EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to clarify that San Francisco International Airport’s Noise Insulation Program is funded through the airport’s operating budget, not local property tax proceeds.

The City of Burien is calling on the Port of Seattle to scrap its current approach to repairing failed airport noise insulation and to create a new, Port-funded program that covers every home with a deteriorated “Port package,” according to a letter transmitted with a Burien Airport Committee update to the City Council on Oct. 6, 2025.  

The letter was approved by the Burien City Council at that meeting.

The city says about 9,400 homes near Sea-Tac Airport received Port-installed sound insulation beginning in the mid-1980s, and evidence suggests failures of those number in the hundreds. The letter states there has been no comprehensive effort to identify or fix the failed installations and that repairs have occurred only when homeowners paid themselves.  

Burien criticizes the Port’s Sound Insulation Repair and Replacement Pilot Program authorized in February 2024, noting 3,000 previously insulated homeowners were contacted inside the 2014 SEA 65 DNL Noise Remedy Boundary, but only 30 homes were evaluated and none qualified for repair or replacement under the internal noise criteria used. The city argues many failed packages now fall outside that boundary and should still be eligible. The letter also points to a high share of lower-income households among survey respondents and cites age, installation quality, parts availability, product quality and design issues as causes of failure.  

The city also noted that aircraft operations rose from 365,000 before the third runway to 423,000 in 2024, with a Port projection of 540,000 by 2034, and warns that total noise and particle pollution will reduce quality of life for residents.

“After reviewing Burien’s letter, Des Moines City Council has also approved sending a similar message,” the city said in a statement. “We look forward to continued work with our neighbors on meaningful solutions.”

San Francisco Model

Burien officials urged the Port of Seattle to consider modeling its fix-and-replace noise mitigation program after San Francisco International Airport’s program. However, unlike what was previously reported, SFO does not use local property tax proceeds to fund its programs. According to Doug Yakel, Public Information Officer for SFO, the airport’s Noise Insulation Program is funded through its operating budget, which draws revenue from airline activity fees, concessions, rental cars and parking—not from local taxes.

The committee urges the Port to adopt a new program designed in collaboration with the City of Burien and other airport-adjacent cities, using Port resources rather than relying on federal or state funds.

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