Pastoral rural communities hear footsteps of growth

By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Robert and Debbie Arenth, who earn their living growing vegetables in the rich soil along the banks of the salmon- and steelhead-bearing Snoqualmie River in eastern King County, know they may not be living in paradise.

But the hard-working and congenial owners of Fall City Farms figure they must be pretty close to it.

The Arenths, unfortunately, also know they can't count on things staying the same in the nearly pastoral Preston-Fall City area where cows, horses, llamas and assorted other animals outnumber the people who live here.

"I don't think it is going to last," Robert Arenth says. "It is going to end up another Bellevue."

No slam intended, but that's probably not even a happy thought for the good people of Bellevue who visit the Preston-Fall City area on weekends to harvest fruit and vegetables at one of many U-pick farms, go sight-seeing at nearby Snoqualmie Falls or fish in the Raging and Snoqualmie rivers.

The Arenths' fears -- that this still bucolic, tree-lined rural area will one day succumb to relentless pressure from developers -- are reinforced on a daily basis at the market where they sell the produce they have grown.

"We stand at the store and every third person says something about how they would like to come out here and live," says Debbie Arenth. "And I'm thinking: 'If you do, it's gone.' "

Growth has been slowed until now by several factors, including the fact that much of the land is in a flood plain and unsuitable for development and the lack of a sewer system that would encourage new construction.

Robert and Debbie Arenth don't like to think about the time when pressures for development may force them from the land where they grow pumpkins, garlic, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, squash and other food items.

"Eventually sewers will come to town and when they do, this will be gone," says Robert Arenth. "It may be 20 years. It may be sooner. But it will happen."

Residents of the two towns don't have to deal with a crime problem either. Neither town has its own police force. The King County Sheriff's Office patrols the area.

"We don't have too much serious crime out there," says police spokesman John Urquhart. "Sometimes we have a problem with juvenile drinking around graduation time. But generally it is just a nice, quiet, laid-back rural area."

Russell and Lee Stallman, who own Fall City Firearms, know that. And they probably can appreciate it more than most people. Russell Stallman was a policeman in Seattle and his son, Lee, is a former Carnation policeman. Lee Stallman says he has mixed feelings about the growth that is likely to change the rural community's way of life in coming years.

"There's clearly lots of expansion going on all through the valley," says Russell Stallman.

"Growth is good for business. Growth is going to happen," he says with a shrug as he works behind the counter of their store on the Fall City-Snoqualmie Road.

Until it does, city residents will still have two peaceful towns to visit in their weekend escapes from the pressures of urban life.

The people of Fall City and Preston are happy to have them visit. They just don't want them to move there.