TagDes Moines(254)

King County Superior Court Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Final Order by Judge Robert H. Alsdorf in consolidated cases No. 96-2-20357-2 KNT, No. 97-2-13908-2 KNT, No. 97-2-22276-1 KNT, No. 98-2-04911-1 KNT. Challenges Port Of Seattle Resolutions 3212 and 3245 approving the Sea-Tac Master Plan Update including construction of a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma

These documents relate to the 1999 Sea-Tac Airport airfield improvement project, including a haul permit issued to Gary Merlino Construction for trucking rock and concrete along designated routes near the airport, with restricted operating hours during the school year. Also included is a 1998 letter from the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs describing a proposal by Environmental Materials Transport LLC to build a temporary barge terminal near Des Moines Creek Beach Park, with a conveyor system to move fill material to Sea-Tac Airport as an alternative to truck hauling. The materials reflect community and municipal concerns about construction traffic, noise, and environmental impact associated with airport expansion activities in the greater Sea-Tac area.

A Lynnwood contractor proposed using conveyor belts instead of trucks to haul the 23 million cubic yards of fill dirt needed for Sea-Tac Airport's third runway construction in the late 1990s. The plan would have barged dirt to Des Moines, then carried it 2.5 miles to the airport via belt, cutting the estimated haul time from five years to two and a half. Des Moines residents, already angry about the runway routing air traffic over their downtown, reacted skeptically and accused the contractor of trying to bribe the city with promises of new parks in exchange for cooperation.

Figure 1 from the Des Moines Creek Basin Plan (1997), a map produced by DNR GIS/Cartography/Graphics Unit showing water features and potential wetland mitigation sites in the Des Moines Creek Basin. Covers areas including Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila, Des Moines, Kent, and unincorporated King County. Map legend identifies basin boundary, streams, piped streams, wetlands,

A 1996 Seattle Times article details the massive earth-moving challenge facing Sea-Tac Airport's planned third runway, which required importing approximately 14.25 million cubic yards of fill dirt at an estimated cost of $120 million to level a corridor of dips and valleys as deep as 145 feet. Port of Seattle planners were exploring multiple options for sourcing and transporting the dirt, including conveyor belts, barges, and rail spurs, while facing legal opposition from nearby cities who argued the project understated environmental and community harm.

In 1996, Lynnwood engineer Hank Hopkins proposed using barges and an electric conveyor belt system to transport the roughly 14 million cubic yards of fill dirt needed to build a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, rather than relying on a constant stream of dump trucks. Hopkins argued his patented modular conveyor system would be faster, cheaper, quieter, and less disruptive to surrounding communities than the truck-based approach outlined in the environmental study. The city of Des Moines, which opposed the runway project, was seen as the primary obstacle to approving the conveyor plan, as the system would require city permits that trucking would not.

Minutes from the January 9, 1992 Des Moines City Council meeting include discussion of airport-related noise and emissions issues, as Mayor Kennedy distributed a written report from the National League of Cities Congress noting that airport noise and aircraft emissions fall within the domain of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (EENR) Steering Committee. The report also references a vacant seat on the EENR Steering Committee specifically tied to airport issues, including noise and emissions from aircraft, for which the City of Des Moines applied. Membership would require attendance at four EENR Steering Committee meetings per year at a cost of $968 annually for NLC direct member status.

A March 1980 internal memo from Bob Wells of the Planning department transmits Noise Monitoring System reports for January and February 1980 to Marion MacKenzie, noting that the station map quality is poor while a clearer version is being prepared. The accompanying report for Sea-Tac International Airport shows monthly and long-term average Day-Night Sound Level (LDN) readings across nine remote monitoring stations, with January 1980 values ranging from 73 to 84 dBA. Operational notes indicate that 58% of January air traffic flew north to south, heavy snowfall forced a brief airport closure on the 8th–9th, and two minor clock failures in the monitoring system were corrected without any loss of noise data.