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VALLEY RECORDSNOQUALMIE

INDEXVALLEY VIEWS 4LETTERS 5CALENDAR 6OBITUARIES 10SCENE 14ON THE SCANNER 16CLASSIFIED ADS 18, 19

Vol. 96, No. 50

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School budget cuts not as deep as fearedSEE ACCESS, 3

Seth Truscott/Staff Photo

Riders Jennifer LeBlanc of Monroe, left, and Susan Young of Duvall encounter a locked gate on privately owned timberland near Carnation. Timberland sales have limited backcountry options for Lower Valley equestrians, but the King County Council is now exploring eminent domain as a way to reopen a closed access point.

$1 million state reduction won’t mean fewer teachers

BY ALLISON ESPIRITUStaff Reporter

Snoqualmie Valley schools had braced for a $1.8 million state fund-ing cut this year that would have cut as many as 20 teaching jobs in the district.

Snoqualmie Valley School District officials recently got word that the cut

won’t be as deep as originally feared.The recently approved supplemental

budget cuts $1 million in state funding to Valley schools.

The cut has reduced the district’s current 2009-2010 budget by more than $3 million from the prior period.

Budget proposals announced last December by Gov. Chris Gregoire called for big cuts to K-12 education. However, legislators altered the budget, while cutting funding for enhanced teacher staffing in elementary schools, eliminating all I-728 funding — money

used for classroom size reduction — and taking away the remaining Learning Improvement Day, used for teacher training.

Despite cuts, Snoqualmie Valley School District spokeswoman Carolyn Malcolm said that no teacher layoffs are expected in the coming year.

The legislature adopted a bill chang-ing how base levy funding is calculated, increasing the levy lid for all districts in the state.

“These two factors mean that we will have more maintenance and operations

levy funds available to us as we develop the budget for next year,” Snoqualmie Schools Superintendent Joel Aune stat-ed in a letter to district parents. “The additional funds will offset a signifi-cant portion of the reductions in state funding that our school district will be required to absorb.”

Specifics will be discussed in mid-May, when the district receives a state revenue worksheet.

“It will give us a better understand-ing of the specifics of our budget,” Malcolm said.

County may force sale of Fall City entry to Snoqualmie Valley Trail

BY SETH TRUSCOTTEditor

There was a time when backcountry riders like Fall City resident Patty Bernard had a free hand and an open trail.

Bernard has trotted her horse down trails in the Weyerhaeuser and Hancock forests since the mid-1970s.

“I know them like the back of my hand,” Bernard said.In the old days, she and her friends rode past logging

crews, but their presence wasn’t a big deal.“They just let us ride,” she said. “You just took off, and

there was never anything mentioned.”Riding the backcountry of the Lower Snoqualmie Valley

has been getting harder for equestrians like Bernard. Riders have looked on in frustration as sales of timberlands in the Lower Valley shuttered trailheads that had been freely accessed for years.

In the last six months, gates have been shut and “No Trespassing” signs posted at popular sites at Griffin Creek

Battle looms

for trail access

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access FROM 1

near Carnation and the Rutherford Slough at Fall City.

The closures came as a shock to many trail users.

“We’ve all been a bit spoiled,” Carnation rider Lynn Cassell said. “We thought this would stay this way forever.”

eminent domainThings came to a head last

fall with the sale of 65 acres of Weyerhaeuser property on Fall City’s Rutherford Slough. The property included a path used for years to connect a large regional trailhead at Fall City Park with the Snoqualmie Valley Trail via 39th Place.

King County attempted to partner with the Cascade Land Conservancy to buy the property from Weyerhaeser, but were unsuccessful in their bid. Fall City-based Rutherford Slough, LLC, bought the prop-erty for $299,000 in October.

Not long after, the new property owner closed the site to public access. Negotiations between the county and the owner proceeded to re-open the trail, but no agree-ment could be reached. Last week, the King County Council’s Environment and Transportation Committee voted to use eminent domain arguments to force a sale of 3.2 acres for a trail easement.

County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert told the Valley Record that the decision to force a sale was used as a last resort.

“We wouldn’t have got here if we hadn’t tried every other

potential,” Lambert added. “In the long run, this will be a per-manent solution.”

According to Lambert, the trail has always been a pub-lic thoroughfare. The county has a 1911 document showing access rights through the prop-erty, she said. The 99-year-old easement means the county can claim a discount on the purchase price through emi-nent domain.

