Approving Asphalt Plant Would Be 'Monumental' Mistake, Dunn Says

RENTON, WA — The vice-chairman of the King County Metropolitan Council this week penned a letter staunchly opposing permits to build a new asphalt plant along State Route 169, near the Cedar River. Reagan Dunn, a Republican representing King County's 9th District, previously sponsored a 2017 moratorium on the project and hosted several town halls and community meetings.

This month, the King County Permitting Division is poised to make a final decision on whether to allow Lakeside Industries to move forward with the project. Earlier this week, Dunn made a final plea to block construction in a letter to Jim Chan, the division's director.

"If you proceed with approving this permit, it would be an extremely poor decision of the executive branch of government, and its legacy would be traced back to your office forever," Dunn wrote. "Approving a permit for an industrial use in the rural area just feet away from the Cedar River, at the gateway to Maple Valley and other south County cities is a mistake of monumental proportions — one that is out of compliance with King County's own growth management policy to preserve rural character and that flatly betrays the County's central value of respecting and protecting our environment."

Dunn said that the parcel that would host the plant sits adjacent to a source of drinking water for 1.4 million people, and provides a habitat for Chinook, Coho, Sockeye and Kokanee salmon. Beyond potential impacts to the water and fish, Dunn noted the plant would pollute the air, bring high noise levels and odor, and hurt property values.

"This community already bears burden of the Cedar Hills landfill," Dunn wrote. "Adding an asphalt plant endangers out diminishing salmon populations and the quality of our drinking water and will certainly further pollute our air. Enough is enough."

Dunn's office also noted strong opposition to the project from within the community, including an online petition with nearly 10,000 signatures organized by Save the Cedar River.

Should plans for the plant move forward this month, Dunn asked that the county apply maximum environmental monitoring standards and mitigation efforts in place.

"If, as I suspect, the Permitting Division is going to decide to approve Lakeside Industries’ permit application, I can only call on King County to hold the asphalt plant to the highest environmental standards and deepest scrutiny possible," Dunn wrote. "There is too much at stake to be lenient."

Dunn also introduced legislation this week for a complete review of the industrial use of rural areas, seeking a study to be completed by next March.

Read the full letter via Dunn's website.