Residents urge council to oppose Cumberland aggregate/asphalt project and to protect Lizard Mountain area

Several residents used the council’s public‑comment period on July 13 to raise concerns about a proposed Cumberland aggregate mine and related asphalt operations and to urge preservation of nearby recreational lands.

Julius Stevens, who said he lives in unincorporated King County near Enumclaw, asked the council to review King County’s project materials and cautioned the proposal could span decades of gravel removal (he cited "25 to 35 years"). Stevens warned of traffic impacts, saying the operation would generate a significant number of heavy‑truck trips through town (he described an estimated range during his remarks) and that the plant’s hours were proposed as a 24/7 operation. He also cited an estimated daily water use of "175,000 to 250,000 gallons a day" and warned of noise impacts and greater demands on public safety resources. Stevens noted King County is taking comments on the project through August 7 and left copies of the county materials with the city clerk.

Linda Stevens urged the council to support saving roughly 990 acres north of Cumberland, including Lizard Mountain and White River access. She described long‑standing recreational use of the area (hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking) and said residents are concerned about well water if intensive extraction proceeds. She said she had been told county and state actors might be interested in conservation.

Speaker Malinaro raised a related neighborhood concern about repurposing the former Moose Lodge as a nightclub or event center that would serve alcohol in a residential area, and he recommended council review municipal noise control rules (municipal code, chapter 8) to prevent a repeat of past complaints related to similar venues.

Why it matters: The comments highlight potential regional traffic, noise and groundwater impacts from a large‑scale aggregate and asphalt project and show organized local concern and a public‑comment window open to King County. The issues can affect city roads, public safety workload, groundwater users and recreation access.

Accuracy and caution: Some numerical figures were presented orally by commenters and were not corroborated by staff at the meeting. The commenter’s heavy‑truck figure was stated in the public comment and appears in the transcript with inconsistent punctuation; the article quotes the commenter on that point rather than restating an edited numeric range. The City and King County will have permitting documents and technical studies that the council or staff can review for precise counts and hydrology estimates.