SOC issues alert

Let the PSRC feel our Paine

The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) is a multi-county planning authority that implements the state’s Growth Management Act. The PSRC is updating their regional transportation planning document, called "Destination 2030" and collecting public comment.
   •        Tell the PSRC to keep Paine Field OUT of consideration for scheduled air service!!
   •        Tell them to maintain the current policy for Paine Field
   •        Tell them the new 3rd Runway at Sea-Tac and airline changes gives us ample air capacity for our region
   •        Tell them the challenge is ground transportation and we want them to support multiple ground transportation improvements

Post your comments at www.psrc.org, email them at destination2030@psrc.org or call them at 206-464-7532.
The more SOC supporters who respond, the better.
SOC’s comments to the PSRC are provided below. Feel free to copy this entirely, take parts of it or add your own. But please send in comments.

Save Our Communities (SOC)
Destination 2030 Comments
Submitted to the Puget Sound Regional Council.

Regarding Destination 2030, it is critically important to preserve and leverage Sea-Tac as our primary regional airport. 
There has been discussion about starting commercial air service at Paine Field by some developers in the area for reasons other than comprehensive long term planning.  The Long Term Air Transportation (LATS) panel is analyzing the state’s air capacity needs and we encourage PSRC and the LATS processes to fully consider all the factors involved.
We believe that Destination 2030 should continue to endorse only Sea-Tac as our preferred airport for scheduled air passenger service. 
The PSRC excluded Paine Field from consideration in its resolution A-93-03, which states: "Eliminate small supplemental airports, including Paine Field, as a preferred alternative."  The PSRC made its decision in 1993, which reinforced a promise by Snohomish County made to residents in 1978 (through the Mediated Role Determination Agreement.).  That decision has been reaffirmed many times by surrounding communities and formalized by zoning and significant development investments throughout the area.  
We ask the PSRC to retain this decision, upon which local zoning, development, homes, schools and lives are based. 
Scheduled air service at Paine Field would initiate a slippery slope with very significant adverse impacts at a time when Sea-Tac is expanding and e-ticket and seat utilization efficiencies are increasing airport throughput. Airport revenues are used to pay off airport infrastructure improvement investments.  Leveraging Sea-Tac capacity and maximizing their revenue will secure the best bond rating; help to retire debt on or ahead of schedule and enable the Port of Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport leadership to meaningfully engage in partnering in ground transportation improvement ventures and air emissions mitigation efforts.  
Sea-Tac has sufficient air-side capacity beyond existing projections with the 3rd runway coming on line, efficient e-ticketing, kiosks, and other passenger flow improvements that in combination have greatly improved passenger throughput. 
Such efficiencies have not been incorporated into capacity projections and we urge the PSRC to refine existing capacity projections to reflect the new reality.  We further urge PSRC to explore support for congestion pricing at Sea-Tac. The same arguments being discussed at PSRC regarding congestion pricing options to further leverage roadway infrastructure capacity should apply to Sea-Tac. One can only imagine how much more capacity could be gained by adjustment in peak and off peak use. 
The real "capacity" issue at Sea-Tac is with parking and ground transportation, and those issues can be addressed without spending billions on a new regional airport or creating more than a billion dollars in estimated damages and costs in leveraging an airport like Paine Field with significant impacts to home values, tax base, noise mitigation, schools, health, infrastructure demand, etc.   
New light rail service to Sea-Tac is starting next year (the same year the 3rd runway is coming on line) so multi-billion dollar air-side and land-side solutions are already in the works.  In addition, the PSRC should support implementation of other green ground transportation solutions like the long running and extremely successful "Fly Away Bus" program used at Van Nuys.  A combination of ground transportation solutions would provide significant improvement to the one big capacity constraint (ground transportation and parking) at Sea-Tac.
Air service at Paine Field would destroy the local community surrounding Paine Field and communities in its flight path (Edmonds, Mukilteo, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and South Everett).  These communities built up residential homes and services right up to the airport based on a promise made by Snohomish County in 1978 to maintain Paine Field only as a General Aviation airport.  
In addition, new scheduled air service at Paine Field would create a new air emissions zone and "carbon footprint" in Snohomish County that currently doesn’t exist. Sea-Tac has only recently started to wrestle with the health impacts of airport related air emissions in addition to the carbon footprint management challenges.  Why start another such activity zone in the middle of so many communities? 
Finally, PSRC’s own transportation analyst, Steven Kiehl, has stated that any new regional airport should have at least two 10,000 foot runways.  Paine Field has 9000, 4500, and 3000 foot runways.  Unless a new runway is built that takes out the Future of Flight, Paine Field Blvd and the Mukilteo Blvd (and thereby disrupts a major highway to the ferry system for Whidbey Island commuters) or directs flights straight over the roof of the Boeing Company’s commercial manufacturing facility, there is no possible option for Paine Field to satisfy this requirement. 
For all these reasons (and there are more) we ask the PSRC to ensure resolution A-93-03 remains part of its guidance and doctrine for Destination 2030. 
If you have any comments or questions or would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact Don Doran at 425-210-6893 or ddoran@socnw.org; you may also contact Greg Hauth at 425-359-5498 or ghauth@socnw.org.

With your help, the SOC can stop the threat of scheduled airline service at Paine Field to preserve our quality of life.
For further information about Save Our Communities, visit www.socnw.org.

 

"A DEAL'S A DEAL."