Ban on asphalt plants in city of Covington likely to continue

A decision whether to allow an asphalt plant in the downtown area of Covington appears to be off the table.

The council is in the process of considering zoning and design standards in the downtown area, which included a request from Lakeside Industries, based in Issaquah, to allow construction of an asphalt plant. Lakeside had proposed to build an asphalt plant across Covington Way near Costco in the downtown area.

At the July 27 council meeting, the members had requested further information from Lakeside Industries regarding the asphalt plant.

The council requested data on the average daily trips of trucks entering and leaving the site and the potential distribution during a 24-hour period.

The council also asked for an estimate of the Lakeside employees or truck drivers living in the city. A third question was who would own or have authority over the trucks entering and leaving the plant.

Rob Dennis, division manager for Lakeside, sent a letter to the city in response to the inquires stating, “At this time I would like to state that giving you the information you request would not only be inaccurate, but very misleading. Due to market fluctuation and contract demands we are experiencing lows in both demand and volume. We do realize this may result in the council rejecting our proposed zoning; we would hope in the future we could request a rezone.”

The Planning Commission had voted 5-2 to approve zoning for the asphalt plant.

Sean Smith, chair of the commission was one of the dissenting votes. Smith wrote a letter July 6 to the city asking for the city to “maintain a ban on the construction of asphalt plants in the Covington downtown zone.”

According to City Manager Derek Matheson, Lakeside can ask for the site to be rezoned to allow for an asphalt plant in the future.

“We have a process in our code for property owners to seek a zoning text change,” Matheson said.

The zoning text change, if approved, could allow the construction of an asphalt plant.

Contact Covington Reporter Regional Editor Dennis Box at dbox@maplevalleyreporter.com or 425-432-1209 ext. 5050.

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