I grew up in one of the fastest-growing counties in the country.

All things green and good like farm fields, wildlife,even blackberries, are now

just a foggy notion.

Prosperity breeds increasing suburbanization. Even if our

burgeoning overpopulation and resulting developments are a given, must we

continually repeat the same mistakes? The Redmond-Fall City Road is

strewn with sterile, cookie-cutter subdivisions. (I think of it as

the Issaquahization of Fall City).All this in a Growth Management Area!

The more daunting question remains, though. Aside from those who are

obscenely wealthy, what other viable, lucrative alternatives can we offer

a highly taxed landowner? Few, at best. (Certainly not agriculture, which

we pay lip service to, but is next on the chopping block.)

As an impacted neighbor, Treemont is full of red flags, such

as flooding, landslide, traffic overload, traversing a salmon stream,

septic tanks instead of sewer, etc. I’ve talked to neighbors in the adjacent

developments who say things like, “We used to have a deer problem; now I

wish we had a deer problem,” or who are delighted to see Treemont delayed

and consider it a blessing every day the trees are still standing. (A more

apt title would be “Treelessmont” —

say it isn’t so!)

Treemont is another “bad idea whose time has come.”

Ralph Westermann

Fall City