Fast-growing Snoqualmie: two tales of one city

SNOQUALMIE — It comes as no surprise to Mayor Matt Larson that he presides over the state's fastest-growing city — or that growth brings not just opportunities, but challenges, even tension.

"You don't [more than] quadruple the population of a town in 10 years and think everything's going to be all happy-face," said Larson, a second-term mayor who works to find common ground between residents in the older and newer parts of this former mill town.

Census data released last week show the population of Snoqualmie grew from 2,150 in 2000 to 10,670 last year — an increase of 396 percent, making it the fastest-growing city in the state.

Pick up a map of Snoqualmie, which lies at the foot of Mount Si between North Bend and Fall City, and notice it resembles an off-kilter bow tie.

One side is the older, low-lying part of town, hugging the flood-prone Snoqualmie River and a small business district.

The other side — location of virtually all the population growth — is Snoqualmie Ridge, a planned development where curving streets lined with handsome, albeit similar, new homes stretch out for more than two miles. And where toddlers and their parents gather by the dozens for "story time" sessions at a King County library branch that opened in 2007.

Although "The Ridge" didn't get its first families until 1998, it's now home to 85 percent of the city's residents. Most of Washington's fast-growing cities in the 2010 Census boosted their population either though planned developments such as Snoqualmie Ridge, or by annexing new territory or by accommodating growth from nearby larger cities.

In Snoqualmie, a drive from one part of town to the other goes past a line of rusting rail cars along Railroad Avenue (Highway 202), where a few new signs tell about the cars, a modest attempt to portray the assortment as a historic display, not a junkyard.

So is this one city or two? The question colors a variety of public-policy and lifestyle issues.

"Early on, we would hear of confrontations in the schools between the 'townies' and the 'ridgies,' " said James Sackey, who greets visitors at the Northwest Railway Museum, in the older part of town. "But that has calmed down, fortunately, and people are realizing we are all in this together."

Feeling the tension

Not everyone agrees the tension has abated.

When Cristal Taylor and her family moved to Oklahoma last year after three years on Snoqualmie Ridge, she wrote to the weekly SnoValley Star decrying the "raging war" between the two parts of town. "It's a darn shame that simply because a family has chosen to live on the Ridge, they should be segregated as a foreign enemy, rather than being welcomed into the community."

One striking dichotomy between the two areas: A 2006 survey conducted for the city by Calm River Demographics found that more than half of the families in the older part of town had annual incomes of $50,000 or less — many making less than $25,000. On the Ridge, two-thirds of households had incomes that exceeded $100,000.

In some respects, the Ridge development is in line with Snoqualmie's "company town" history. Its lead developer has been the Quadrant, home-building arm of Weyerhaeuser, longtime operators of a mill that closed in the 1980s.

The Ridge's pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, with parks and shops within walking distance, are close to Interstate 90, a manageable drive from Microsoft and other Eastside employers.

Mayor Larson, who lives on Snoqualmie Ridge, says both parts of town have benefitted from improvements such as new parks and ballfields, a wastewater-treatment plant, more than 20 miles of trails, new sidewalks, underground utilities downtown and expanded police, fire and public-works departments to help respond to floods and other emergencies.

Larson also notes that, under Ridge plans, much of the acreage surrounding the town will stay undeveloped, including the slope above Snoqualmie Falls, key to the view at the town's biggest tourist draw.

Still, it's not hard to find Snoqualmie residents who feel outnumbered and overpowered by newcomers.

"They got our fire station; they got our library ... and they want to raise our taxes to pay for their schools," said Spencer Roth, 22, a Snoqualmie native who was shooting pool with friends at the century-old Smokey Joe's Tavern in lower Snoqualmie.

Yet, even as Roth detailed his grievances, another pool player sheepishly admitted he just moved to the Ridge, adding, "So I guess I'm part of the problem."

The new $4 million library on the Ridge, financed by a $172 million countywide library bond passed by voters in 2004, is a source of hard feelings for some because it replaced a branch in the older part of town, roughly 3 miles away.

But it's hard to argue with the numbers: Children's Librarian Jenifer Loomis said at the old library, "We'd have story time down there, and I might get three to 12 people — 20 would be big. Then we came up here, and it just exploded." One session drew 100 parents and children; turnouts of 50 to 60 are common.

Among those at a recent "pajama time" story session were Heidi Hendricks, with son Jack, 4, and daughter, Pearl, 2. Hendricks and her husband, Ryan, moved from North Bend to Snoqualmie Ridge 2 ½ years ago, to get a bigger house for their growing family.

Hendricks says "there is sort of a stigma about the Ridge," but she disagrees with characterizing it as a war. It's more subtle, she said, such as people snickering at the cookie-cutter neighborhoods, a characterization Hendricks understands. She's glad her home backs up against a green belt, with a more open feel than other parts of the Ridge.

Shared struggles

Snoqualmie Ridge was aided by terms of the state's 1990 Growth Management Act, intended to direct growth into designated urban areas to help protect rural forest, farm and environmentally sensitive areas.

Approval was a sometimes-contentious process, with slow-growth advocates criticizing its magnitude, but Larson said the amenities — starting with a badly needed $20 million wastewater-treatment plant — benefit the entire Snoqualmie Valley.

Larson said it's often incorrectly assumed that disagreements between the two parts of town boil down to a struggle between old-timers and newcomers. The 2006 survey, he notes, showed that, even among old-town residents, nearly half had been here less than five years.

Both areas have felt the effects of the recession, said Bob Cole, the city's economic-development director.

In the early years of the past decade, houses and condominium units were being completed on the Ridge at a rate of more than 300 a year. With the recession, that dropped to less than 100.

Some early retailers on the Ridge, including a pizza parlor and specialty-food store, closed, pinched between high rents and disappointing revenue. And the Ridge's business park lost an electronic-toothbrush manufacturer that had employed 300.

Downtown, a few vacant storefronts dot the main streets. "These are extremely difficult times for small, self-employed business owners," Cole said.

He acknowledges the library move caused hard feelings but said putting the new $7 million City Hall in the older section of town is a sign of a continued commitment to that area.

The rapid growth has put a pinch on the Snoqualmie Valley School District, and promoting school-finance measures in a down economy has been difficult. Earlier this month, a $56.2 million bond issue for a new middle school and other school projects missed the required 60 percent vote by a single vote. A recount is being sought.

A generation from now, the agenda for Snoqualmie may be set and shaped by the young citizens now delighting in the library story sessions — a crop raised on the Ridge, including Maximos Wu, who just turned 5, and his sister, Photini, 2.

They're the children of Philip and Nicole Wu, who moved from St. Louis last summer after Philip Wu was hired as chief medical information officer for Providence Health & Services, about a half-hour commute away in Renton.

With two parks near their home, a fenced-in backyard and a mountain view from their upstairs master bedroom, Philip Wu said the family's new house on Snoqualmie Ridge "is exactly what we were looking for."

Seattle Times reporter Justin Mayo and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report, which also includes information from Times archives. Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com.