By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Alarmed by the sea of houses in the Fryelands and the coming annexation, members of citizen groups have tried to slow growth, partly by seeking a referendum on an ordinance relating to extending sewers outside the city.

"It's out of control," says Meredith Mechling, a member of Monroe Citizens for Responsible Growth and the Sky Valley Community Forum. "The City Council seems to be doing everything in its power to promote growth rather than to control growth."

Dick Fredlund, the city's community development director, says Monroe's location at the intersection of three highways makes it an attractive bedroom community, particularly for Eastside commuters.

"In the community as a whole, half the people think (Monroe's fast growth) is fine and half think it's terrible," says Fredlund. "The City Council is not pro-growth or anti-growth. They just want to make sure it happens in the best interests of the city."

The swelling population is evident at Monroe Community Chapel, where membership has doubled to more than 550 in the past two years. While there's a "world of difference between Monroe and Redmond, that's where we're headed in the next 10 to 15 years," judging by the age and professional occupations of numerous new residents, the Rev. Bruce Speer says.

At Monroe High, built for 900 students, enrollment has climbed to 1,450, with 11 portable classrooms in use. A new high school will open in 1999. Partly because of the academic expectations of new residents, the high school is adding more advanced science and math classes and more foreign language instruction, Principal Mike Weatherbie says.

Monroe schools are known for strong band and 4-H programs, teacher involvement and vocational-technical training, according to Weatherbie and School Board President Harleen Hieber, who jokes that she "escaped" from Southern California 26 years ago.

On a more serious note, reformatory Superintendent Ken Du Charme says escapes have been infrequent in recent years at the state reformatory, which, along with the Twin Rivers Correction Center, houses about 2,100 inmates. With a staff of 965, the prison system is by far Monroe's largest employer.

In Monroe, calls for police service have tripled over the past decade, rising along with the growth in population. Thefts are the most common reported crime, about twice as common as assaults. Only two murders have been committed in Monroe since 1987.

As a rookie cop in 1977, Monroe Police Chief Colleen Wilson says she could "sit on Highway 2 for two hours and not see a car." Now the department's biggest issues are communicating with an ever-expanding public, helping the community celebrate diversity and dealing with increased traffic.

Wilson, who helps promote Cinco de Mayo festivities and raise money for Special Olympics, says newcomers often come to Monroe from urban areas for more affordable housing "but want big-city services."

She shuddered recently upon hearing that another city in the Puget Sound region was trying to "reclaim" its youths from gangs and violence.

As Monroe continues its transformation from quiet town to bustling city, she says, "I hope we'd engage in behavior so we'd never lose them."