Tagcommunity engagement(222)

This document presents an overview of Career and Technical Education (CTE) at Highline Public Schools in the Seattle area, led by CTE Director Chance Gower. The district offers 92 courses across 18 schools in pathways such as Agriculture, STEM, Health, and Skilled and Technical trades, serving nearly 6,000 middle and high school students. Students have opportunities to earn college credits and industry certifications, and can now fulfill graduation requirements through a CTE Pathway.

This document summarizes community meeting responses collected under the 'Silence Is Golden' initiative, in which residents from neighborhoods near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport identified their biggest noise concerns and discussed the airport's value to the region. Across multiple community groups, Sea-Tac aircraft noise was consistently ranked as the top disturbance, alongside motorcycles, freeways, and household appliances. Participants also offered suggestions for making the airport a greater community asset, including better landscaping, viewing areas, quieter aircraft engines, fair property buyout programs for heavily impacted zones, and improved amenities such as restaurants and cultural exhibits.

This April 2023 presentation by Erin Nelson outlines options for the Des Moines Creek Basin Committee moving forward, focusing on decisions to be included in the next Interlocal Agreement (ILA). The meeting agenda covers a review of past studies and committee accomplishments, discussion of what has worked and what needs improvement, and selection of workable options for the basin's future management. The document includes maps and imagery related to infrastructure features such as the Northwest Ponds, Tyee Pond, sediment traps, and flow bypass pipes within the Des Moines Creek watershed.

At the 2023 ANE Symposium, Darlene Yaplee of the Aviation-Impacted Communities Alliance presented the FAA Community Engagement Scorecard (FAACES), a project designed to gather and analyze feedback from community groups on their experiences with FAA community engagement between 2020 and 2022 compared to before 2020. The scorecard examines whether FAA initiatives—such as the Community Involvement Manual, Chief Engagement Officers, noise portals, and roundtables—have led to meaningful improvements from the perspective of affected communities. The findings aim to identify recurring themes in community responses and offer recommendations for improving FAA outreach and engagement practices.

This progress report from Front and Centered evaluates Washington State's HEAL Act, a landmark environmental justice law, assessing how state agencies are implementing requirements such as community engagement plans, environmental health disparities mapping, and funding structures. The report focuses on protecting frontline communities of color from compounding environmental, climate, and economic harms. Note: this document does not address Sea-Tac Airport noise policy and is unlikely to be relevant to that specific topic area.

This document records community feedback from Meeting #6 of a public engagement series on alternative futures for neighborhoods near Sea-Tac Airport, where residents from Valley View, Riverton Heights, Des Moines, and other areas discussed three options: creating greenbelts and open spaces, pursuing a planned city renewal approach, or allowing an unrestricted free market. Participants raised concerns about airport noise, property taxes, displacement of residents, loss of natural resources, and the Port of Seattle's land acquisition practices. Communities generally favored enforceable planning with citizen input, and many preferred the greenbelt option, while expressing skepticism about government-led redevelopment and unregulated market approaches.

Notes from a 1973 community meeting series capture residents near Sea-Tac Airport expressing frustration over airport noise, inadequate government responsiveness, and the handling of Zone 3 acquisition areas. Participants from neighborhoods including Riverton Heights, Valley View, Shorewood, and Des Moines called for fair property tax relief, equitable land acquisition at market value, and better coordination among King County, the Port of Seattle, and state legislators. The document reflects widespread public distrust of the planning process and demands for more transparent, community-informed decision-making on airport expansion and noise impacts.

Minutes from a community planning workshop (Meeting #4) in which residents from neighborhoods near Sea-Tac Airport — including Valley View, Riverton Heights, Marvista, Des Moines, North Hill, Shorewood, and Highline College — identified what they valued most about their communities, such as natural scenery, views, schools, and open space. Participants also discussed what regulations might be needed to protect those qualities, including building height controls, green belt preservation, clean-air policies, and safe pedestrian pathways. A comprehensive land use plan was proposed that would balance residential, industrial, recreational, and conservation needs while ensuring local residents have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their neighborhoods.

Community members from Sea-Tac area neighborhoods gathered at Meeting #3 to identify local assets worth preserving—including trees, parks, historic routes, natural streams, and unique communities like Seahurst—and to voice concerns about poor planning, airport noise, and lack of public services. Residents called for comprehensive planning, revised building codes, tax incentives for aesthetically pleasing development, and stronger government action to protect green spaces and waterfront access. Frustration with the Port of Seattle's unresponsiveness to community input on noise and development issues was a recurring theme across multiple neighborhood groups.

Community meeting notes from the Highline area (near Sea-Tac) capture neighborhood group responses to questions about urban streams and stormwater management. Residents from areas including Des Moines, North Hill, Shorewood, and Riverton Heights expressed strong opposition to traditional drainage solutions such as culverts and concrete channels, citing harm to water balance, wildlife, and quality of life. Groups broadly favored preserving natural streams for recreational, aesthetic, and ecological benefits, while debating appropriate levels of public access.