TagSAMP(650)

The City of SeaTac acknowledged a public records request (PRR25-568) from Paula Rodriguez seeking all communications, proposals, and scoring related to the selection of legal services for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP), covering both NEPA and SEPA processes from January 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025. The request was received on November 30, 2025, and assigned a tracking number for processing by the relevant city departments. The City anticipated fulfilling the request by December 19, 2025.

Three cities near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — SeaTac, Des Moines, and Burien — are challenging a September 2025 FAA decision that declared a major airport expansion plan would have no significant environmental impact. The cities argue the FAA's environmental review was legally flawed because it used an artificially narrow baseline, ignored cumulative effects, and underestimated impacts on noise, air quality, and traffic in surrounding communities. The case is being heard in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals alongside a related challenge brought by Vashon Island Fair Skies, with the FAA seeking to consolidate both cases.

City of SeaTac officials exchanged emails in November 2025 regarding a Petition for Review filed to appeal the FAA's NEPA Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Record of Decision, coordinated under an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) with the cities of Burien and Des Moines. A council member raised concern about the petition listing 'Attorneys for Vashon Island Fair Skies' rather than the three cities, to which Director Evan Maxim clarified that outside legal counsel Mr. Taber also represents other parties including Vashon Island in a related SAMP appeal, and that the reference was likely included by mistake. SeaTac is identified as the primary party in the event of any conflict of interest among the represented parties.

Three Washington cities near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac — filed a legal challenge on November 24, 2025, asking a federal appeals court to review the FAA's September 2025 decision approving near-term construction and expansion projects under the airport's Sustainable Airport Master Plan. The cities argue the FAA's environmental finding, known as a FONSI/ROD, should be scrutinized by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction because the cities are located within that circuit. The petition was filed on the last allowable day of the 60-day filing window, as the original deadline fell on a Sunday.

Vashon Island Fair Skies (VIFS), a Washington nonprofit representing residents affected by aircraft noise, has filed a petition in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a September 2025 FAA decision approving near-term expansion projects at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The group argues that the FAA's environmental review failed to adequately address the significant noise impacts on Vashon and Maury Islands resulting from concentrated, low-altitude flight paths introduced under the FAA's NextGen navigation program. VIFS has been actively opposing these flight path changes since 2018, when new Performance-Based Navigation procedures began routing more aircraft directly over the islands at lower altitudes.

The cities of Burien, Des Moines, and SeaTac, Washington signed a conflict waiver on November 21, 2025, acknowledging that their legal interests may potentially conflict with those of Vashon Island Fair Skies, while all being represented by the same law firm, Leech Tishman Nelson Hardiman, Inc. The waiver relates to a legal challenge — a Petition for Review — of the FAA's Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Near-Term Projects at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. All three cities knowingly consented to the concurrent representation and to legal fees being paid by a third party on their behalf.