Slideshow | Y leaders chasing new standards, local focus at new Snoqualmie community center

Published 2:15 pm Friday, October 7, 2011

Bangs and booms echo overhead as Laura Soma steps through a puddle of water, leading a group of hard-hatted tourists through the shell of the future Snoqualmie Y and Community Center.

Unfazed by the deafening sound of roof work or the drips of rain through gaps in the ceiling, Soma is distinguished from the rest of the group by her blazing orange vest and her aura of confidence.

Her helmet is special, too, plastered with stickers from past YMCA projects over the last 14 years, including one that shows a crying baby—”No whining,” Soma explains.

“Each project that I work on, in a small way, is like raising a child,” Soma said. “I’m a proud mama.”

This is the sixth Y that Soma, a project coordinator for Bellevue-based GLY Construction, has built for the YMCA of Greater of Seattle. It’s the latest one to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, standards.

On request, Soma reels off statistics on the new center rising atop Snoqualmie Ridge—the square footage of new topsoil (38,000), the number of electric car stations (10), the height of a given room’s ceiling (16). Command of facts is understandable, given that she’s reviewed nearly every piece of material that’s gone into the $4.7 million, 15,000-square-foot Valley Y.

GLY is four months into a construction process that’s meant to wrap up in late December, in time for a Jan. 1 grand opening. Barring an act of God or a massive storm, Soma doesn’t see any reason why it shouldn’t open on time.

Leaders of the new Snoqualmie Y are in the final weeks of a charter member drive, meant to build the support base for center as well as help drive program choices. The Y has a full slate of activities for members to choose from, but want locals’ help in finalizing the list.

Green standards

As workers put on the roof last week, Soma estimated that the Y was about 30 percent complete. While much has been done since the June 9 groundbreaking, there’s lots more to do. But Soma said things should go fast once the exterior of the building is finished.

Leading a tour of citizens and city officials on Wednesday, Oct. 5, Soma made a point to point out the features that make the new Y a silver-LEED standard.

“A lot of LEED is not actually visible,” Soma said. She touted the lowered carbon footprint and energy costs, recycled materials and health-minded aspects of the building.

Among the highlights, today’s gravel lot will give rise to a row of charging stations for electric vehicles, bike racks and parking for carpoolers. The roof will be painted white to minimize summer heat gain. Many tall windows open up the viewing and boost natural night. Cinder blocks will be injected with insulation to save more energy, and walls and carpets will give off fewer noxious chemicals to spare patrons’ health.

“We won’t have that funky new-building smell,” Soma said.

The new community center is one of only a handful of buildings in Snoqualmie built to LEED or near-LEED standards, such as City Hall and the Technical Glass headquarters on the Ridge.

The city of Snoqualmie set aside $950,000 of reserves to pay for construction, along with $100,000 annual contribution for operation. Other funding sources included $2.2 million from Ridge builders Quadrant, Murray Franklyn and Pulte, a $341,000 donation from the Snoqualmie Tribe and a $100,000 annual commitment from the tribe’s mitigation and social services fund to pay for operations, $750,000 and a land donation from the Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Development Company, and $180,000 from Puget Western.

An $800,000 grant from the Washington Department of Commerce allowed a free-access teen center to be built.

Youth plans

Dave Mayer, executive director of the new Y, played up its youth- and all-community focus on the tour. While the 48-person-capacity aerobics room will draw adult Y members, three community rooms and a teen center will host the wider Valley.

“This room is going to be used for everything,” Mayer said, introducing the future multipurpose room for classes, afterschool programs and wellness lessons.

The teen center next door also boasts high windows and an outside terrace entrance open to all youth.

“This is my favorite room in the building,” said Snoqualmie councilwoman Maria Henriksen. “Teens from all over the Valley can come her, member or not. We finally have a place for them.”

“This room will have an explosion of noise and activity, all day and into the night,” said Snoqualmie Y program director Stacy Holdren.

She is working with local school principals and teen focus groups to make the best use of that space. It’s envisioned as a hub for ski and road trips, leadership and environmental clubs, girls-only ‘Diva Nights’ and other excursions, but the list of programs is still in flux.

“We have a lot of things in mind,” Holdren said. “We’re looking to see what other people want.”

The Y is accepting charter members through Monday, Oct. 31, with open office hours at a trailer next to the construction site most days in October.

Tracking through the unfinished shell of his future building, Mayer is upbeat, cheerfully pointing out the places where the coffee bar will go, where the artwork commemorating charter member families and the Y’s long legacy in the Valley will go, and the front patio that could become a center for outdoor activities. Splashing through puddles, he sees promise.

“It looks beautiful,” Mayer said.

• You can learn more about the Snoqualmie Y at www.seattleymca.org/locations/snoqualmie.