The cities of Burien, Des Moines and SeaTac this week asked a federal appeals court to review a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decision that cleared a package of expansion projects at Sea-Tac Airport with a finding of no significant environmental impact, according to newly filed court papers.
In a petition for review filed Nov. 24 in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the three neighboring cities challenge a September decision in which the FAA issued what it calls a “Finding of No Significant Impact/Record of Decision for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan Near Term Projects at the Seattle Tacoma International Airport” (read our previous coverage here).
The case is docketed as City of Burien, City of Des Moines, and City of SeaTac v. Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation and federal officials named in their official capacities. The petition cites a federal statute that allows people or local governments affected by an FAA order to seek review in the District of Columbia Circuit or in the regional circuit where they are located.
The filing notes that the cities are within the Ninth Circuit and says the petition meets the sixty day deadline because the sixtieth day after the Sept. 24 decision fell on a Sunday, which extended the deadline to Monday Nov. 24 under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.
The FAA decision at issue approves a group of what it calls near-term projects at Sea-Tac Airport, including airfield changes, terminal and gate construction, cargo facilities, roadway modifications, parking structures, fuel storage and support buildings. Those projects were analyzed in a Final Environmental Assessment completed in September that concluded the work would not cause significant impacts to air quality, noise, water, wetlands, cultural resources or surrounding land uses when mitigation is applied.
According to the FAA document, the airport sits primarily in the city of SeaTac and the study area for the near term projects includes parts of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, Tukwila and unincorporated King County, where neighborhoods already experience airport related noise and traffic.
The FAA found that future noise from the projects would expand the area inside the sixty five decibel day night average sound level contour but would not cross the federal significance threshold when compared with the no action alternative.
The agency also determined that surface traffic effects at key intersections could be reduced to below significant levels through mitigation coordinated with local governments.
The petition filed by the three cities asks the Ninth Circuit to review the FAA order but does not in the opening pages specify the remedies they will seek.
Further legal briefing will outline their arguments and the agency’s response as the case proceeds.
The Airport was there before all of you whiners. Maybe we should move the air port to the desert in Eastern Washington like Colorado did. There is no one there to complain. JUST THINK ABOUT IT !!!!
Oh I see thats all that matters is who came first ? Maybe recent people coming here works in your favor as well pal. The point is regardless of whether you have enough sensitivity to be sympathetic about people “ whining “ or not , i do ! I like to hear people’s concerns and opinions.
Maybe you should stop whining about people whining ! And so it goes !
B.T.W. Do you live under a flight path ?
When same people that say stop whining or the airport was here first are the types that hate govt over reach its my favorite kind of irony. To argue, stop whining to someone who bought a house thats to be demolished because the airport was here first is caveman brain at its finest. Thank you so much for the comment.
Sea–Tac was developed in the 1940s to replace Boeing Field, which had been converted to military use during World War II. A site near Bow Lake was chosen in 1942 and construction began the following year with funding from the federal government, Port of Seattle, and the City of Tacoma. The first scheduled commercial flights from the airport began in September 1947 and the terminal was dedicated on July 9, 1949. My wife & I were on the search to purchase a home in the area in the mid-70’s. We found a very desirable view property on the Des Moines hillside between Puget Sound and Hwy 99. Then an aircraft departed SeaTac–not directly overhead but disruptive enough that we looked at each other & commented–no thank you. Anyone purchasing AFTER those formative years certainly benefitted with a lower purchase price as a resulting impact from any airport operations and had the chance/choice to look elsewhere. No more whining. Relative to the comment above ref the new Denver airport– housing was built in close proximity to it– development land was cheaper out in the middle of nowhere. So the cycle repeated there as well…..