We have questions
At their May 13 Regular Meeting, the SeaTac City Council heard a very interesting comment from City Manager Jonathan Young, not included on their agenda:
Our take
Potentially exciting news. But there is a lot to unpack — and much of the information (including the 1specific land under consideration) is ambiguous. If the letter is not subject to private negotiation (and it cannot be if it was transmitted to both the Director Metruck and the Port Commission) why not post the letter with the meeting materials?
What we can say for certain today is that this announcement once again demonstrates the unique position the City of SeaTac has among airport communities.
- The Joint Advisory Committee is a group of City of SeaTac and Port of Seattle officials that meets monthly. It is contained in their Inter-Local Agreement and no other city has that kind of ongoing access.
- What became North SeaTac Park was originally funded by the FAA after the Second Runway expansion. That expansion was essentially a beta-test for property buyout grant programs across the United States. The idea was to establish an area around the airport with very specific uses known as noise density guidelines. Until the 2024 FAA Reauthorization, the property could not be sold by the airport below market rate. One of the lone improvements to that five year law, was a change that made this negotiation possible. Unfortunately, similar allowances for other FAA properties bought by the Port, did not change.
- Regardless of the structure of the agreement, the fact that such a transaction is possible for SeaTac, also demonstrates once again the lack of justice in the current FAA and Port approach to airport communities. This approach only considers harms, benefits and mitigation based on who owns the land. An odd approach for an air-based transportation system which creates many negative impacts which are measurably worse for residents and businesses of cities other than SeaTac.
STNI has always supported the permanent preservation of the area – as intended by its creators – community members who envisioned using FAA money to fund park space a decade before SeaTac was incorporated. We played a role in helping to change 3FAA Section 704 to make this type of negotiation possible.
Still, while we cheer for the City of SeaTac – and all who benefit from NTSP – the negative impacts of Sea-Tac Airport are born equally by other communities. Such transactions could and should be available to other airport communities – not just the one place inside one arbitrary boundary that airport impacts do not respect.
1The entirety of what the public considers ‘North Sea-Tac Park’ encompasses 200 acres. From the 2024 SeaTac City Council meeting where this was discussed, we’re assuming the letter concerns a much smaller portion-perhaps as small as 44 acres.
2Probably referring to this Port Commission decision.
Next, I just want to reflect and extend my gratitude to city staff who put on a fabulous State of the City address last week—our first inaugural and first annual State of the City address. And thank you to Mayor for delivering that address.
I want to reflect that during the State of the City address, which I believe is or very soon will be posted online with a transcript of the address from the Mayor, there was a commitment to extend a letter of intent and an offer to purchase North SeaTac Park. That was the big news that was unveiled at the State of the City address.
Earlier this evening, I did transmit the city’s offer to purchase North SeaTac Park to the Port Commissioners and to CEO Steve Metruck. At this point, the offer that has been conveyed to the Port pledges—just to alert the community of what’s contained in the offer—ultimately the city has pledged $20 million in future investments from capital improvements that the Port will be making and would pledge putting that back into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation in the Port’s name that will be then reinvested into North SeaTac Park for the benefit of this community, making investments in things like beautification of North SeaTac Park, increasing the accessibility of North Sea Park, and really making investments that will make North SeaTac Park the kind of amenity that this community can enjoy for a century and centuries down the road for all of our generations.
Really excited to convey that and excited to await the Port’s response. We have an upcoming JAC meeting—Joint Advisory Committee meeting—on May 20th where we will be having early conversations on the Port’s receipt of that and any questions that they might have so that we can keep that dialogue open.
Ultimately, 2we know that the Port is teeing up for a conversation and a decision in the third quarter of this year where they need to decide whether North SeaTac Park is surplus to the Port’s aeronautical needs. So that’s the offer that we’re putting out here—a plan that would allow them to fulfill their promise to this community. So happy to convey that.
And thank you City Council for your bold leadership on that.