacks that began Sept. 18 convinced her it was time to leave D.C.

“I walked into the mailroom, and two clerks were in chemical hazard gear holding an envelope,” she said.

That envelope didn’t contain anthrax spores, but both Smith and Volkman knew people who had to take Cipro, an antibiotic that can counteract anthrax’s potentially fatal effects.

By October, they decided to leave for Bellevue.

“I loved my job, and I hated to leave,” but staying in D.C. wasn’t an option, Smith said.

Neither one had a job lined up when they left shortly before Thanksgiving.

Both eventually found jobs and settled down in Snoqualmie, where they plan to raise a family.

The city’s winding, tree-lined streets are far removed from Washington and 9/11, but the day’s memory lives with them still.

“It’s never far from my mind — 9/11, it’s something that we’re never going to forget,” Volkman said. “We’re never going to forget where we were. It’s something that is going to stay with us.”

But neither one is trapped by the memory.

“The world changed on Sept. 11, but life carries on,” Smith said. “It doesn’t stop us from flying or going to places.”

Like many students, I woke up and turned on the television. I didn’t have class until later and was enjoying a lazy morning.

Then someone told me to turn to the news — a plane had hit the South Tower at the World Trade Center.

My girlfriend and I watched the events unfold in shock and horror. Like so many other Americans, we couldn’t turn away from the TV.

We wondered if we would get caught in the day’s events. We lived across the street from the State Department, a half-mile from the White House, a mile from Capitol Hill and a mile from the Pentagon.

At 9:37 a.m., we heard a loud thud. The Pentagon had been hit.

When the first tower came down, I tried to call my brother, who worked a few blocks from the World Trade Center. But the phone lines were jammed.

When the towers collapsed, one thought kept running through my mind: Enough. Enough bloodshed, enough violence. I felt sick to my stomach.

The fear of the unknown on 9/11 was terrible.

The scene in downtown D.C. was surreal. The usually busy streets were nearly deserted. On the horizon, a curl of greasy, black smoke snaked through the sky from the Pentagon. I don’t remember what we did all day. It is a blur.

But that night, I had trouble sleeping. After 4 a.m., I went for a walk to get every newspaper I could find. I walked to Georgetown, then down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House and back to my apartment in Foggy Bottom.

Members of the military were out, but it wasn’t an overbearing presence. It was certainly nothing like in 1968, when armed National Guardsmen patrolled the streets of D.C. and enforced a curfew after riots broke out.

The White House wasn’t cordoned off. Sure, there was more security, but it wasn’t a fortress. I was glad to see that fear hadn’t totally gripped us.

Ten years is a long time. My girlfriend from that time is now my wife, and we have a newborn daughter.

But rarely does a day go by when 9/11 doesn’t cross my thoughts, even if only for a brief moment. The memory of that day makes me take stock of my life and my actions. I ask myself, “Am I living my life, so that when I die, I won’t die with regrets?”

Thousands of people senselessly lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001. Of course, thousands of people senselessly lose their lives around the world every day.

Life should never be taken for granted.

Part of the legacy is pain, shock, fear, suffering, introspection, resolve and hope.

But one thing is clear: Our communities remain strong. Terrorists cannot destroy the bonds that tie neighbor to neighbor.

The past 10 years began with a shock of violence that left a profound emotional scar on our country’s psyche. The decade has seen America work through its initial fear, spend much in blood and treasure on two wars and evaluate its role in the world. It has also seen Americans engage in national introspection about who we are and what our most essential values are.

Fear prompted a rise in security measures largely unknown during peacetime in America. Some of these measures have proven valuable and worthwhile. Also, we have debated and continue to debate the value of other measures. But we have not let fear alone guide us.

Continued attempts to attack America have proven that appropriate vigilance is indeed needed.

The attacks of Sept. 11 prompted a nationwide focus on preparing for disasters of all sorts — manmade and natural ones. We are all safer today because of training and resources that were not widely available before 9/11.

As time has passed, the shock of 9/11 has ebbed for most of us. Life has returned to normal, even though the shadow of that day will always be with those of us who lived through it.

Terrorists might have been able to shut down air travel for a few days in our country, but they cannot break our communities, which are the backbone of America.

