North Bend reneges on swing rock study
Published 11:56 am Wednesday, April 15, 2015
In a split vote April 7, the North Bend City Council reversed its Feb. 17 split decision to partner with several groups on a study of a local landmark.
Councilman Ross Loudenback was absent from the April 7 meeting, which resulted in a 5-1 decision to rescind the council’s earlier decision. Councilman Ryan Kolodejchuk cast the only opposing vote.
At the February 17 meeting, the council voted 4-2 (Councilmen Alan Gothelf and David Cook voted against, Jonathan Rosen was absent) to commit $2,000 toward an ethnographic study of the “swing rock,” a boulder on S.R. 202 between Snoqualmie and North Bend that figures in Snoqualmie Tribe legend.
The city of Snoqualmie, the Meadowbrook Farm Preservation Association and the Snoqualmie Tribe had also agreed to contribute $2,000 toward the study, intended to determine the historical and cultural significance of the rock, for possible designation as a landmark.
Part of the rock is on privately-owned land.
Legends of the swing rock say it marks the spot that the long rope swing, which Snoqualmie’s mother used to travel between the sky kingdom and earth, landed when the swing was cut down.
Several councilmen who voted to rescind the earlier action said the study would not really benefit North Bend residents. They were also concerned about the impact to the private property owner, who has verbally committed to protect what’s left of the rock, which had been quarried extensively in the past.
City staff were not aware until Monday of last week that council members planned to rescind their action, and could not update the council on the status of the study at the meeting.
“If nothing has started, no harm no foul,” said North Bend City Administrator Londi Lindell in a later phone call. “If something has been started, they did approve the contract, so we would pay our pro-rata share.”
Although all four parties agreed to the partnership in February, as of press time, neither the Snoqualmie Tribe nor the city of Snoqualmie could say for certain what the status of the study was. Speaking unofficially, Snoqualmie Tribe staff and Snoqualmie officials said they thought the study would likely proceed in some form, but expected each party would need to re-examine the issue. Meadowbrook representatives were unavailable to comment.
