HomeDuvallKing's-4-quarterLocal compute
01 · The Parcel

Seventy-six acres, a river, and a standing landmark barn.

Parcel 0626079039 · Duvall-Monroe Road NE · 98019

This is a discrete, whole farm parcel: the only agricultural-use lot in its block, publicly owned, already classified "Farm," on the Snoqualmie River. Its defining design feature is a landmark barn that survived; its defining design constraint is the water. Its title record, now pulled in full, tells the story of fifty years of public investment in this ground.

The record
FieldValue
Parcel (PIN)0626079039 · 75.80 acres, in two pieces: 72.45 ac west of SR 203, 3.35 ac east (the highway and old railway cross the east edge)
OwnerKing County Parks & Recreation Division
ZoningA-35 (Agricultural, 1 dwelling per 35 acres)
Assessor present use"Farm" (use code 130)
Agricultural designationsTriple: 1986 farmland-preservation easement (full parcel) · Snoqualmie Valley Agricultural Production District · A-35 zoning
WaterfrontSnoqualmie River right bank, roughly river miles 5.9-6.2; legal boundary is the ordinary high water line
Acquired2020, fee, from the Pearce family (Statutory Warranty Deed #20201223002074, $1,058,600), as Lot 1 of exempt segregation EMSC20-0010
Covenants on the deedConservation Futures (RCW 84.34.200, KCC 26.12.005) and 2013 Parks Levy (Ordinance 17568), both in the deed's own Exhibit A
Prior recorded instrument1986 development-rights easement to King County, #198611070673 (survives the sale; not named in the 2020 deed; text on order)
Riverbank public right of wayA 25-ft county public right of way along the river, plus the north 30 ft (Cause No. 810531, per the title exception schedule)
Flood infrastructure on the frontageThree named county facilities: Zylstra Revetment (436), Cherry Creek Revetment (286), Cherry Creek Mouth DS (287)
County-recorded purpose"Snoqualmie Valley Trail Site" (LCI category: Regional Trail)
StructuresStanding main barn; a 2023 permit removed a silo, steel building, and feeder barn, with the site inspector-verified "stabilized and planted" in 2024
The chain of title (prices and recording numbers)
YearEventConsiderationInstrument
1986Biderbost conveys the farm to Zylstra (quit claim, with the farmland-preservation sale already in motion)$2,760 (nominal)Recorder index, Oct 1986
1986Zylstra deeds the development rights to King County under the Farmland Preservation Program, 11 days later. The full tract, permanently.Not in the index (price on order via the program file)#198611070673
2002Zylstra to Breard/Laughton$400,000Recorder index
2005To the Breard Rhonda Trust (holding vehicle)Quit claimRecorder index
2006To the Pearce family, who farmed it (cattle)$850,000#20060117002936
2020Pearce to King County, fee, after the exempt segregation split off the 2.9-ac homestead$1,058,600#20201223002074
2021Pearce quitclaims the 15.29-ac corridor-remainder strip to Parks$0#20210920002065
What the chain saysNo private owner has held this ground's development rights since 1986: the public has. The county's own flood-facility inventory still carries the 1986 sellers' name on this bank (the Zylstra Revetment). The farm stayed a working farm through every private hand and stopped only when the county took the keys. One instrument in the chain looks like a live encumbrance but is not: a 2009 temporary drainage-project easement to the county that expired in 2015.
The landmark barn (for the architect)

The main barn remains after a 2023 demolition cleared the derelict outbuildings around it. We assume it qualifies for heritage status: it is an outstanding local landmark in a valley with recognized dairy-farm heritage. A historic structure assessment will confirm, and it matters twice over, because heritage status both funds the shell restoration (through 4Culture) and shapes the adaptive-reuse strategy.

The program reuses roughly 5,000 sf of barn: a farm-store market of about 2,000 sf, a commercial processing kitchen of about 2,000 sf, and roughly 1,000 sf of cold storage and wash-pack, plus restrooms and support. Adaptive reuse is both the cheaper path and the lower-regulatory-friction path than new construction.

The buildable envelope is the design problem
The water governs the site planThe Snoqualmie is a shoreline of the state, so the parcel carries shoreline jurisdiction, critical-area buffers, and floodplain. Buildings, parking, and the trailhead must sit on upland outside the buffers and floodway, and structures must also fit the 1986 easement's terms, which cap non-tillable ground (about 3.96 acres under the program's standard form, with roughly 1.09 acres already counted). The surveys define the envelope; the architect designs to it. See the regulatory roadmap.
Shoreline jurisdiction Floodplain Critical-area buffers 1986 easement terms (text on order) A-35 · 35% impervious cap Adaptive reuse advantage

Why this parcel, and why now

A farm the public bought twice, idle only since the public took it over.

The zoning wants agriculture, the 1986 easement exists to preserve agriculture, the owner already leases farmland to community farmers, and the land has sat idle for structural reasons the county itself has acknowledged. Read why it is idle, and why that is the opening.

Why it's idle →
Sources & findings