The Community Need 

Si View Pool, the Snoqualmie Valley’s only public pool, has been a gathering place where children have learned to swim and the community has gathered for generations.  The pool was built in the 1930s at the request of the community as a Works Progress Administration project when the city had fewer than 1,000 residents.  Over the decades, it became an essential part of Valley life. 

Originally owned and operated by King County, it was threatened with closure in 2001.  Residents organized, advocated, and ultimately voted by an overwhelming 72% to form the Si View Metropolitan Parks District in 2002 so the pool could reopen and remain a public resource for the Valley.  Si View MPD includes the City of North Bend, unincorporated North Bend, and unincorporated Snoqualmie, but over 40% of its current users are out-of-district residents, including residents from the City of Snoqualmie.   

Today, the community’s commitment to swimming and water safety remains as strong as ever, but Si View Pool has not kept pace with the region it serves. The Snoqualmie Valley has grown rapidly and now includes approximately 40,000 residents, a 21% increase since just 2010. The aging facility is simply too small and structurally limited to meet today’s needs.   

There are many issues a new pool must address:   

• Our location in the Cascade foothills means long, rainy, dark winters and seasonal wildfire smoke, creating increased pressure on our already limited indoor recreation options.   

• Residents want more swim access and report increased interest in health, wellness, and low-impact fitness, but waitlists for youth swim lessons are prohibitively long and other programming is limited by the size and design of the current pool.   

• School swim and dive teams have continued to grow both in membership and achievements but must practice in outdoor pools in winter or drive long distances to whatever else is available, making participation inaccessible for many students.   

• Our population exhibits increasing diversity in cultures, languages, and lived experiences as well as an increase in adults who are new to swimming, requiring more culturally responsive engagement in water competency.   

• Adults over 65 are now the fastest growing population group in the service area and many are seeking warm‑water exercise, mobility support, and accessible water therapy to support aging in place, but current local options are limited or non-existent.   

• Commuting patterns changed dramatically after Covid, strengthening the need for local recreation that reduces travel burdens for seniors, families, and working adults.   

• Increased awareness of our regional water use and other environmental concerns have underscored the need for a more modern and energy-efficient facility to serve the area in the coming decades. 

For nearly a decade now, residents have consistently identified a replacement for Si View Pool as one of the community’s most important priorities.  Multiple agencies have attempted to address the problem on their own over the past five years, yet the project has remained out of reach.  Several attempts to fund just Phase 1 of a new facility through voter-approved bonds in Si View MPD have come close to the 60% threshold required under Washington law but have narrowly fallen short.  In Snoqualmie, attempts to build a pool without a voter-approved bond have also failed to advance. 

But the mandate remains clear: a new public pool is a top priority.  In Si View’s 2025 PROS Plan community survey, a new public pool ranked as the Valley’s highest unmet recreational need, scoring nearly twice as high as the next priority identified by Si View MPD residents.  In Snoqualmie’s 2024 PROST Plan survey, residents there also ranked a pool as the most important and most needed recreational resource for their household at two times the rate of the other amenities ranked. 

The message from the community has been long-standing and consistent, and residents are growing frustrated that their leaders have not figured out how to solve the problem.  It’s time for a new approach that will finally meet this need. 

Regional Cooperation Is Essential 

With a price tag that is now over $60 million dollars, no single jurisdiction in the Snoqualmie Valley can shoulder the full financial, operational, or logistical responsibility of a new public pool alone.  A new public pool is a regional asset that will require regional cooperation.   

Regional cooperation brings in a broader funding mix and spreads the cost out more fairly throughout the service area.  It more evenly shares risks and responsibilities across multiple agencies.  It engages in economies of scale that maximize taxpayer investment.  It keeps the cost to build, operate, and use a new pool within reach for residents concerned about increasing taxes and cost of living.  And it unlocks the ability to leverage outside funding like King County grants, state appropriations, and private philanthropy, taking the burden off taxpayers. 

The service area for a new pool includes many adjacent and overlapping government agencies, all of whom are stakeholders and potential sources of public funding:  

• The City of North Bend (pop. 7,953) 

• The City of Snoqualmie (pop. 13,748) 

• Si View Metropolitan Parks District (pop. 18,202) 

• The Snoqualmie Valley School District (pop. 39,250) 

• The Snoqualmie Tribe (pop. approx. 650) 

• Fall City Metropolitan Parks District (pop. approx. 5,200) 

• King County (17,549 unincorporated residents within the service area) 

In previous years, some of these individual agencies have conducted their own planning at different times, with different data, different expectations, and different decision-making processes.  Finding a mix of public funding from these agencies for a shared regional project will require a collaboration that has not previously existed.  This is the gap Valley Pool Together fills. 

Why Updated Data and Community Listening Matter 

This new approach will also require new information.  Most past studies and public surveys were completed before 2019 when the Valley looked very different, or only focused on one city’s residents.  Relying on this information risks building a facility that is too small, misaligned with community needs, or inaccessible to key populations. 

Valley Pool Together is gathering current and comprehensive information that reflects Valley-wide community priorities.  As a regional project, it is imperative to reach consensus on issues like design, programming, location, affordability, and more.  Without this, the project is at risk of stalling, losing momentum, and ultimately failing. 
 
We convene discussions around shared data, create avenues for resident input, bridge communication across jurisdictions, develop community consensus, and facilitate one aligned process rather than several disconnected ones.   

Our Key Areas of Work  

Our outreach model prioritizes listening first. We meet residents where they are—at senior centers, parks, schools, libraries, cultural gatherings, and community events—ensuring every voice helps shape the Valley’s future. 

1. Deep Community Outreach & Listening 

Listening is central to our approach. We provide accessible public events, educational materials, and in-person conversations that meet people where they are and ensure all community members shape the pool planning process. Support helps us expand this inclusive engagement model.  

2. Updated Data Gathering 

We are conducting robust data collection to identify community priorities, facility needs, cost expectations, and preferred locations to support building a new public pool. Support for our statistically valid study allows us to ensure broad participation from a broad cross-section of the Snoqualmie Valley .  

3. Water Safety Initiatives 

We collaborate with regional partners to expand awareness, skill-building opportunities, and water safety education to help keep local kids, families, and seniors safe now, long before a new pool is built.  

Why Support Matters Now 

The Snoqualmie Valley is ready for a new indoor public pool.  After several years of failures by individual municipalities, regional partners are finally ready to come to the table.  But as construction costs continue to rise, that window is closing. Your support now will help those partners collaborate quickly and effectively, while ensuring the process is collaborative, data driven and community led.    

Join Us 

Our Valley has changed dramatically. Our needs have expanded. And our capacity for collaboration has grown. 

By supporting Valley Pool Together, you help create a Snoqualmie Valley where everyone has access to year-round options for mobility, exercise and wellness, children and adults learn life-saving water safety skills, and the entire community shares a place that brings generations together. 

Together, we can build the trust, cooperation, and shared vision needed to finally deliver the new indoor public pool our region deserves—for generations to come.