To fellow farmers and residents in the Snoqualmie Valley,
On Tuesday (Dec. 4th) the Rivers and Floodplain Management Section of King County’s Water and Land Resources Division (WLRD) will hold a meeting at the Carnation Senior Center. It will start at 6:00 PM.
This is a very important meeting for all of us to attend. Plans are being made for how a significant amount of King County Flood District money will be spent. The Rivers Section leadership wants and needs to hear our input.
One possible project that is on the table is to conduct a hydraulic study to assess potential impacts of the 205 project. There is reason to believe this study will be funded, if WLRD hears from enough of us that such a study is considered important to farmers and residents in the valley.
In the past many of us have felt that the interests of farmers and residents in the Snoqualmie Valley have been overlooked by County planners. Those feelings may have been justified. But recent action on the part of the County has led many people to see things very differently.
In 2007 a number of us from the valley served as members of the Snoqualmie River Flooding and Farming Taskforce. From the first meeting of that Taskforce we maintained that to live and farm in our valley we needed existing homes to be elevated, we needed to be able to build farm pads, and we needed to be able to put buildings on top of farm pads. Our position encountered strong initial resistance from all County agencies represented. But just when it seemed that no common ground could be found, representatives of the Rivers Section agreed to support all three of our requests—a decision that allowed us to move forward with these significant gains for valley farmers and residents.
It is representatives of that same Rivers Section that are coming to Carnation on Monday to discuss future river management: to hear our responses to their ideas, and listen to our thoughts about ways in which we could better manage the river for the common good.
So I urge all of us to attend this meeting. We have been invited to be a part of the decision-making process. Too often we have waited until after decisions have been made to voice our view. Decisions need to be made and will be made, with or without our input. The County representatives who are coming have proved their openness to hear and incorporate reasonable input. Let’s not miss this opportunity to have our voices heard before decisions have already been made.
For more details about the meeting, see: