TagAIP(66)

Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Airport Compatible Land Use Program Update, December 2011, prepared by Mead & Hunt. Financed in part through FAA planning grant AIP 3-53-5301-02 under Section 505 of the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982. Covers Washington State airport compatible land use history under the Growth Management Act (GMA), WSDOT Land

The FAA Airport Compliance Manual (Order 5190.6B), effective September 30, 2009, provides guidance to FAA personnel on ensuring that airport sponsors meet their federal obligations when they accept federal funds or property for airport purposes. It analyzes grant assurances, surplus property conditions, and other legal commitments that airports must uphold, and outlines the compliance program's objectives, responsibilities, and enforcement procedures. The manual is administered by the FAA's Airport Compliance Division and serves as the authoritative reference for interpreting and managing airport sponsor obligations nationwide.

The Washington Aviation System Plan is a Long-Term Air Transportation Study published in July 2009 by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT Aviation), partially funded by an FAA planning grant and Washington State grants. It was developed in collaboration with a consulting team including SH&E, WHPacific, URS Corp., PRR, and Cambridge Systematics, with input from airport sponsors and a Technical Advisory Committee. The plan examines Washington State's aviation system needs and future development, though its contents do not represent official FAA policy or commitments to specific development projects.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved a total grant payment of $4,935,000 to the Port of Seattle for AIP Project Number 3-53-0062-77, covering acoustical insulation work at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Out of $6,476,538.99 in claimed costs, $6,168,750.00 was deemed allowable after disallowing $307,788.99, with the federal share set at 80%. The Port of Seattle submitted closeout documentation in March 2006, though a Circular A-133 audit by Deloitte & Touche and final acoustic test results for Seawind Condominiums were still pending completion at the time of closure.

In September 2003, the Port of Seattle Commission considered authorizing a $3.69 million program to sound-insulate 98 single-family homes near Sea-Tac Airport that fell within the projected 2010 65 DNL noise contour and were built before local noise codes took effect. The project, stemming from a 1997 Environmental Impact Statement related to the airport's third runway, aimed to reduce interior noise levels by at least 5 decibels in eligible homes in Des Moines and unincorporated King County. Funding was to come primarily from federal Airport Improvement Program grants (80%), with the remainder drawn from the Airport Development Fund, and homeowners were required to grant the Port an avigation easement in exchange for the insulation work.

A 1998 U.S. General Accounting Office report examined whether the FAA was required to enforce a policy mandating written declarations of local support before awarding noise mitigation grants to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The report found that while FAA policy called for such written declarations from affected cities and counties, neither federal law nor FAA regulations legally required them. FAA officials maintained they still met the broader statutory requirement of ensuring noise mitigation projects were consistent with local plans.

The MAC Part 150 Residential Sound Insulation Program completed sound insulation work on 3,673 homes near Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport between 1992 and 1997, at a total cost of $76.6 million. Funding came from two sources: $28.7 million in FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants and $48.6 million in MSP Passenger Facility Charges (PFC). The program grew significantly over its six-year run, peaking in 1996 with 1,002 homes insulated at a cost of $20.7 million.

Since 1982, Seattle-Tacoma Airport (Sea-Tac) has received 13 federal AIP grants totaling over $50 million to acquire approximately 750 noise-impacted land parcels near the airport. In addition, four federal grants totaling over $7 million have funded a noise insulation program that has treated 323 homes, with further funding of $3.2 million per year requested to insulate roughly 175 additional houses annually over the next four years.