Staff Writer - The Timeshare Beat
July 7, 2000
Upper Kittitas County in Washington state encompasses the I-90 corridor from Snoqualmie Pass Summit east to the
Indian John Hill area and includes the communities of Easton, Ronald, Roslyn, Cle Elum, South Cle Elum and Snoqualmie
Pass. Smack in the heart of central Washington, the area is rich in natural beauty and diversity and poor in terms
of population density. Just the way the residents like it.
Northern Kittitas County was originally a coal mining area, and when that business finally breathed its last in 1963 the area's most important industry became logging, which had been expanding since original settlement in the 1880s. Now logging is also on its last legs, and the saving grace for its economy may be that its sunny beauty has been discovered by the residents of the Seattle area. Tourism is coming.
The main component of that tourism that has the area's people in an uproar is Trendwest's proposed MountainStar Resort, a massive project near Roslyn and Cle Elum that will encompass everything from timeshare to residences, to retail shops to golf.
Many of the residents are naturally concerned about what effects Trendwest's project will have on their rural way of life. Located on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains less than two hours from the Seattle Metropolitan area, the proposed MountainStar Resort, at 6,225 acres, would ultimately become the largest resort in the state and inevitably will change not only the face of the region but its heart as well.
Jeld-Wen, 80% owner of Trendwest, originated the project and recently turned it over in its entirety to Trendwest,
which had been managing the planning and permitting of the JELD-WEN property for the past three and one-half years.Over
the next 30 years, Trendwest plans to build more than 4,100 vacation homes, two golf courses, a horse park, 550
hotel rooms and a variety of businesses in the Cle Elum River corridor.
Trendwest will also be acquiring JELD-WEN land designated as an urban growth area for the City of Cle Elum.
A major hurdle yet to be overcome by Trendwest is the environmental concerns it has raised among residents of the area. While most residents understand that change must come, and many welcome it for the financial stability it will bring, some are fretting about the price they may have to pay for that stability in terms of the environment. Some concern has also been voiced that the project will escalate property values and homeowners taxes to the point that long time residents would be forced off their land.
Trendwest, meanwhile, is vigorously defending a four-year environmental study prepared by county planners and financed by Trendwest at a cost of $3.5 million. The company says that not only is the project environmentally sound, but that the economic impact will far outweigh any minor evironmental problems that might be encountered.
Five groups, including the Yakama Nation, were challenging the study on the grounds that it contains glaring holes and falls short of state environmental laws. The Yakama Nation, along with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, recently reached an agreement with Trendwest, however, and both have dropped their appeals of the EIS.
Supporters say the resort eventually will create as many as 1,400 new jobs, bring new money into the region
in the form of taxes and retail spending, and provide the opportunity for people to work in the area where they
grew up instead of being forced to head for the big cities in search of employment.
If all goes well during the hearing process, construction could begin later this year. However, Trendwest would
need to perform additional environmental studies and delay construction if commissioners find flaws in the study.
Cle Elum is unlikely to be familiar to most people outside the state, but nearby Roslyn was made famous when it was used as the town of Cicely, Alaska in the tv series "Northern Exposure".
In addition to the tourism possibilities of Trendwest's project, its largest project ever, the Cle Elum area is also beginning to feel the effects of the Phoenix Group's influence in creating an 80-acre business park at the Ellensburg airport, the principal city and county seat, with a 10,000 sq. ft. facility which is expected to be ready for manufacturing occupancy by fall. And there are also some software development businesses around Cle Elum that are rapidly expanding as IT expatriates from Puget Sound discover what an excellent quality of life can be found there.
The Phoenix Group has raised some controversy with its endorsement of Trendwest's proposed development, but maintains that while it will definitely have a major impact on the area it will more than atone for those changes in job creation and increased revenues.
So it is certain that change is coming in a big way to rural Kittitas County, with its farms and ranches and
small towns. The residents just hope they have a say in what the changes will be, and how they are handled.
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