WHERE DO LOCAL CANDIDATES STAND?

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NORTH BEND CANDIDATE ANSWERS TO FRIENDS QUESTIONS

THANKS to the following candidates for responded to FRIENDS Questions from our full-page ad in the Snoqualmie Valley Record (https://sp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/svr/SPI2738576.pdf ):

City of North Bend,

Council Position No. 1

• Christina Rustik

• Errol Tremolada

City of North Bend, Council Position No. 5

• Brenden Elwood

• Jason Ritchey

SEE THEIR RESPONSES BELOW:

JASON RITCHEY (Council Position #5):

FRIENDS Questions #1.

Where do you stand on adding additional residential growth?

• We’ve already had too much residential growth.

• Leave growth where it is currently – do not add more developments.

• How much would you increase residential growth – by what percent of current growth? (1% - 25%)

JASON RITCHEY'S ANSWER TO QUESTION #1:

JR: None of the above. We have had too much “traditional residential growth" with not enough affordable/low-income residential growth. NB’s 10-yr moratorium essentially jammed 15 years of growth into a 5 year period. This is what we are all feeling now. And the overwhelming majority of the grow came at the cost of those making median income, not in support of it.

I strongly believe we need more affordable housing, like the Habitat for Humanity properties. However, that will likely require some development to get done. As for traditional single family or townhouse residential, or market rate projects, my appetite is full.

FRIENDS QUESTION # 2.

Where do you stand in terms of The North Bend National Guard facility? The facility is projected to consume water equal to 398 homes. It would include a munitions depot with an undisclosed blast zone, a Chinook helicopter pad, a large parking lot for 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment and a training facility.

JASON RITCHEY'S ANSWER TO QUESTION #2:

JR: To be honest, we don’t know enough for me to oppose or be a proponent of it. Right now, the details about the facility are constantly changing. The funding levels committed, the impact to the community, the benefit to the community, the actual make up of the facility itself (ie, whether or not it even has munitions or a landing pad). All of that is in flux. I can’t be for or against something without knowing what it is first. I will say that having a national guard facility here in and of itself is not a strong benefit to the community in my opinion. In order for North Bend to even think about giving up its natural resources for this, it would need to be creating recurring income, jobs, and economic benefit for the city. In what I know today, I haven’t seen the evidence of that. I’ll withhold judgement until I see a final proposal.

For your members to know; I am concerned about the river. There is no doubt that water levels are getting lower year over year. I do think its important to balance our economic needs with our ever scarcer natural resources. That being said, I don’t believe these are black and white issues. We need to understand the meat of these deals and make decisions that align with the North Bend we want to see in 20-30 years. Hopefully, we all want to see one with a river in it, and not a rock trail.

Jason Ritchey

BRENDON ELWOOD'S ANSWERS:

My stance and track record on residential growth is well documented. Our focus needs to be on economic development (e.g., local businesses, retail shops, restaurants - especially in the downtown core) not pushing for more "market-rate" housing development.

We do need more affordable housing, however, to help current North Bend residents who work here or are living here on fixed incomes to be able to continue to live here. I believe the State is mandating ~462 more units, so that is where we need to start talking from. In my opinion, this type of housing also needs to align with our city's vision; i.e., it needs to fit in with our community's charm and character.

Below are some links about my position on this and other key topics your friends might find interesting:

• https://www.reelectelwood.com/home (please ask your friends to take my survey on my "Mission" page!)

• https://livingsnoqualmie.com/qa-north-bend-city-council-candidates-elwood-ritchey-talk-city-challenges-affordable-housing-and-issues-that-made-them-decide-to-run/

• https://livingsnoqualmie.com/letter-brenden-elwood-a-candidate-who-listens-and-works-to-protect-the-community/

With respect to the National Guard: the city administration (i.e., mayor's office) has not provided me with enough detailed information to make an informed decision on the subject. In fact, at the last council work study, we learned three important things from Mr. Miller and Mr. Rigos, which makes it more of an "idea" as far as I am concerned:

• There is no "contract" in place

• The discussions have been pushed out two more years

• Senator Mullet has gone radio silent on the issue (according to Mr. Miller)

Thank you for reaching out!

Brenden Elwood | reElectElwood.com

ERROL TREMOLADA'S ANSWERS:

Thanks for reaching out. To expedite - I speak to growth on a number of fronts in my Q&A with Snoqualmie Valley Record and Living Snoqualmie.

Here are links for your group to see.

https://www.valleyrecord.com/news/north-bend-city-council-candidate-qas/

https://livingsnoqualmie.com/qa-north-bend-city-council-candidates-rustick-tremolada-talk-city-challenges-affordable-housing-and-issues-that-made-them-decide-to-run/

Thank you!

Errol Tremolada

[email redacted]

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CHRISTINA RUSTIK'S ANSWERS:

Thanks for providing some additional information I will take a closer look.

