Snoqualmie City Hall was packed on Tuesday, May 23, for a scoping meeting on the proposed development of the former Weyerhaeuser lumber mill at Snoqualmie Falls, now known as the Mill Site. The meeting was held to take public comments, questions, and concerns for inclusion in the upcoming environmental review of the project proposed for the site, now home to DirtFish Rally School.

The review will be produced with the collected feedback to ensure the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project is thorough and answers people’s questions and concerns, particularly in regard to suspected contaminants at the site.

Seventeen people spoke Tuesday about the development and what they want to see in the environmental review.

Snoqualmie Mill Ventures, owner of the mill site property, has proposed a 110-acre development of commercial retail, warehouses for industrial use, and a corporate campus, along with residential apartments, an approximately 31,000 square-foot event center and an amphitheater, on the 260-acre site.

Contamination at the site, after two transformers were destroyed in a plant fire in 1989, was one of the biggest concerns about the development raised at the meeting.

Tom Sroufe, representing Snoqualmie Mill Ventures, said in his presentation before the hearing that the area was considered a “Brownfield site,” a term used by the Environmental Protection Agency to define a property on which redevelopment or reuse could be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

Many speakers stressed the importance of a proper study into the nature of the contamination and how it would be disturbed by development.

Resident Dana Hubanks said the latest environmental assessment done at the mill site, by Associated Earth Sciences, Inc., in March 2015, identified contamination above the clean up levels set by the Department of Ecology’s Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) and stressed the importance of a thorough examination of the various chemicals on the site.

Her statement continued, “Additionally, ‘soil contaminated with PCBs still remains at depth between the T-12 site,’ a site which ‘would likely have to remain isolated and protected from any future site development,’” Hubanks said. “Arsenic and cPAH contamination were also detected, as well as potential tetrachlorophenol and PCP levels in groundwater above MTCA cleanup standards. In light of the fact that numerous remediation projects have been conducted at the mill site, mostly funded by Weyerhaeuser, the continued presence of these high levels of carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic contaminants may speak to the ultimate severity of the contamination.”

Several residents called for further testing of the soil and water sources for contaminants.

Monica Lowney touched on the possible traffic problems a mill site development could bring. Once the problematic State Route 18/Interstate 90 interchange is fixed, she said she was concerned it would mean more traffic, including large semi trucks, coming down the Snoqualmie Parkway, creating safety concerns.

“I cannot fathom the thought of large container trucks and commercial trucks that weigh thousands of pounds … dragging through our residential neighborhoods and polluting our air with their diesel fumes,” she said. “Trucks cannot stop quickly and we have families that are pushing baby strollers across the Parkway, little kids trying to cross the street….Something needs to be done and I believe the best way to mitigate it is to reduce traffic, not add to it.”

Flooding was another concern, particularly since the site is in the floodplain.

Erin Ericson, a Snoqualmie resident and representative of the Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance and Watershed Improvement District, said “In the EIS, the Snoqualmie Valley Preservation Alliance and the Watershed Improvement District will both be looking very closely at the downstream impacts analysis. There needs to be zero rise in flood elevations. That’s absolutely no rise, no impacts. The impact from the … 205 project caused a one-inch rise in the lower Valley and that’s absolutely unacceptable.”

Ericson also discussed the potential noise that could be generated by the proposed amphitheater and events center. Those developments were universally disparaged by every speaker at the meeting. Residents brought up the outdoor concerts at the Snoqualmie Casino and the operations at the DirtFish Rally School as primary contributors to disruptive, loud noises that can be heard throughout the city and were adamantly opposed to adding to that noise. They called for extensive noise impacts to be part of the EIS, as well.

Snoqualmie business owner Dave Eiffert cited as an example of his noise concerns the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville, where friends of his hear loud music and must deal with pedestrians and dangerous drivers who have been drinking.

“It’s going to be really devastating to my chosen lifestyle of living a mile up a dirt road in the woods… you are going to have about 3,000 to 5,000 people driving in and clogging the streets,” he said. “It’s going to keep me from being able to enjoy my property that I’ve lived on for 23 years and that’s not fair.”

Kit McCormick was extremely concerned about noise, traffic and safety issues the development could bring. She said the noise from DirtFish and the casino already have a huge negative impact on the community and wildlife in the area.

The traffic won’t be an advantage to city residents or business owners, she said. “They will not come to our brewery, they will not go to your winery, they will eat there, drink there, get on the road and take off, heading down Reinig or this one-lane bridge we have, and they will leave behind the noise… and then those owners will go home to their quiet houses that they can afford… and leave us to deal with the mess. So no amphitheater, it just doesn’t belong here.”

Snoqualmie Community Development Director Mark Hofman said a 45-day comment period on the draft EIS will begin once it is competed, possibly by this fall. Hofman said that for the contamination analysis, the known sites will be thoroughly examined to determine the state of the soil and the EIS will outline measures that can be taken to address those areas to make it safe for the development and the residents of Snoqualmie.

The final EIS will be used by the city council to inform their decision on the proposed development.

For more information on the project, visit the city website, click on Development in Snoqualmie, then click Snoqualmie Mill PCIP EIS.