So. Many. Projects.

The cities of the Snoqualmie Valley, along with state and county engineers, have jammed their schedules with so many traffic improvement, economic development, and otherwise public projects this spring, and for years to come, that it’s hard to keep track of them all.

There’s the North Bend downtown plaza project, the Snoqualmie Mill Site proposal, the North Bend Phoenix Plaza, the Tolt Corridor planning in Carnation, the year-long Duvall Main Street reconstruction, the ball fields proposed on Boalch Avenue, the mountain bike park to be developed in North Bend, the new North Bend City Hall now being designed, the Middle Fork Road construction that’s almost complete and the new Teneriffe trailhead and connections that are also nearly finished. Oops, yes, I did forget to mention the monster rebuild going on at Mount Si High School.

And that’s not even counting the dozens of private ventures into housing projects, which the cities can only approve or reject based on the applicants’ compliance with city code.

I can’t be the only one thinking that there is suddenly a lot of inconvenience in our immediate future, and have mixed feelings about it, can I? Even though we have seen the positive results of past projects (Snoqualmie and Duvall Main Street renovations, for instance, and the clearly improved traffic flow from several new roundabouts in the Valley) there are times when it’s harder to believe in that promised improvement, and easier to just be annoyed it.

There’s the first time I sat in traffic on a weekday in downtown North Bend, — I still remember because it wasn’t that long ago — and was completely confused. What had happened to cause this backup? Nothing that didn’t happen every weekday; school had ended for the day.

And the first time I had to find a spot along the wall at a standing-room-only school board meeting, I had to wonder, where did all these parents come from? From the past 10 years of housing developments.

My first egg hunt at Si View Park was so much fun I managed to block out all the anxiety I experienced just trying to find a place to park, and the guilt of parking in front of someone’s house. These people didn’t rent apartments in Seattle, I thought; they should have reasonably been able to expect to park in front of their own homes if they needed to. Ditto for the farmers market.

I took to riding my motorcycle to work on extra-busy days, like Day out with Thomas, Railroad Days and the Festival at Mount Si, because it was easier to park and more fun, even when sitting in traffic.

It was in a conversation about these changes and the cities’ impending growth, though, that I realized I was actually looking forward to the improvements, too. I made a lunch date with someone for 20 years in the future, and then I started wondering what this place would be like then. I got excited for the changes to come. Everyone should have the opportunity to experience a brand-new high school at some point in their lives, and the chance to just walk around their own cities, being a tourist. These opportunities are coming soon, with the North Bend downtown plaza project — go to the open house, 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 24 to learn what you don’t already know about it, and with the Snoqualmie mill site — that open house is 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 23.

Besides, if I’m really honest with myself, I can’t be completely opposed to all this growth and development. After all, growth is how I got here,

Change is inevitable, of course, but luckily for us, it’s not always the change that has been promoted. I’ve seen many instances in this Valley of city officials responding to the wishes and sometimes even the demands of local citizens. Snoqualmie’s updated noise ordinance and fireworks ban are good examples. So are North Bend’s frequent moratoriums, declared to review the city’s existing code to ensure it reflects the council’s vision.

In their turn, the citizens have started working to effect change, too, taking an active role, when they can, in the public process. I haven’t been able to contact the organizer of the campaign to hire a land use attorney regarding the proposed development on the Dahlgren Property, but I can tell her here that I am impressed with her thoughtful and creative approach to the problem. The campaign has raised more than enough funds to get the documents reviewed, and even if it leads to no more changes in the property’s future, citizens who contributed will at least know they tried.