I think my responses to the Valley Record and Living Snoqualmie questions, along with my responses at the recent Candidate Forum have conveyed my concerns and positions about growth in our community. Regarding a potential National Guard Facility, this is a topic I’m still gathering information and questions on but would generally be concerned with how any development or change of use in that area might impact the environment, infrastructure, and surrounding residents and business owners. As I responded before, I would be happy to meet with you and your group to discuss these issues in more detail.

Thank you,

Christina Rustik

Candidate North Bend City Council Position #1

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Some of the Candidates referred us to their statements in living Snoqualmie and The Valley Record. Here are those links:

https://www.valleyrecord.com/news/north-bend-city-council-candidate-qas/

https://livingsnoqualmie.com/qa-north-bend-city-council-candidates-elwood-ritchey-talk-city-challenges-affordable-housing-and-issues-that-made-them-decide-to-run/

https://livingsnoqualmie.com/qa-north-bend-city-council-candidates-rustick-tremolada-talk-city-challenges-affordable-housing-and-issues-that-made-them-decide-to-run/

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MAYORAL CANDIDATES: We did not hear back from either Mayoral Candidate – but Mary Miller did meet with two of us for coffee. To summarize our conversation, she seemed open to our concerns.

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HERE ARE FRIENDS FULL LIST OF QUESTIONS AS THEY APPEARED IN THE SNOQUALMIE VALLEY RECORD

1. Where do you stand on adding additional residential growth?

a. We’ve already had too much residential growth
b. Leave growth where it is currently – do not add more
developments
c. How much would you increase residential growth – by what percent of current growth? (1% - 25%)

2. Where do you stand in terms of the following major projects that will impact the river and our water supply?

The North Bend National Guard facility is projected to consume water equal to 398 homes. It would include a munitions depot with an undisclosed blast zone, a Chinook helicopter pad, a large parking lot for 6,700 vehicles and pieces of equipment and a training facility.
The Snoqualmie Mill development would be built on land currently ranked among the most contaminated in the state. The city estimates it will consume water equivalent to 800 – 1,500 homes and will require upgrades to Snoqualmie roads and bridges to handle the increased automotive and trucking traffic.

3. Where do you stand in terms of other proposed or planned projects that would impact our river, residents and water supply?

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Following are FRIENDS' Views on these topics.

The Snoqualmie River and Surrounding Wildlife are in Danger.

The Snoqualmie’s Chinook population, a good overall indicator of River health, is 5% of what it was historically and 6% of 2055 targets.[i]

The current overdevelopment in North Bend and Snoqualmie is making the situation worse. More cold water is being taken out of the River and more hot water (treated sewage) is going into the River.

Current water levels on the Snoqualmie are quite low. The graph below[ii] shows the median flow (discharge) for the Middle Fork River since 1988 (grey dashes) vs today’s (10/27/23) levels (blue line):

The Snoqualmie is already considered dangerously hot.[iii] and mean water temperatures on the Snoqualmie River[iv]are high:

A double Whammy for the River:

For every new housing unit built, more cold water is taken from the River’s watershed and warm polluted water is returned to the River via sewage treatment plant. North Bend’s plant has 17 leaks that were patched with a sealant which the industry which is considered only a temporary fix[v] by the industry.

Aggressively controlling growth and making sure wastewater and stormwater runoff are captured and properly treated are ways to reduce the impact of humans on the River.

How do candidates plan to address these serious problems?

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WHAT FRIENDS, SCAN AND THE ORCA CONSERVANCY ARE DOING:

1. EDUCATING THE COMMUNITY VIA NEWSPAPER ADS (See our 10/27/2023 ad in The Snoqualmie Valley Record[vi] AND SOCIAL MEDIA POSTINGS

2. JOINING FORCES TO MONITOR RIVER TEMPERATURES IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ORCA CONSERVANCY (90% OF THE Resident Orca diet is the Chinook Salmon that come from our Rivers).

Forty Volunteers take water temperatures on various sites on the River at Noon every month 6 months out of the year. We are going to add other water quality testing next year. (We can always use additional volunteers if you are interested, contact us through our websites[vii]!)

Endnotes:

[i]Sources: https://www.govlink.org/watersheds/7/pdf/SnoqualmieStatusReport2023-Web.SpreadsFINAL.pdf

[ii] https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/12141300/#parameterCode=00060&period=P30D&showMedian=true

[iii] Source: https://sites.google.com/view/snoscat/

[iv] http://www.govlink.org/watersheds/7/news/2018/september/Mean-temperature-Snoqualmie.jpg

[v] Source https://chat.openai.com/c/5dadeeb4-3a54-4b53-9465-c442b3901119and other sources

[vi] https://sp-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/svr/SPI2738576.pdf

[vii]Friends Website: https://fosvtr.org/ SCAN website: https://SnoqualmieAction.com

CANDIDATES BY OFFICE FOR NORTH BEND:

City of North Bend, Mayor

• Mary Miller

• Rob McFarland