TagILA(22)

The City of SeaTac passed a resolution creating the Port of Seattle Negotiation Committee (PNC), an ad hoc council committee tasked with guiding negotiations between the city and the Port of Seattle, which owns and operates Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The committee, composed of Deputy Mayor Senayet Negusse, Councilmember Peter Kwon, and Councilmember Joe Vinson, will work toward developing a new Interlocal Agreement to replace the current 2018 agreement set to expire in February 2028. The resolution also authorizes the City Manager to formally initiate those negotiations with the Port of Seattle.

The cities of Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac have jointly hired the law firm Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl to challenge the Federal Aviation Administration's approval of the Port of Seattle's Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP). The firm will file a Petition for Review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, naming the FAA as the respondent. Under the agreement, SeaTac will receive and pay all legal invoices on behalf of the three cities, with legal fees starting with a $10,000 retainer and billed at $540 per hour for the lead attorney.

The SeaTac City Council is considering an ordinance to hire outside legal counsel and update a cost-sharing agreement with the cities of Burien, Normandy Park, and Des Moines to challenge or engage with the FAA's environmental review of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport expansion plans. The four cities would jointly retain two law firms—Leech Tishman for federal NEPA matters and Ogden Murphy Wallace for state SEPA matters—at an estimated cost of $350,000, with SeaTac covering roughly 26% and recovering the rest from its partner cities. The effort is driven by the FAA's September 2025 issuance of a Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact, which must be challenged by November 25, 2025.

This contract amendment extends the agreement between the City of Des Moines, Washington, and Vianair, Inc., an aviation consulting firm, through December 31, 2025. The amendment, signed in early 2024, builds on an original contract from July 2017 that had previously been amended three times. Vianair likely provides noise analysis or air traffic consulting services related to Sea-Tac Airport on behalf of the City.

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.

This April 2023 presentation by Erin Nelson outlines options for the Des Moines Creek Basin Committee as it prepares to renew its Interlocal Agreement (ILA), a cooperative arrangement among local jurisdictions managing the creek basin near Des Moines, Washington. The meeting agenda covers a review of past studies and committee accomplishments, a discussion of what has worked and what needs improvement, and a decision on workable paths forward. While focused on stormwater and creek basin management rather than airport noise policy directly, the Des Moines Creek basin is located adjacent to Sea-Tac Airport and its management is relevant to the broader environmental context of the surrounding area.

In May 2019, Burien City Manager Brian Wilson updated the Burien Airport Committee on the cities' joint effort to respond to the Port of Seattle's Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP), which outlines airport expansion through 2027. The cities of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, and SeaTac formed an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) and hired the Washington DC firm Lockridge Grindal Nauen to help review and comment on the SAMP's environmental impact process. Key community concerns raised in the accompanying September 2018 scoping letter include aircraft noise, air quality, traffic congestion, and the disproportionate burden placed on neighborhoods closest to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.