That is the question a Snoqualmie man is asking in U.S. District Court. Paul Ascherl is suing the city of Issaquah, claiming the city’s restrictions on leafleting at its annual Salmon Days Festival violate his right to free speech.

City officials are asking a similar question: What is free speech if it creates a public danger?

Issaquah restricts leafleting and other free speech activities to two “expression areas” during the festival for the sake of public safety, according to city officials.

Last year, Issaquah police and a festival organizer told Ascherl and two friends that they could only distribute leaflets in one of two expression areas.

But those areas are out of the way and few festivalgoers pass by, meaning that people can talk, but no one is listening.

That is not free speech, argue attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Ascherl.

His complaint was filed July 5 in U.S. District Court for Western Washington. Ascherl wants the court to declare Issaquah’s ordinance unconstitutional, and award him “nominal damages” and compensation for legal fees. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 20.

Balancing free speech and public safety

The lawsuit raises the question about the balance between free speech and public safety, constitutional scholars said.

“To First Amendment purists, free-speech zones are troubling, because what you’re doing is you’re limiting speech by zoning it. You’re capping it to very small locations,” said David Hudson, a First Amendment scholar at the First Amendment Center in Nashville.

Salmon Days has drawn as many as 180,000 people during the two-day festival in recent years. That is a great opportunity to evangelize, which is what Ascherl was doing in 2010.

Ascherl and two friends went to the festival to hand out leaflets promoting their Christian faith.

“When I express my beliefs, I don’t demonstrate. I don’t seek to draw a crowd. I don’t ask for money. I don’t try to gather signatures,” he stated in court documents. “I only want to pass out tracts.”

But leafleting can cause congestion in pedestrian areas. So, “…with a group that large, the government officials may be able to successfully argue that this is a way to both provide at least some protection for free speech while also keeping in mind public safety,” Hudson added.

In numerous rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided state and federal governments may place reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of expression, as long as officials do not discriminate against particular beliefs.

“The government can, as long as they don’t discriminate on viewpoint and as long as they’re not using it as a subterfuge,” said Mark DeForrest, a Gonzaga University School of Law associate professor and First Amendment expert. “Essentially, we have a county fair and then we’re going to create a free-speech zone 3 1/2 miles away in a city park that has nothing to do with the county fair, and if you want to do free speech at the county fair, you have to go to that free speech zone. Well, you’ve basically gotten rid of any free speech at the county fair. As long as they’re not trying to be tricky, as long as they’re not trying to evade the First Amendment requirements, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

No exceptions to the First Amendment

The free-speech zones set up by Issaquah are merely circumventing the First Amendment, said Nate Kellum, one of the attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund representing Ascherl.

Plenty of festivalgoers were causing more congestion than Ascherl and his companions, but festival officials did not bother them, according to the complaint filed on Ascherl’s behalf.

“In the same area, Ascherl observed many other people walking around and standing as they ate food, watched festival activities, talked to each other, and waited in line,” the complaint said. “Ascherl’s literature distribution was far less prone to create congestion than these other activities.”

The city’s expression areas don’t allow for real freedom of expression, Kellum said.

“What is free speech if no one can hear it?” he asked.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Reporter Warren Kagarise contributed to this report.

Today, the Boeing Classic runs seemingly like clockwork. Tens of thousands of spectators flock to Snoqualmie Ridge to watch some of the golfing world’s greatest competitors.

But behind the long drives, chip shots, birdies and bogeys is an army of volunteers. They are the meat and the muscle of the three-day tournament on the PGA’s Champions Tour.

Snoqualmie resident Gary Kerr has been one of the Boeing Classic’s key organizers from the beginning. By Dan Catchpole

For most of the Classic’s existence, one Snoqualmie resident has been leading the tournament’s all-volunteer army. Perhaps more than anyone else, Gary Kerr has helped shape how the Classic functions.

The 65-year-old Kerr is a latecomer to golf. He took up the game when he and his wife moved to Snoqualmie Ridge in 2001. They moved into a house on the eighth hole of the golf course at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, which hosts the Classic.

Kerr joined TPC and took to the links in his free time.

