TagCity Of Des Moines(211)

The Des Moines City Council held a regular meeting on June 23, 2022, during which staff presented updates on several topics relevant to the SeaTac Airport area, including a Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) overview delivered by Chief Strategic Officer Susan Cezar. The council also conducted a public hearing on the city's 2023-2042 Transportation Improvement Plan, which passed unanimously, and received a Marina Redevelopment update. Additional agenda items included routine consent calendar approvals and community presentations on small business development and summer parks events.

This June 2022 presentation by Des Moines Chief Strategic Officer Susan Cezar provides an update on the environmental review of Near Term Projects under the Port of Seattle's Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP). It outlines the history of the review process dating back to 2015, including a multi-city inter-local agreement between Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, and SeaTac to coordinate responses to the Port's environmental documents. City staff continue to monitor the Port's compliance with federal (NEPA) and state (SEPA) environmental requirements as airport capital projects move forward.

The City of Des Moines, WA considered an amendment to a consultant contract supporting a coordinated environmental review of the Port of Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP), a 20-year airport growth plan. The amendment adds $100,000 to the original $175,000 contract, extends its term to 2023, and shifts contract administration from SeaTac to Des Moines, with costs shared among Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, and SeaTac based on population. The consultant, now operating as Primacy Strategy Group LLC, assists the four cities in reviewing and responding to environmental documents and impacts related to the SAMP process under NEPA and SEPA.

This June 2021 amendment to a consultant contract extends an agreement between the City of Des Moines, WA and two consulting firms—Primacy Strategy Group, LLC and ABCx2, LLC—through December 31, 2023, with a maximum compensation of $275,000. The contract, originally signed in 2018 and administered by Des Moines on behalf of a partnership with the cities of Burien, SeaTac, and Normandy Park, relates to advocacy and consulting work connected to Sea-Tac Airport's environmental review process (SAMP SEPA/NEPA). Consulting services were suspended as of January 1, 2020, pending the public release of SAMP Environmental Review documents, with any interim work to be authorized by the City through individual Task Orders.

This 2002 Washington State Public Disclosure Commission case involves Don Wasson, a Des Moines City Council member, who allegedly helped orchestrate and fund campaign activities — including advocacy phone calls and a political poll — to elect three candidates (Benjamin, Petersen, and Steenrod) to the Des Moines City Council in 2001. The elections were closely tied to a dispute over the WESCOT Company's proposed conveyor system to transport fill material for a planned third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which the existing Council had opposed. Wasson, who reportedly wanted to shift the Council's policies on airport expansion and become Mayor, faced charges of violating Washington's campaign finance reporting laws.

In this October 2020 letter, the City of Des Moines formally objected to the Puget Sound Regional Council's Regional Aviation Baseline Study, arguing that it wrongly assumes full implementation of SeaTac Airport's long-term expansion plan (the SAMP) before any required environmental review has been completed. The City warned that this flawed assumption skews all study scenarios, understates community noise and pollution impacts on neighborhoods near SeaTac, and creates a circular logic problem that undermines sound regional planning. Des Moines requested that the baseline be revised to reflect only already-approved and environmentally reviewed projects, and called for planning toward a second international airport to relieve pressure on SeaTac.