TagMiller Creek(260)

In January 2010, the Port of Seattle sought approval to advertise construction bids for environmental cleanup work tied to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Third Runway project, including removing the 160th Street box culvert, restoring Miller Creek, and converting temporary stormwater ponds into permanent detention facilities. The estimated $6.6 million project was already funded within the previously approved Third Runway budget through Passenger Facility Charges and bond proceeds, requiring no new funding authorization. The work was required to fulfill federal and state permit conditions before the overall Third Runway project could be formally closed out.

The Miller and Walker Creeks Basin Plan Appendices, published in February 2006, is a regional watershed management document developed collaboratively by King County, the City of Burien, the City of SeaTac, the City of Normandy Park, the Port of Seattle, and the Washington State Department of Transportation. The plan addresses stormwater, habitat, and water quality issues within the Miller and Walker Creek drainage basins located near the Sea-Tac Airport area. It provides technical appendices to support basin-wide strategies for managing creek health and flood-related impacts in this urbanized watershed.

In April 2004, the Airport Communities Coalition asked the Washington Supreme Court to halt construction work on a controversial Sea-Tac Airport runway expansion, arguing that long-standing environmental issues — including concerns about fill contamination and damage to creeks and wetlands — needed to be resolved first. The Port of Seattle maintained that a recently passed state law (SSB 5787) allowed it to proceed with certain work, such as rechanneling Miller Creek, even while the court case was still pending. Coalition attorney Peter Eglick filed a supporting declaration attaching a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article in which the Port's Aviation Director confirmed plans to begin work as early as May or June 2004.

This King County map document, dated March 15, 2004, identifies and locates various Miller Creek basin improvement projects in the Seattle area, including flow control, habitat, and water quality initiatives. Featured projects include Estuary Improvements, Ambaum Pond, Miller Creek RDF Improvements, Culvert Modifications, Guardrail Painting and Asphalt Removal, and work at the City Light Property and Hermes Depression sites. The map serves as a visual reference for environmental and stormwater management efforts within the Miller Basin boundary.

A public meeting was held on October 2, 2003, at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center in Burien, WA, to discuss the Miller, Walker, and Salmon Creek Basin Planning Project. The meeting covered basin problems and potential solutions, and included an open house, a presentation, and a Q&A session. The project was overseen by a management team representing the City of Burien, City of SeaTac, Port of Seattle, King County, City of Normandy Park, and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The Highline Wetlands Aerial Photo Album, compiled in September 2003, presents a collection of aerial photographs documenting wetlands, lakes, and waterways in the Sea-Tac Airport area of Washington State. The album covers locations including Miller Creek, Walker Creek, Lake Burien, Angle Lake, and other water resources affected by the proposed Third Runway construction at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. An accompanying map illustrates the runway's projected impact on local water resources, identifying proposed fill areas and the third runway site relative to surrounding communities such as Burien, Normandy Park, and Des Moines.

This figure (2.1-2) is a map showing the locations of wetlands in the Miller Creek Basin near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It identifies water features, delineated wetlands verified by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), unverified wetlands, streams, prior converted cropland, and individual wetland numbers across the basin area bounded roughly by S 154th Street to the north and S 176th Street to the south. The map was entered as Exhibit 250 and witnessed by Sheldon on 2/15/02.

On December 13, 2002, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a federal permit allowing the Port of Seattle to build a third runway at Sea-Tac Airport as part of its Master Plan Update. The project includes an 8,500-foot runway, two Runway Safety Areas, and related construction that will permanently impact nearly 20 acres of wetlands and up to 980 linear feet of Miller Creek. After weighing input from government agencies and the public, the Corps determined the project was not contrary to the public interest and approved the permit.

AR028014. Port of Seattle biological assessment map depicting wetland and stream impacts in the Miller Creek Basin related to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Third Runway project. Shows delineated wetlands verified by Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), wetlands not verified by ACOE, creeks, boundary of acquisition area, third runway and interconnecting taxiways, third runway embankment and

Map (AR 028386, PARA 0013189) showing potential mitigation sites evaluated in the Miller Creek and Des Moines Creek watersheds near Sea-Tac Airport. Displays numbered mitigation sites greater than 10 acres, airport runways (present and proposed 3rd runway), borrow/warehouse/parking/SABA areas, watershed boundaries, Puget Sound shoreline, Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Angle Lake, Bow Lake, Burien Lake, Lake