In 2005, Kerr saw that the Boeing Classic was coming to Snoqualmie, and thought it would be fun to volunteer at the event. So, he called Chuck Nelson, the tournament’s organizer at the time.

“I didn’t know what I was getting myself involved in,” Kerr said.

When he called, he didn’t expect to become such an integral part of the tournament’s organization.

Building the organization

At the time, everyone was trying to figure out how best to organize the tournament. There was no model and no one to go to for advice.

“We didn’t really have a sounding board, so that was more stressful,” Kerr said.

He and other organizers had to take their organizational experiences — mostly from the business world — and translate them to a three-day tournament with television coverage and some of the golfing world’s biggest names.

Kerr started out as head of the Shot Link Committee, which was responsible for measuring the distance of each shot and how far players were from the hole, and transmitting that data to the Golf Channel’s commentators.

As with everything else, there were no previous examples of how to organize the dozens of volunteers he was overseeing. Kerr created templates to efficiently schedule and position the volunteers. The templates worked so well, an official from the PGA Tour sent them to other tournament organizations.

“That was a situation where I was flying by the seat of my pants,” Kerr said.

The next year, Kerr found himself at the head of the Boeing Classic’s volunteers.

By 2007, he and other organizers had begun to document how to manage the volunteers.

“We have our organization and plan down pretty well, so it operates very efficiently,” Kerr said.

Still, in the beginning, the organizers had to get by with less. The tournament didn’t draw 1,000 volunteers but 500 or 600. That required a lot of juggling between responsibilities and roles.

The structure has grown as well, from 13 committees to 22. Organizers found it was better to have committee co-chairs rather than a single head for each one.

People keep coming back

Getting good people involved and keeping them has been critical to the Boeing Classic’s success.

Kerr sought people with organizational and people skills. He also worked to get people to return year after year. He did that, in part, by making sure volunteers understood how they contributed to the tournament’s success. It doesn’t hurt that most of the volunteers have fun, too.

About 55 percent of the Boeing Classic’s volunteers return from one year to the next.

“That means they’re having a good experience,” Kerr said.

Volunteers for the tournament actually “pay” for the experience. Many people take a week of vacation to volunteer for the Classic.

The return rate is even better among the volunteer committee co-chairs. About 75 percent of them come back from the previous year. Having experienced organizers come back makes things run much smoother.

“We’re privileged to have those people return each year,” he said.

Being a volunteer co-chair is not a small commitment, either. They begin meeting in March and put in hundreds of hours. As the Volunteer Committee co-chairman, Kerr spent 500 to 600 hours a year working on the Boeing Classic.

The activity really picks up in June.

“The emails are flying,” he said.

The buzz of activity only grows as it gets closer to the actual tournament.

Kerr’s role doesn’t leave him much time to watch the event in which he has invested so many hours. Each year, he is usually able to take a little while to watch the leaders on the 18th hole, often the best place to watch. The Boeing Classic typically is not decided until the last couple holes of play.

Working on the tournament has been a labor of love for Kerr, and an opportunity to show off his adopted home to the world.

The Golf Channel broadcasts the Classic, and its camera operators make good use of the sweeping views from Snoqualmie Ridge and other shots from the Valley.

“If you think of all those eyeballs — it goes worldwide,” Kerr said. “It brings great attention to this area.”

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

Players: 78

Format: 54 holes of stroke play with no cut

Purse: $2 million

Site: TPC Snoqualmie Ridge

Par: 72

Length: 7,264 yards

Television: Aug. 26-28 on The Golf Channel (broadcast live and replayed twice daily)

Past winners:

2010: Bernhard Langer

2009: Loren Roberts

2008: Tom Kite

2007: Dennis Watson

2006: Tom Kite

2005: David Eger

An accomplished field

Masters Tournament: 8 (Ben Crenshaw, Fred Couples, Mark O’Meara, Larry Mize, Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, Craig Stadler)

U.S. Open: 4 (Irwin, Scott Simpson, Zoeller, Watson)

Open Championship: 4 (Mark Calcavecchia, O’Meara, Watson, Price)

PGA Championship: 4 (Price, Jeff Sluman, Hal Sutton, Bob Tway)

Scheduled players

See a full list of players expected to play in the 2010 Boeing Classic at www.boeingclassic.com.

