By Jack Mayne A recent meeting with the Federal Aviation Administration regional office in Renton was a bust, and it is time for serious legal action to stop the recently increased noise from planes taking off from Sea-Tac Airport. The Quiet Skies Coalition in a newsletter to its members Tuesday evening said that a Jan. 24 meeting with the FAA regional office in Renton “was very unproductive.” “We came fully prepared and hoping that our questions and concerns would be openly addressed,” the group’s President Larry Cripe wrote. “However, the FAA chose to simply re-read what they had already sent us on December 16, 2016 with vague and incomplete responses.” So the time has come to hire professionals for the job, he said. “… We strongly believe it is time for us to hire a project coordinator to manage the daily activities as we move forward.” He said Quiet Skies is writing a job description for a coordinator but it will cost money. “We will need your financial support to make this happen.” City of Burien involved The Burien City Council on Jan. 23 voted to approve up to $70,000 for a legal battle against the FAA. “We are very grateful to the six Councilmembers for their support,” Cripe said in his newsletter. The lone negative vote was from Councilmember Bob Edgar who said he was concerned about what “the final monetary impact would be to the city.” Then Burien City Attorney Lisa Marshall said she had made it clear to the FAA that the city was serious and that if the agency “did not ‘cease and desist by February 10, 2017 and if the FAA did not commit to conduct a full environmental review,’” then the Burien and Quiet Skies Coalition would sue the FAA. “Over the past six months, your Quiet Skies Coalition committee has been working on your behalf to get us to this point,” Cripe wrote in his newsletter. “We will continue to work with the City to protect our interests.” Cripe said the Quiet Skies website, quietskiescoalition.net, continues to expand.

“We encourage you to visit it regularly for updated information. You can now also donate directly and securely through the website. Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/QSCBurien. For additional fundraising, we intend to form a “GoFundMe” page in the near future.”
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Senior Reporter Jack Mayne passed away in December, 2021. In his honor we have created the Jack Mayne Journalism Scholarship.

12 replies on “FAA continues to stonewall group over increased Burien airplane noise”

  1. It seems that living near an international airport and the noise associated with it is a given. I actually think the noise Burien should focus on is gunfire by spending that money on law enforcement instead.

    1. Many people bought their homes with property values based on no planes flying directly over them.
      Their home values will start to drop if the flights continue over their heads.
      Is that fair for the FAA to steal money out of their pocket like that?
      Other neighborhoods around the airport always had planes flying over them, so they knew exactly what they were getting into when they purchased their home.
      The people effected by this need to go picket in front of the CEO of Alaska Airlines home and call the media to cover it and if that doesn’t work do it at Seatac Airport directly in front of the Alaska Airlines ticket counters.
      Alaska Airlines should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. They’re a local company totally screwing over local citizens.

  2. If I move next door to someone that has a few cows then I should expect a certain level of noise and smell. If the neighbor decides to turn his 3-4 cows into a full fledged feed yard with hundreds of cattle I should not have to put up with the constant noise and overwhelming smell.
    Yes we live around an international airport and can expect some noise and inconvenience. However, the airport is choosing to attempt unfettered growth at the expense to those around the airport. This isn’t about a few people complaining about a little more noise.
    To give the airport and the FAA a pass is just stupid.

    1. I live right down the block from SeaTac property so noise is no stranger to me, I realize that the increase in growth is a problem for all of us, gunshots are a little more pressing need for the city so why even feel safe while the planes continue on and on.

    2. Yup. Especially when the neighbor ignored the fact that he was bound by law to include you in the process and to gather the valid data necessary for you to know what if any effects his additional cows would have on your health and your shared environment.

  3. we should (the City of Burien) show up at the airport link arms and have our own protest. I would like to wait til a little later in the year though its too cold out right now for me but you guys go aheat ill be right behind you.

  4. Sorry for repeating my statement from the other story. Check to see who recently is selling or buying property near the Rainier Golf and Country Club.

  5. If anyone has the Port of Seattle window and insulation package in their house, you signed an agreement giving up the airspace above your property as well as the right to sue the Port or airlines for noise.
    The Port of Seattle isn’t just flying airplanes all over the place for kicks. I am sure there are safety issues with air traffic in consideration when they are flying to the west. I lived on 8th Ave So last summer and the planes flying directly overhead to the west were small planes and the noise was not that bad.
    It is interesting that the City of Burien is contributing to the legal costs of this complaint when they didn’t do anything AT ALL when people were complaining about the 3rd runway flight path noise years ago. How is this situation so special that it deserves that much attention when there has been NO attention EVER for the residents under the 3rd runway flight path.

    1. Jan: the third runway fight went on for 14 years, millions was spent on legal battles to stop it, challenging dozens of laws that were violated, five cities and a school district fought for you, 3,000 C.A.S.E. citizens held fundraisers, wrote letters, held protests, begged EPA to represent them against massive environmental impacts, got legislation written but sadly, never passed, 33,000 subscribers to newsletters from RCAA donated money and fought through the process…where were you?

      1. I was living next to the flight path, that’s where I was. In the 60’s I was living next to the first flight path and in the 70’s and 80’s I was living under the 2nd flight path. My view of the effort to try and stop the building of the 3rd runway was a waste of time and money. That money and energy could have been better spent on trying to work out solutions with the Port that would have benefited the homeowners in the area and the citizens and schools of Burien instead of trying to fight a battle that could not be won. It could have been a win win. Instead, the City and the Port got together and developed the NERA, which does nothing for the people who live there or for the citizens of Burien or the schools in the area. If the airport needs another runway, there is not a lot that is going to change that fact. Air safety of takeoffs and landings has priority over what the neighbors think.

  6. I hear airplane noise all day long now even with our newer double pane windows closed living on the south side of Three Tree Point. We never used to hear it indoors at all and even outside used to be pleasant. The noise level has massively increased and it is getting to be difficult to ignore. Is there a reason for this?

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