Will Easton/Cle Elum ever be a suburb of Seattle/Bellevue? (Yakima: ski resorts, schools)

[Yakscsd]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

I think it already is, there are many people living in CleElum commuting to the eastside, mainly to Microsoft Sammamish which is actually in Issaquah, Siemens, and Spacelabs, but also some working in Bellevue in the I90 corridor.
This from a realtor we were talking to about property there a couple of years ago.

I agree. The only major obstacle is the number of pass closures in the winter. I live above North Bend and have considered moving up to the top of the pass. I don't mind the snow, but the road closures would make it difficult to have a site based job. I don't think the drive (weather excluded) would be any worse than many people make from Tacoma or Olympia every day.

[AnneJL]

It's already heading in that direction. I was born and raised in the Snoqualmie Valley and most of us locals are slowly being pushed out that way. The valley is one of the fastest growing communities in WA and there are 700 new housing units in the shoot waiting to be built. The town infrastructure can't support that so I wouldn't doubt that eventually it will spread out that way. Personally I know several people that commute to Bellevue from Easton and Cle Elum M-F. The cost adjustment from your pay to the COL can make it worth the drive.

[PS90]

Originally Posted by AnneJL

It's already heading in that direction. I was born and raised in the Snoqualmie Valley and most of us locals are slowly being pushed out that way. The valley is one of the fastest growing communities in WA and there are 700 new housing units in the shoot waiting to be built. The town infrastructure can't support that so I wouldn't doubt that eventually it will spread out that way. Personally I know several people that commute to Bellevue from Easton and Cle Elum M-F. The cost adjustment from your pay to the COL can make it worth the drive.

Yes, but as the poster above you noted, there's a lot more to it than COL and logistics of what places have space left for houses.

If you can't make it to work because of the pass being closed, or worse yet - you get into a major car accident on Snoqualmie in the winter, then was it worth it to save a couple hundred bucks on your rent? Some people can brave that drive and/or be able to be excused from work when they can't there (because that WILL happen), but some can't/won't.

So, IMO, I can't see the Cle Elum area becoming a significant suburb of Seattle.

[xboxmas]

Hopefully not. I like the rural feel to the area and how within an hour or so you are out of the big cities and traffic into a more rural laid back "country feel." Its amazing how Seattle is known for its rain and trees, but just go 90 miles east, and you are in a desert-like area.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

I'm kind of surprised the area hasn't developed more. I can't see it ever being a true commuter suburb to Seattle proper, but I'd think it could become something like a mini-Bend, OR. The recreation/national forest access and being on an Interstate would make it much more desirable than most small towns.

Commuting from Cle Elum to Seattle would be torturous, but commuting to Issaquah or Snoqualmie could possibly be manageable. Actually, that makes me wonder if Snoqualmie could be the next part of the metro to start getting tech companies.

[grega94]

This quite the old post, it’s interesting how much Covid has changed commuting behaviors, but I could totally see this area become popular with work from home type people, or those with hybrid jobs that only need to come into the office a couple times a week. But now that we have a fire season with a smoke Season it’s probably not as an attractive proposition as it was. Interesting how much climate change has already impacted the PNW.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by grega94

Do you Think that Easton/Cle Elum will ever be a suburb of Seattle/Bellevue in the next 50 years? It's only about an hour away and has arguably a nicer climate. So do you see hundreds/thousands of people crossing the pass to commute to work if I-90 is widened and winter crossing made more reliable. Do you think that the climate, the proximity to snoqualmie pass and nature would be a strong enough incentive for people to settle there? And if it ever does happen, how large of a suburb would it be, would it be small with 15,000 people or large with more than 50,000 people. Do you think it could be like Bremerton with its own identity, or more like a marysville suburbia. Currently there is about 2-3000 people living in that area.

Also what do you think if a high speed rail was built along I-90 from Seattle to Spokane and there was a train station there or in ellensburg, would that change the equation, or would ticket prices be to high for people to move there. Or if there was good bus service, it takes an hour for people to take the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, so do you think people would do the same to ride on a nice bus with great mountain views durring the commute.

First off in the 80's I know a women inspector where I worked who moved to Cle Elum and commuted everyday. When the weather hampered driving over Snoquaimie pass she stayed at her daughter's house.
Now if you didn't have a relative's house to stay at...what then? Hotel? Yeah Right.

An hour away? Cle Elum is 83 miles from Seattle. It takes according to the follow web site it takes and hour and nineteen minutes to drive in light traffic...now when was the last time anyone drove in light traffic in the Seattle area. It could take you an hour+- just to get out of Seattle.

https://www.distance-cities.com/dist...to-cle-elum-wa
The cost of a high speed rail would have the same results as the one in California. Money or the lack of money would most likely stop it. How long did it take to dig the tunnel along the Seattle water front and at what cost?

Ride Amtrak from Seattle to Spokane. A clue... there is no train it's is a bus ride.

While Amtrak's website shows train service between Seattle and Spokane, as we were purchasing tickets the agent said, "Here are two tickets for the bus between Seattle and Spokane."

I immediately said we wanted the train, not the bus. She said, there is no train, it's bus service. I pointed out the website says there is a train and she kept saying, "There is no train, it's a bus" like a recording. So we bought the bus tickets thinking, "How bad can a bus ride be?"

Read her one star review....

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...ashington.html

[Thealpinist]

Originally Posted by grega94

This quite the old post, it’s interesting how much Covid has changed commuting behaviors, but I could totally see this area become popular with work from home type people, or those with hybrid jobs that only need to come into the office a couple times a week. But now that we have a fire season with a smoke Season it’s probably not as an attractive proposition as it was. Interesting how much climate change has already impacted the PNW.

It has very little nothing to do with climate change. Big fires have always been a huge part of the ecosystem in the Cascades. Right around the time of the 1930s there was a huge drop in fires in the Cascades when modern fire suppression methods were introduced. This led to increasingly dense forests with large amounts of undergrowth and fuels that have slowly built up over time.

Prior to the 1930s there were huge fires all the time. The documented fires prior to that time were much larger than anything we have seen today. Plenty of research in this area has been done by respected researchers. During the 1800s smoke was a common theme in the PNW pretty much every summer. Around 1910 there was a huge fire that killed nearly a 100 people.

The MSM would love to weaponize this topic to push exaggerated claims which are never helpful. Unfortunately that actually hurts the cause of safe environmental practices (BTW I am a believer in Global Warming impacts).

With that being said. Cle Elum/Easton has become popular with the WAH crowd. The biggest problem with those areas though is the lack of shopping, good schools, and affordable housing for middle class people. Rich people with no Kids buy plenty of vacation homes over there.

Those tiny towns would need a lot more momentum to make it a good community for middle class people though.

[jabogitlu]

Easton has the ability to get a ton of snow (last year they got what, four, five feet?). Not many folks signing up for that, especially urban folks whose central nexus is Seattle.

[Thealpinist]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Easton has the ability to get a ton of snow (last year they got what, four, five feet?). Not many folks signing up for that, especially urban folks whose central nexus is Seattle.

100-150+ inch snowfall seasons are not unusual there. Yea not many people on the west side signing up for that. Lack of shopping is also a huge set back. Sadly (or maybe it’s a good thing depending on how you look at it) WA state does not have “developed” mountain towns that are attractive.