The King County Department of Local Services has entered the planning phases of a potential 20-year long subarea plan in the unincorporated portion of the Snoqualmie Valley and northeastern part of the county.

The subarea plan establishes visions and goals for the community and creates policies to help achieve those goals and guide development decisions. The plan is guided by residents’ interests and decides how the county will direct its resources.

The plan began in 2020, when King County Executive Dow Constantine and the King County Council directed Local Services to create a Community Needs List from residents in unincorporated areas, including in the valley.

The Community Needs List was developed using a survey, created last year, that received over 500 responses. The survey asked, “What services, programs or capital improvements should be on the Snoqualmie Valley-NE King County Community Needs List?”​​

At the end of April, Local Services began a preliminary review of the survey results. The survey input will be reviewed and eventually shared with other county agencies and the public for more feedback. Currently, Local Services is gathering data and creating a working plan.

Some common topics addressed in survey responses include: Housing, economic development, transportation, parks, flooding, public health, land use regulation and growth, law enforcement and environmental conservation.

The Snoqualmie Valley’s subarea plan will remain in its planning phase until 2022. In December 2022, the county executive is expected to deliver a proposed subarea plan to the county council. The goal is for the plan to be approved by the council in June of 2023 with implementation work beginning after that.

The county has previously implemented a 20-year subarea plan in Fall City, which began in 2000.

The valley and northeast King County subarea plan is one of 11 such plans proposed by the county over the next decade. An official subarea plan meeting will be hosted this fall to introduce the program.