“We will make a very fair offer, based on the appraisal, which is what the law requires,” Lambert said.

The King County Council will vote on an ordinance allowing eminent domain purchase at Rutherford Slough at 11 a.m. Monday, May 17, at the King County Courthouse.

Protecting propertyThe 39th Place trail’s new

owners dispute the county’s claim. Brian Wall, one of the five joint buyers of the prop-erty, points to county news releases and road permit applications as evidence that it never secured public access. He questions what the emi-nent domain decision means for other property owners.

“The county is trying to pull eminent domain from conve-nience, not because they have the legal right or ownership of the property,” Wall said. “They built a parking lot on (Highway) 203 without secur-ing trail access.”

Driving his truck up the one-lane gravel road, Wall pointed to several illegal mountain

bike and horse trails that wind through his property.

He recently spotted a group of quad riders who somehow managed to get their vehicles through his gate. Riders make new trails all the time, and Wall has found the remains of what appeared to be small fires.

Last week, he planned to put up fencing permanently blocking the trail. Wall said his concern is to protect his investment.

“If someone causes a fire up here on a hot summer, who is going to reimburse us for our timber?” he said.

Wall and his fellow own-ers had suggested a deal that would have put a paved road on the site, while also allow-ing him to divide his property, zoned for one residence per 10 acres, into three or more par-cels, in exchange for access.

“We asked them to pave this road all the way to the top,” Wall said. “People could drive up to the exit. That would solve all these issues.”

He claimed that the coun-ty put a stop to negotiation for a deal, pursuing eminent domain instead.

“We came up with a resolu-tion to make this a permanent agreement to both parties, to make it a win-win for all,” Wall said. “They sent us a letter say-ing they were going to file for eminent domain. We were told that they have thousands of phone calls a day as to why this is closed.”

Griffin creekKing County is not pursu-

ing eminent domain at nearby Griffin Creek, where a compa-

ny called Carnation Properties, LLC, bought hundreds of acres of former Hancock forest and closed public access.

King County Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Brown said he would love to see more access to trails in the region, but can’t require it in Griffin Creek’s case.

In 2004, King County bought development rights and a 90,000-acre easement at Griffin Creek from the Hancock Timber Resource Group, ensuring that the land remain a working forest. The easement precludes subdivi-sion of the land, while allow-ing one dwelling per 80 acres on some parts of the property. The easement did not prevent Hancock from selling the land, but any buyer is bound by its terms.

Last August, Carnation Properties bought 640 acres of forest from Hancock Life Insurance Company for $2.2 million.

Property rightsA property manager for the

Carnation Properties site told the Valley Record that there have been no discussions with the county regarding public access.

In an e-mail, a representa-tive of WICT Management stated that public access was part of Hancock’s company policy, but not part of the ease-ment.

“Unfortunately, today land-owners can be sued and held liable for anything that occurs on their property,” the man-ager stated. “Too often, courts side with the negligent actions of plaintiffs and award mon-etary compensation. Similarly, state legislators fail to enact laws that specifically protect landowners and explicitly hold them harmless from accidents that may occur on their prop-erty. On a property of this type, unknown hazards may exist that we cannot be aware of. In short, it is simply bad policy to allow unfettered access.”

sharing the trailIf eminent domain is

approved, riders like Cassell and Bernard will have expand-ed options and better access from Fall City Park. But things still aren’t as easy as they used to be.

“We’re a diminishing com-munity,” Bernard said. “When you have to hassle someone over a trail ride, you don’t want to deal with it.”

Rider Connie Patmore-Farr urges cyclists, joggers, walkers and rider to work together in their search for access.

“We all have to learn how to share,” she said.

A Washington State Trooper arrested a 48-year-old North Bend man last weekend after he failed to appear in court for his ninth drunk driving charge.

According to State Patrol reports, Stefhan Roy Castellano was arrested at his home on Saturday, May 8. A $250,000 warrant had been issued for Castellano’s arrest, after he failed to appear in court on Wednesday, May 5, on his ninth DUI charge, stemming from a Dec. 28 arrest in Duvall.

A trooper who was at the courthouse for an unrelated matter learned of the sizable warrant and offered to look for Castellano at his home. Castellano was intoxicated when troopers took him into custody, reports stated.

North Bend man arrested on nine-time DUI warrant