Tommy Armour III

Mark Calcavecchia

Fred Couples

Ben Crenshaw

David Eger

Jay Haas

Hale Irwin

Tom Kite

Bernhard Langer

Mark O’Meara

Kenny Perry

Nick Price

Loren Roberts

Denis Watson

Fuzzy Zoeller

Course facts

Designer: Jack Nicklaus

Types of grass

Greens: Poa Annua

Tees: Annual bluegrass and bentgrass

Fairways: Annual bluegrass and ryegrass

Roughs: Pacific Northwest mix of Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue, ryegrass and annual bluegrass

Bunkers

Number of bunkers: 107

Bunker sand: White Idaho silicate

Source: TPC Snoqualmie Ridge

The department received 90 project proposals, totaling $210 million, and selected 56.

The Snoqualmie-related projects include a retrofitting of Northern Street, which is currently without storm water service.

The project had requested $411,500 from the state.

King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks received $500,000 to improve water quality in three Snoqualmie River sub-basins.

Stewardship Partners received $249,000 to conduct projects that will improve fish habitat and water quality.

According to the preliminary timeline, the council would not take action on a Pre-annexation Agreement between the city, and the current owners and occupants of the mill site. If the City Council follows the proposed schedule, the annexation would be finished by November.

The crux of the process is the Pre-annexation Agreement, which lays out the annexation conditions between the city and the site’s current owners and occupants.

“Get the Pre-annexation Agreement wrapped up and everything else falls into place,” Snoqualmie City Attorney Pat Anderson said at the committee’s meeting.

The annexation must also be approved by King County Council, which has not adopted any timeline for the process.

Weyerhaeuser and Snoquamie Mill Ventures own the mill site. In 2010, Snoquamie Mill Ventures bought most of the site from Weyerhaeuser for $3.2 million. The company’s owner, Steve Rimmer, also owns Old Mill Adventures, which operates DirtFish Rally School, the mill site’s primary occupant. An excavation, logging and grading company, North Fork Enterprises also operates on part of the mill site.

DirtFish and the proposed annexation have drawn opposition from many residents in and around Snoqualmie. The opposition has been led by a grassroots organization, Your Snoqualmie Valley.

Critics of the annexation say it is happening too quickly, and is ignoring environmental and flooding concerns. Some opponents say that DirtFish is hurting the area’s quality of life because of its noise.

Supporters of the annexation hope that Snoqualmie can lure businesses to the mill site, and say that the city should have control over the site’s zoning.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

“She really lit up our lives,” John Nelson said of his daughter.

So on Aug. 10, John, his wife Jo Anne, teacher Chris Jackson, and dozens of friends and relatives gathered at Mount Si High School to remember and celebrate Dianna “Annie” Nelson’s 19-year love affair with being alive, which was cut short by cancer July 29.

True to her lively spirit, Annie had requested that the gathering celebrate her life instead of mourn her death. Towering bunches of balloons shared space with some of Annie’s drawings, awards, photos and a long table with food.

“She said she didn’t want it to be any sad, ‘dramatic B.S.,’ in her words,” John said.

Still, a yard away from where her father stood was Annie’s mother consoling a friend. When the slideshow of Annie’s life began there were as many smiles as there were tears.

John and Jo Anne welcomed every hug with a calm that perhaps belied their broken hearts.

John said he drew strength from how strong his daughter had been.

“I think she was more prepared than she wanted to let on to everybody else,” he said. “But she fought hard all the way to the end.”

Days before her death, Annie had taken to the road once again, with her father to Oregon, with an uncle and aunt to Silverwood Theme Park and with friend Taryn Hockenbury’s family to Blue Lake in central Washington.

“She enjoyed life up until the very last breath, almost,” Sharon Hockenbury said of her daughter’s best pal. “That was just Annie’s character and demeanor: to love and be loving.”

She spent those days swimming, camping but also thinking, a trait Annie mastered better than most, Sharon said.

“Annie had a way of asking really provocative questions,” she said. “She asked me, ‘How do you stay in love with someone for 30 years?’ because I’ve been married for 30 years. ‘How does that happen?’ Questions like that.”

