TagPart 150(263)

The Port of Seattle's SEA Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART) brings together representatives from neighboring cities like SeaTac, Burien, and Des Moines, along with airlines, the FAA, and Port staff to address community concerns about Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. In 2024–2025, the group focused on noise reduction efforts including promoting single-engine taxiing, launching a residential sound re-insulation pilot program, and advancing a federally required Part 150 Noise and Land Use Compatibility Study. StART operates through two working groups—the Aviation Noise Working Group and the Policy Working Group—making decisions by consensus to ensure neighboring communities have a meaningful voice in airport-related policies.

The Port of Seattle launched a Sound Insulation Repair and Replacement Pilot Program to assess the effectiveness of previously installed noise insulation packages in homes near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Authorized under Commission Order 2024-04 with a $6.5 million tax levy-funded budget—$5 million of which is reserved for design and construction—the program involved community outreach, property owner surveys, and acoustic testing throughout 2024. Properties were prioritized using an equity index to ensure underserved communities were considered, with design and construction work expected to begin in 2025.

The FAA approved a Noise Compatibility Program (NCP) Update for Naples Municipal Airport in Naples, Florida, effective December 9, 2024. The approved measures include a residential sound insulation program, land use planning recommendations, purchase of avigation easements, and several community outreach and monitoring initiatives. One proposed measure related to revised flight procedures was not acted upon at this time, as it requires further FAA review.

The City of Des Moines, Washington submitted formal comments to the Port of Seattle in December 2024, raising concerns about the environmental and health impacts of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's planned growth. The city warns that by 2032, annual flight operations will increase by nearly 20%, expanding the noise exposure zone and raising the number of residents affected by significant aircraft noise from roughly 14,000 to nearly 22,000—with most of that burden falling on Des Moines residents. The letter calls on the Port and FAA to extend public comment periods, pursue meaningful noise mitigation measures such as sound insulation for homes and schools, and engage more collaboratively with impacted communities rather than treating public review as a formality.

The City of Des Moines submitted formal comments to the Port of Seattle in December 2024, expressing serious concerns about the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's Sustainable Airport Master Plan and its projected growth in flight operations. The letter warns that by 2032, a nearly 20% increase in annual flights will significantly expand noise exposure for Des Moines residents, with the population affected by harmful noise levels rising by roughly 37% even without the proposed expansion. The city calls on the Port and FAA to extend public review periods, develop meaningful noise mitigation measures such as sound insulation programs, and collaborate more genuinely with neighboring communities rather than treating public input as a regulatory checkbox.