Needed step taken, more to go

Published 12:41 am Friday, October 3, 2008

Congratulations to the city of Snoqualmie on its recent signing of the 205 Flood Reduction Project. It took many years of work to get to this point and many residents, city officials and city staff contributed. Unfortunately, it’s not enough.

A few weeks ago a hearing examiner dismissed Snoqualmie’s appeal regarding a decision on the Weyerhaeuser berm along Mill Pond Road. Basically this allows the berm to exist, thus allowing one very important element of flood reduction to go unchecked.

The berm is the result of years of tailings and other materials piling up along the log yard. Supposedly the berm has not had significant amounts of material added since 1986, thus putting it out of reach of current floodplain regulations. But is that really the case? Has material been added since 1986? I think that question will be answered over the next few years as we realize that Weyerhaeuser is pulling out of logging operations in the Valley.

But with the berm and material behind the berm possibly remaining, flood elevations in Snoqualmie will not likely see dramatic reductions. Sure, we can take bottlenecks and trestles out of the river, but the water will not be able to spread across the mill site as it once was able to, subsequently forcing the water back toward town.

So why is the berm so important to the county and Weyerhaeuser? Well, the land is one of the last industrially-zoned properties in East King County. As high and dry industrial property it is worth a lot more money than if it flooded. It also appears that the county needs Weyerhaeuser as part of the Falls Preservation Initiative and funding.

But it makes a person wonder if county and corporate dealings could possibly be affecting how much water your downtown Snoqualmie home may have to endure.

Time will tell if the 205 project will have a significant impact. It is a right step but the berm and subsequent material behind the berm needs to go as well.