Snoqualmie Valley Record, August 12, 2015

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Valley Record SNOQUALMIE

101RS YEA

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12 2015 n DAILY UPDATES AT WWW.VALLEYRECORD.COM n 75 CENTS

Enter park here Gift of property will lead to new Torguson Park entrance By CAROL LADWIG

RAILROAD

FESTIVAL

Editor

A look back at another fabulous Festival at Mount Si Page 2

Find out what’s in store for Snoqualmie’s Railroad Days Page 9

INDEX Opinion 5 On the Scanner 6 7 Puzzles 7 Calendar Classifieds 17-21

Vol. 102, No. 12

If anyone can make lemonade from lemons, as the saying goes, it’s the people at the North Bend Les Schwab. The tire shop that was crippled by an April 2014 gas explosion on a nearby site had limited operations for weeks after the blast and took almost six months to celebrate a grand re-opening. Now, a little over a year since the devastation, the company is donating a parcel of land to help the city of North Bend in its post-explosion improvement efforts. It’s not a large property, just .2 acres, but the effect this particular property could have for North Bend’s Torguson Park, as well as a developer planning to rebuild on the explosion site, is much bigger than it looks. “We’ve always kind of wanted to create a better entrance to Torguson Park,” said North Bend Planning and Economic Development Director Gina Estep. With the Les Schwab donation, the city will be able to — and at very little cost, since the new owner of the explosion site intends to work with the city to grant public access to the park

Voters turn out for most incumbents in primary Most office holders in the Valley are seeing strong support in early results from the Aug. 4 primary election. Incumbents in Carnation, the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital district, and one North Bend City Council seat all have

Evan Pappas/Staff Photo

Les Schwab Manager Kevin Schallhorn stands on the site of a sliver of property his company will donate to the city of North Bend, to create a new pedestrian entryway into Torguson Park. through his property. He will also develop an eight-foot-wide paved trail for pedestrian access from North Bend Way, along with other open spaces, as required by city code on residential developments. As proposed, the site will be redeveloped into a three-story building, with 5,000 feet of retail space on the ground floor, and two stories of condos, 32 in all, above that.

a strong majority of votes in the count as of Monday, Aug. 10. So far, the hospital commissioner races have seen the greatest turnout. For Position 1 in Public Hospital District 4, incumbent David Speikers has the most votes, 1,677, or 39.4 percent in the race. Next is Fritz Ribary, with 1,344 votes or 31.6 percent, followed by Tim Noonan, with 1,221 votes and 28.7 percent. Joan Young is also likely to defend her seat, Position 5 in November, with 1,750 votes in the primary to date, or 42.2 percent. Steve Weaver is second, with 1,261 votes, 30.4 percent, and Bruno Kelpsas is trailing with 1,125 votes, 27.1 percent. There were 11 write-in votes for Position 1 and 14 for Position 5.

“We’re working with him to say ‘your recreation space will be this Torguson Park entrance,’” said Estep. It will be larger, actually. Associate Planner Lynn Fredenburg said the site’s current plans include another 2,000-plus square feet of private open space, on the second floor, plus a large pedestrian plaza and picnic area in front.

In North Bend, two of the four city council seats up for election in November are in three-way races. Councilman Dee Williamson is second in votes for his Position 3 seat, with 231 votes, 24.3 percent. He is behind Trevor Kostanich, who has 509 votes, 53.6 percent. Rich Wiltshire is third, with 132 votes, 13.9 percent. Piper Muoio, who reported in July that she would not campaign for the seat, has 71 votes, 7.5 percent. In the race for Position 7, currently held by Ryan Kolodejchuk, Martin Volken has 508 votes, or 51.4 percent. Judy Bilanko is second, with 256 votes, or 25.9 percent, and Kolodejchuck is third, with 220 votes, 22.2 percent.

SEE PROPERTY, 3

Six write-in votes were cast for Position 3, and five for Position 7. Incumbent Fred Bereswill is leading in votes for his seat, Position 1 on the Carnation City Council. He had 107 votes, or 43 percent. His closest challenger is Steve McFall, with 75 votes, 30 percent. Challenger Jeff Lim has 68 votes, 27 percent. Position 5 front-runners Dustin Green and Ernest Fix are separated by only one vote. Green has 89 votes, Fix has 88, or about 35 percent each. Mike Flowers trails with 75 votes, 30 percent. One write-in vote was also cast for each seat. The top two vote-getters in each race will win listings on the Nov. 3 general election ballot, but results won’t be finalized until Aug. 18.

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