Caryn called Annie “wise beyond her years.”

The family wants to keep Annie’s memory alive beyond this year, John said, starting a collection in her memory to the Kumon Learning Center, where Annie tutored, and the Mount Si High School music band.

“She always felt that the music program at school was underfunded,” John said, adding that she wanted to be remembered as someone who loved many things, including the arts.

“Someone who was loving, giving and very creative,” he said. “She had many styles of art form.”

A painter, a writer, a sketch artist and a poet, Annie amazed many with her wit and wisdom, including her American literature teacher at Mount Si.

“She was one of the most brilliant students I’ve ever had,” Jackson said. “Terrific writer and thinker. Insightful, thoughtful, very talented.”

The question of what might have been remains unanswerable, because the potential of Annie Nelson was as broad as her interests and as deep as her love of life.

“There was no ceiling to what she could have accomplished,” Jackson said. “Makes the loss a little harder to take.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Previously, city officials had said they didn’t expect the proposed annexation would require a review based on state guidelines. Opponents to the annexation have called for a full environmental review at several public hearings.

The mill site sits in unincorporated King County. Snoqualmie and the county began negotiating transferring the site into the city through an interlocal agreement in late March. The city signed a pre-annexation agreement with the site’s current owners — Weyerhaeuser and Snoqualmie Mill Ventures — in June.

Opponents to the process have criticized city officials for moving too quickly and giving a free pass to the primary tenant, DirtFish Rally School, which is owned by Snoqualmie Mill Ventures. Leading the fight is Your Snoqualmie Valley, a grassroots group of area residents.

The city Planning Commission voted to essentially keep the same zoning for the site, which was a logging operation from 1896 until 2003. Snoqualmie had also determined that DirtFish does not constitute redevelopment.

With no proposed redevelopment and no loosening of the zoning, Snoqualmie determined that there are “no probable significant adverse environmental impacts of the proposed actions,” according to the Determination of Non-Significance issued by the city July 27.

Weyerhaeuser cleaned the site up in the past 20 years, but more than a century of industrial use has some people concerned that the area is still contaminated.

“There can’t be any doubt that at one time there were a lot of hydrocarbons in the Mill Pond,” former Weyerhaeuser manager Dick Ryon said.

The logging company cleaned the area up, and a series of environmental studies confirmed that, the North Bend resident said.

But those studies have holes that warrant further review, critics say.

“While cleanup was conducted, it was not comprehensive,” Erin Ericson, a member of Your Snoqualmie Valley, said at a Snoqualmie City Council public hearing on July 11.

Dan Catchpole: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.

The mill site currently sits in unincorporated King County. Snoqualmie and the county began negotiating transferring the site into the city through interlocal agreement in late March. The city signed a pre-annexation agreement with the site’s current owners — Weyerhaeuser and Snoqualmie Mill Ventures — in June.

Opponents to the process have criticized the city for moving too quickly and giving a free pass to the primary tenant, DirtFish Rally School, which is owned by Snoqualmie Mill Ventures. Leading the fight is Your Snoqualmie Valley, a grassroots group of area residents.

The city’s Planning Commission voted to essentially keep the same zoning for the site, which was a logging operation from 1896 until 2003. Snoqualmie had also determined that DirtFish does not constitute redevelopment.

With no proposed redevelopment and no loosening of the zoning, Snoqualmie determined that “there [are] no probable significant adverse environmental impacts of the proposed actions,” according to the Determination of Non-Significance issued by the city July 27.

Weyerhaeuser cleaned the site up during the past 20 years, but more than a century of industrial use has some people concerned that the area is still contaminated.

“There can’t be any doubt that at one time there were a lot of hydrocarbons in the Mill Pond,” former Weyerhaeuser manager Dick Ryon said.

The logging company cleaned the area up, and a series of environmental studies confirmed that, the North Bend resident said.

But those studies have holes that warrant further review, critics say.

“While cleanup was conducted, it was not comprehensive,” Erin Ericson, a member of Your Snoqualmie Valley, said at a Snoqualmie City Council public hearing on July 11.