King County now owns the riverfront parcel at 18825 SE Renton-Maple Valley Road. Lakeside Industries spent most of a decade trying to build an asphalt plant there. The deed was signed at the Fairwood 60th Anniversary Celebration at Petrovitsky Park on Saturday, August 29, 2026. The county has not said when the public can go there, what will be built, or who will lead the planning. So the purchase doesn't add any riverbank you can visit this fall. The stretch of the Cedar the fight protected is still something you can see, though. For the next four weekends, the Seattle Aquarium will have naturalists posted along it, and this is a year when a guide to point out the fish may help more than usual.
How a landscaping zone almost became an asphalt plant
The fight started in 2017, when Lakeside Industries proposed an asphalt plant along SR-169 near the Cedar River. The plan was to move the company's asphalt operation from its site in Covington, along SR-18 at SE 256th Street, to this site off the Renton-Maple Valley Road.
The project kept going for years because the zoning allowed it. Councilmember Reagan Dunn has said the designation dated to 2008, when it was set up for a landscaping company, and that public policy favored using land under its existing zoning. He called the effort to stop it a "real uphill battle." King County's permitting division approved Lakeside's development and shoreline permits on April 14, 2022. Save the Cedar River sued in Superior Court in May 2024 and lost.
The plant was stopped by a negotiated deal. On July 17, 2025, Save the Cedar River and Lakeside announced that the company would not build the plant under its approved permits and would apply to King County for a warehouse instead. The Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council noted that a warehouse would bring much less truck traffic than the plant was expected to. That October, Dunn pushed for the county to buy the land outright. The King County Flood Control District had set aside $5 million in Cedar River Strategic Acquisition funds and ordered an appraisal. By December 5, 2025, a letter of intent and a letter accepting the purchase had both been signed.
The final price, as KIRO reported on August 30, was $14 million, which is $2.7 million below the appraised value. Dunn said the money came from reserve funds, not new taxes. Lakeside CEO Mike Lee called it "a win-win for the community and Lakeside." Maple Valley Mayor Sean Kelly, Renton Mayor Armondo Pavone and Save the Cedar River President Bob Baker were at the signing.
What the purchase does and doesn't open
The parcel is in unincorporated King County, on the SR-169 corridor between Renton and Maple Valley. Anyone who drives to Renton has passed it many times. Its future is still undecided. At the August event, people wrote their ideas on interactive boards. The ideas included restoring fish and wildlife habitat, adding recreation, and linking the land to existing trails. The county also said it is looking at other nearby properties to preserve, but it didn't name them.
"It's gonna be the kind of thing that future generations are gonna play in and connect with trails and be our crown jewel of our park system." Reagan Dunn, speaking to KIRO Newsradio after walking the property
Dunn said the county will bring neighborhood stakeholders together to decide what goes there, with options running from trails and play structures to habitat restoration. No meeting dates, survey or planning calendar have been published, and no source gives visiting hours or access rules. Until the county announces them, treat the parcel as land that has been protected, not as a park you can walk into.
The fish the fight was about came back in small numbers
Supporters of the purchase have mostly talked about water. Dunn's office says the Cedar River watershed supplies drinking water to more than 1.6 million people in the Seattle area. In October, though, most people know the river for its salmon, and this year's count is low.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's preseason forecast for 2026 Lake Washington sockeye was 32,862 fish, made up of 16,271 hatchery fish and 16,591 wild fish. The count at the Ballard Locks came in close to that. The preliminary running total reached 31,302 on August 25 and didn't rise after that. State and tribal managers open a recreational sockeye season only when they expect more fish than the escapement goal of 350,000. This year's preliminary total is under a tenth of that goal.
The other species tell a different story. Through September 29, the Locks counted 14,675 Chinook. The coho total went from 433 on September 1 to 13,494 by September 28, with several days of more than a thousand fish in the middle of the month. These are preliminary counts at the Ship Canal, not a count of what you'll see at any one spot on the Cedar. WDFW says the numbers may be revised.
King County's spawning calendar shows how this plays out on the river in October. Sockeye spawn from early August through late December. Chinook spawn from September through mid-December. Coho start in mid-October and go into early January, but they spawn more often in small streams than in big rivers. That means October overlaps all three seasons. With few sockeye this year, though, spotting fish in the main channel will be harder than in a big year. Seattle Public Utilities also traps some of the adult sockeye in the Cedar and trucks them to the hatchery.
The October naturalist weekends
In a thin year, it helps to have someone who knows where the fish hold. The Seattle Aquarium posts naturalists along the Cedar in Renton and Maple Valley on selected October weekend days. The schedule, last updated September 18, is below. Most stations run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, October 3: Renton Library and Cedar River Park
- Sunday, October 4: Cedar Grange #534, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, October 10: Cedar River Park, 10 a.m. to noon only
- Sunday, October 11: Renton Library and Cedar River Park
- Saturday, October 17: Riverview Park and Belmondo Reach
- Sunday, October 18: Cedar Grange #534, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, October 24: Riverview Park and Belmondo Reach
- Sunday, October 25: Cedar Grange #534, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Aquarium says the schedule may change, so check the page before you go. Cedar Grange #534 is the only station staffed on three Sundays. The other sites move around over the month, with Renton Library and Cedar River Park early on and Riverview Park and Belmondo Reach later. The Aquarium's 2026 list doesn't include Landsburg, so older guides that send you there for naturalists are out of date.
Two well-known spots need extra planning. Cavanaugh Pond Natural Area supports fall sockeye spawning, but it is still closed after restoration work, and King County hasn't given a reopening date. Landsburg Reach and Big Bend natural areas have no parking. The closest lot is the Landsburg Trailhead, about a mile east on the Cedar River Trail.
King County's Salmon SEEson guide recommends clear, calm days around midday and polarized lenses. WDFW asks visitors to watch quietly from the bank, stay out of the water and keep pets under control. If you see nothing, it suggests trying again after a rain or going to another spot.
The trail system the new parcel might join
The one connection the county has named is McGarvey Park. That shows where planning may start, and you can walk McGarvey now. It is a 400-acre working forest with 11 miles of multi-use trails. King County lists hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding as allowed uses. The McGarvey West Trail runs southwest to Petrovitsky Park, which has 90 forested acres and a playground. The McGarvey East Trail leads through Wetland 14 toward Spring Lake/Lake Desire Park. The county lists the parking area at the southwest corner of SE 164th Street and 188th Avenue SE, reached by heading west through Maple Valley Heights Park. A 2011 county stewardship plan puts the forest about half a mile south of the Cedar River.
The river side of the corridor is the Cedar River Trail, 17.4 miles along an old railroad grade between the river and SR-169. The first 12.3 miles are paved and the last five are soft surface. There is parking at both ends and at many points in between. Back in 2021, Dunn's six-parcel conservation proposal described the goal as linking the Cedar Grove Natural Area to the Spring Lake, Lake Desire and McGarvey open-space complex. The new parcel sits on that corridor, between the riverside trail and the forest to the south.
If you want more weekend ideas closer to town, our guide to weekend life in Maple Valley covers the parks and trails inside city limits. The Maple Valley neighborhood page keeps track of what's changing around the Plateau.
At Porterhouse Property Group, we've watched the asphalt-site fight unfold one SR-169 commute at a time. We'll share the county's planning meetings for the parcel once they're scheduled. If you own land along the Cedar River corridor and have questions about how this purchase affects the area, connect with our Enumclaw specialists.