Including only a third of the homes is not the half of it
As we’ve been reporting, the Port Package Update program, now called the Sound Insulation Repair/Replacement Pilot Program has had pitfalls at every turn.
The most obvious concern we had is that the survey was sent to 3,200 homes, which is only a third of the single family homes that have received sound insulation. Why that particular number? At this week’s Part 150 Workshops, Port staff seemed unsure as to the reasoning, but at least two officials suggested that it may be because those are the only homes the Port will consider for any update program.
Port Packages and Part 150
One official suggested that this may be because the noise boundary (known as the DNL65) has shrunk dramatically since the original Port Packages were installed. That is one of the main purposes of a Part 150 Study–it sets the boundary. If your home is inside, you may be eligible for sound insulation. If not? Tough.
To understand why some people are eligible for Port Packages while others are not, let’s say that you moved into your home in 2023. Your home is located somewhere between the blue boundary (determined in an older Part 150 Study) and the red boundary (determined in the last Part 150 Study).
Everyone else on your street had a Port Package installed in 2002. But for whatever reason, the homeowner in your house at the time decided not to receive sound insulation. One of your new neighbors tells you about the Port Package program. So you call the Port of Seattle Noise Office and ask about (finally) having your home sound insulated. You are told that since you are outside the current noise boundary (the red) you are not eligible–even though all your neighbors received sound insulation in 2002.
Now, another neighbor also moved into their home in 2023. Their home was one of the homes which had a Port Package installed in 2002. Lucky them! However, they are now having a bunch of issues with mold and water damage. Until this year they would be ineligible for a Port Package update.
To summarize:
- Until now, the Port of Seattle would only provide sound insulation to homes where they could receive Federal reimbursement for their costs.
- The FAA will only pay once. They will not reimburse the Port of Seattle for sound insulation after an initial install (ie. an ‘update’), regardless of what went wrong or who is responsible.
- And the FAA will only pay if the property is within the current noise boundary, which is determined by the most recent Part 150 Study.
So any other sound insulation work, either a ‘first time’ home outside the current DNL65 or an ‘update’ to an existing Port Package, must be paid for out of the Port’s own pocket.
This new program (providing an update program for bad Port Packages without having to wait for FAA funding) was the whole point of the new program!
If the Port is now saying that homes outside the current DNL65 are not eligible for updates, it would go against what we were told by the Port in creating the new program. We need an answer. Now.
The Survey
As to the actual survey ( Sound Insulation Repair/Replace Pilot Program Survey 2024), we have several concerns. Here are a few examples of questions:
Many of the symptoms we’ve documented hundreds of times through in-home visits are not listed in the survey.
These include:
- Cracked windows due to vibration
- Poor ventilation
- Poor insulation in walls and ceiling
- Structural issues due to water damage from poor installation
Failing to include these options leads to a form of bias that can be easily exploited, namely: people only tend to answer the questions on the form. It puts the onus on the homeowner to understand their issues fully.
One question mistakenly depicts condensation on the window panes…
Rather than the much more common issue of condensation between the window panes, which you cannot ‘wipe away’!
Several of the questions have nothing to do with the condition of the home
They are instead based on the people currently living there. These include questions regarding income, age, race, and ethnicity. These could be useful if there were plans for further outreach. But since that is not on the current timeline, we’re concerned, because in our view the only criteria which should matter are:
- The seriousness of the issues with the home.
- Is the current homeowner the homeowner who received the Port Package. This cohort has been living with these issues for many years, who have previous complained and gotten nowhere, should be prioritized.
Any other criteria should be scored much lower, or not at all because the purpose of mitigation is to protect the neighborhood, not the homeowner. It was a failure to make that clear in the original mitigation that led to so much confusion. We are sensitive to notions of equity, however, it is simply a fact that, using the Port of Seattle’s own Equity Index, every home inside the DNL65 already has the highest possible score!
One question asks if the homeowner would like to participate in an on-site visit
The only answer should be yes because only with an on-site inspection can the full range of issues be assessed. However, since the Port has already announced that only thirty homes will receive such a visit, we see no point in asking. Given the survey design, we see no way to obtain a useful cross-section of all the issues we’ve documented with any set of 30 responses.
Call To Action
Of the $10.5 million allocated for the program, over half is for this assessment phase. From what we can see, that consists of 3,200 postcards, 3,200 surveys, followed by only thirty actual site visits before the final report to the Commission by December 31, 2024. This is unacceptable.
- Write the Port of Seattle SEARepairReplacePilot@portseattle.org and insist that they provide clear answers to all these questions.
- Why only 3,200 surveys?
- What are the real criteria for eligibility?
- Will homes outside the current DNL65 be eligible for this update program?
- If you have not received a survey, call the Port Noise Office (206) 787-6793 or email them SEARepairReplacePilot@portseattle.org immediately and insist on receiving one. If they refuse, ask for a written explanation in writing.
The survey closes on June 28 so do it today!
Let’s fix the program to get your Port Package fixed.
Have yet to receive my survey per the post card telling me to look out for it.
I have contacted 2 different people with port demanding survey they said Iam not in the dnl65 area so I cannot get a survey.I had site visit with Jc Harris.The port should repair every house with issues we trusted them and their the ones who hired contractors that didn’t know what they were doing.Then contractors didn’t want to fix their mistakes so they all filed bankruptcy.
We also trusted the Port of Seattle in their recommendations for the construction company to replace our windows during the
Noise Abatement period our windows have failed miserably and the leaking damage now has also impacted our Sheetrock and window sills. They must fix this problem, it all started with their initiative.
Hello,
We purchased our house in 2008 when only the first and second runway was in use. Eight months after we moved in they started using the third runway to “repair the first and second runways,” we all know the use continued. I do not understand how the boundaries are established when not including homes under the third runway. Planes fly right above us. Considering recording sound decibel as objective evidence of the impact the planes have on the internal landscape of homes under the third runway. How should we proceed to be included in boundary or how do people build evidence that boundary needs to be extended?
Hi. First of all, please make sure you are subscribed to our mailing list. There is a Subscribe link at the top of every page. Second, we have a series of ‘explainers’ as to how the boundaries are established and who is eligible for sound insulation (ie. Port Packages). Please start here: Part 150 For Dummies. The part you care about starts where it mentions DNL65. Please contact us as you have questions, and if you’d like to help us. Our main purpose is to obtain better treatment for everyone living under the flight path.