Joint letter from Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac requesting extension of SAMP SEPA DEIS comment period

In July 2026, the city managers of Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac jointly wrote to Port of Seattle Commissioners demanding that the public comment period for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan's Draft Environmental Impact Statement be extended from 60 to at least 120 days. The cities argued that the document's enormous size (over 6,000 pages), technical complexity, and missing underlying data made meaningful review within 60 days impossible, particularly for lower-resource community members most affected by airport impacts. The letter also called on the Port to honor its own equity commitments by ensuring historically overburdened communities surrounding the airport have a genuine opportunity to participate in the review process.

Notes

The city managers of Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac jointly wrote to Port of Seattle Commissioners requesting an extension of the public comment period for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan’s SEPA Draft Environmental Impact Statement from 60 to at least 120 days. The letter cites three independent grounds: extraordinary technical complexity, enormous document volume, and the Port’s failure to include underlying data and modeling inputs in the public record. The cities emphasize equity concerns, noting that community members with fewer resources cannot meaningfully participate in the current timeframe.

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