Area has fought to keep development at bay

By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Fall City and nearby Preston have managed to avoid the devastating impact of urbanization until now. The two unincorporated towns are little changed from the way they were when they were founded about 100 years ago.

And many residents are fighting to keep them that way.

Preston residents don't get angry about much. But they got angry in 1989 when King County officials talked about allowing industrial development at the site of the old logging mill.

Protesters wore widows' weeds and hummed a requiem as they staged a mock funeral for their tiny foothills town during a County Council committee meeting. They accused county officials of opening the door to industrial development in their rural community.

Preston residents won that fight. And they won another a few years later, turning back a proposed rock-crushing operation on the still vacant mill land.

The county acceded to the community's wishes last December, buying the mill site for park purposes.

The King County Parks Department's Al Dams says plans for the property haven't been firmed up yet and will depend largely on how residents want it developed.

"The Raging River goes right through the site, so there are some salmon interpretive opportunities there. And we have preserved the few buildings that were stable from the old mill, so that might present some historical logging/timber opportunities," says Dams.

"But first we are interested in seeing what the community wants for the site."

The Parks Department is also interested in buying land across the street from the old mill for ballfields, he said.

Fall City has had its own problems with burgeoning growth.

Even the beloved Herbfarm drew some controversy after its internationally acclaimed restaurant burned down in January 1997 and owners Ron Zimmerman and Carrie Van Dyck announced they wanted to expand their operations with a new restaurant, bed-and-breakfast and cooking school.

Plans for replacement of the restaurant, which featured nine-course, five-hour meals served with a large variety of wines, are still pending. And they are still controversial.

So far, major industrial development has been kept out of both communities. It has made inroads only onto land immediately adjacent to Interstate 90.

The I-90/Preston Industrial Park, which houses a large number of small business operations, provides jobs for about 1,200 workers. Among the companies located there are McGraw Inc., Western Graphics, Stream International and Ural America.

The Preston-Fall City area, however, has few major employers. And many residents commute to jobs in other cities.