SEATTLE — Plans to build an asphalt plant near the Cedar River east of Renton cleared another hurdle and appear to be moving forward.
Last week, the state Shorelines Hearings Board ruled 4-1 to reject an appeal from a group attempting to halt the construction. The group, Citizens to Stop the SR 169 Asphalt Plant, says it’s considering appealing the board’s decision.
Lakeside Industries has about a dozen asphalt plants in Western Washington. Lakeside bought the 25-acre site near the Cedar Grove Natural Area on the banks of the river in 2016. A century ago, it was the site of a coal mine. It was later sold to King County, which used it as a maintenance facility, and then was sold to a landscaping supply company before the 2016 purchase.
Before building the plant, the company would need to clean up soils contaminated by the county’s leaky underground fuel storage tanks. The proposed plant would crush rock in rotating drums, and later mix it with hot oil. That finished product would be moved to tanks within a secondary concrete enclosure, and eventually loaded into trucks.
The community and environmental groups have pushed back on the asphalt plant for years, citing the industrial property’s proximity (about 150 feet) to the river and the traffic and noise the thumping drums will bring. The plant would be less than a mile from a recently completed King County project to restore salmon habitat.
The state board ruled last Wednesday that the citizen group did not demonstrate how King County had not followed the proper procedures in issuing the required permits for the soil cleanup and construction of the plant, including determining the proposal is not likely to have adverse environmental impacts.
The permitting division of the county’s Department of Local Services ruled a year ago that the project “does not pose a probable significant adverse impact to the environment.” The county also ruled that a formal environmental impact statement — which had been requested by the Muckleshoot Tribe, among others — was not necessary for the project to move forward.
“For several decades, the Tribe has worked diligently to restore the salmon populations in the Cedar River in the interest of protecting their currently limited fishing opportunities and with the goal of restoring historical fishing opportunities protected under their treaty-rights,” Muckleshoot wrote in response to early planning documents on the project. “This project is a direct threat to these efforts.”
The state board’s lone dissenting opinion argued the county did not provide for ample public participation and follow the correct procedure in the permitting process.
A traffic study found that the plant will require 460 truck trips each weekday, about 1% increase in traffic, according to the state board’s decision. Lakeside’s proposal includes adding acceleration and deceleration lanes to Highway 169 at the site.
The county has required that all trucks leaving the site must be covered and sound barriers must be installed to reduce noise pollution. The company says it plans to build on about 6.5 acres of the 25-acre site and will restore 4 acres of degraded wetland and stream buffers.
The project will be separated from the river by the five-lane highway and a paved trail.
“It’s little bit like David and Goliath,” said Bob Baker, the citizen group’s leader. “We’re trying to save our environment, our community and our way of life.”
The group has until May 12 to appeal the state board’s decision. Construction is still on hold.
