Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac environmental response
Although the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) was announced in 2012, it only moved towards public environmental review in 2017. We covered where we’re at now in the SAMP Public Comment Explainer
To help them navigate the process, in 2018 four cities (Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac) created an inter-local agreement (ILA) with a $275,000 budget to hire consultants to provide guidance (contract) through 2023. ILAs typically have shared responsibilities. In this case, SeaTac was named as administrator and Burien as paymaster.
Here is video of their 2019 presentation to the Des Moines City Council and their citizen Aviation Committee.
The primary consultants were from two firms:
- Jim Allerdice, a NextGen expert, formerly of ‘abcx2’, and now known as Vianair
- Emily Tranter, a lobbyist with Lockridge Grindal Nauen, specializing in FAA issues. She is also Executive Director of N.O.I.S.E. and works with the Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus.
N.O.I.S.E presentation with Emily Tranter and Eleanor Holmes-Norton
As we previously described, in 2020 the SAMP process was put on hold.
In the meantime, administrative authority was transferred to the City of Des Moines. The contract with at least one of the consultants (Vianair) was renewed by the City of Des Moines in February 2024, now lasting through 2025. There appears to be roughly $75,000 remaining on account.