It’s no secret that the Puget Sound region is growing. To keep up with the increasing demands, The Port of Seattle created the Sustainable Airport Master Plan, a blueprint for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to address the increasing volume of passengers and cargo.
The public can now comment on the draft environmental impact statement, available here.
The plan outlines 31 near-term projects to manage regional growth, and key components include a new terminal designed to feature 19 gates.
Wendy Reiter, managing director of aviation for the Port of Seattle, emphasized the necessity of these developments in a recent meeting.
“These projects are essential for positioning SEA to meet the demand we know is coming, while making the most effective use of our constrained footprint,” Reiter said. “Without these investments, we risk limiting the state’s economic competitiveness and further eroding the level of service travelers’ experience.”
The Port of Seattle issued the following statement to KIRO 7:
The master planning process is a requirement for all airports to forecast future growth and how you will accommodate it. The master plan is SEA’s proposed set of projects to address air traffic that is already projected to come to SEA regardless of if we do or do not build the SAMP near-term projects. This is like our comprehensive plan that cities do to plan for growth. For our region that is an expected 1 million more people to move to the area by 2035.
We are encouraging community to review the document during the public comment period, attend an open house or virtual meeting to learn more, and submit a comment before the end of the comment period.
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While some are excited for all the possibilities this plan could bring, others are worried about what will happen to the communities that are impacted the most.
JC Harris, a co-founder of the group Sea-Tac Noise, has actively engaged in efforts to address the airport’s effects on surrounding areas for 10 years. His organization aims to find long-term solutions for communities living with the airport.
“They always said that if the airport expanded, the benefits would accrue to everyone around the airport. That is not true,” Harris said. “What has happened is the prosperity aspect of it tends to go north, east.”
Sea-Tac Noise advocates for more research into the effects of airport noise and air pollution. The group also calls for stricter regulation and progressive compensation for communities most affected by the airport’s operations.
“There needs be something where a city like Des Moines or Burien that has these ever-growing budget deficits. That sounds abstract to people, but that means you can’t provide for your parks, your roads, your public safety, your public health concerns. Everything in a city, if you’re near the airport, weakens over time,” Harris said.
He said he’d like to see an economic benefit for those communities, as well as research into health impacts that the cities don’t have to pay for.
The public is invited to provide feedback on the state’s environmental assessment concerning the airport plan. Harris encouraged community members to participate in this process.
The public comment period for the state’s environmental assessment of the Sustainable Airport Master Plan concludes on July 21.