Land Surveyors in Renton, WA

Downtown Behind the Cedar River Levees

The Cedar River runs its last stretch through downtown Renton before emptying into the south end of Lake Washington, between the Renton Municipal Airport and the Boeing plant. Along that lower reach the Army Corps of Engineers built the Section 205 flood project, meant to protect downtown, the Boeing facilities and the airport. Levees only count on a flood map while they stay certified, and keeping that certification current falls to the local owner rather than the Corps. Whether a downtown parcel is mapped in a special flood hazard area depends on how that levee system is treated.

Plateaus on Both Sides

Renton climbs out of the valley in every direction. Kennydale rises along the lake to the north, the Highlands sit on the plateau to the northeast, and Talbot Hill and Benson Hill lie to the south and southeast. The escarpments between valley and plateau are steep, and Renton's Community and Economic Development department reviews them as geologic hazard areas. Much of the Highlands was built out quickly in the 1940s wartime housing boom around the Boeing plant, and those small, densely platted lots are now being redeveloped.

Lakefront and Industrial Ground

The Kennydale shoreline and the south end of the lake around Gene Coulon Park bring shoreline setback and dock questions. The valley floor toward Kent carries warehouse and light industrial parcels, many with easements for rail spurs, utilities and drainage that predate the buildings standing on them.

What Renton Clients Order

Downtown and valley owners ask most often for an elevation certificate, because the levee question drives insurance. Industrial and retail acquisitions need an ALTA/NSPS survey to chart those old easements. In the Highlands, rebuilding on wartime lots begins with a boundary survey and a topographic survey, and bigger parcels on Benson Hill and Talbot Hill are split through a short plat. Renton handles a lot line adjustment as its own application for neighbours moving a shared line. New construction needs construction staking and, at completion, an as-built survey. Down the valley is Kent; up the lake, Bellevue.

Renton Survey FAQs