TagSEPA(293)

This June 2022 presentation by Des Moines Chief Strategic Officer Susan Cezar provides an update on the environmental review of Near Term Projects under the Port of Seattle's Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP). It outlines the history of the review process dating back to 2015, including a multi-city inter-local agreement between Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, and SeaTac to coordinate responses to the Port's environmental documents. City staff continue to monitor the Port's compliance with federal (NEPA) and state (SEPA) environmental requirements as airport capital projects move forward.

This document is Appendix G of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP), covering a cultural resources survey of near-term airport projects in King County. It outlines coordination between the FAA and the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP), which ultimately concurred with findings of No Adverse Effect on historic resources. The appendix also documents outreach to ten Native American tribes as part of the federally required Section 106 review process.

This June 2021 amendment to a consultant contract extends an agreement between the City of Des Moines, WA and two consulting firms—Primacy Strategy Group, LLC and ABCx2, LLC—through December 31, 2023, with a maximum compensation of $275,000. The contract, originally signed in 2018 and administered by Des Moines on behalf of a partnership with the cities of Burien, SeaTac, and Normandy Park, relates to advocacy and consulting work connected to Sea-Tac Airport's environmental review process (SAMP SEPA/NEPA). Consulting services were suspended as of January 1, 2020, pending the public release of SAMP Environmental Review documents, with any interim work to be authorized by the City through individual Task Orders.

The Port of Seattle filed an environmental checklist in May 2021 for a project to widen Arrivals Drive at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) from two lanes to four lanes, aiming to reduce congestion and improve safety for passengers and ground transportation vehicles. Construction was planned to begin in mid-2023 and last approximately 18 months, involving road realignments, updated stormwater drainage, new LED lighting, and utility relocations. The project was designed as a standalone improvement but coordinated with broader airport master plan efforts to accommodate potential future infrastructure expansions at SEA.

The Port of Seattle requested $3.4 million in additional funding to complete environmental review studies required under federal (NEPA) and state (SEPA) law for planned near-term expansion projects at Sea-Tac Airport. The cost increase was driven by a two-year planning delay, expanded public engagement in multiple languages, additional technical analyses including aircraft noise, air quality, and environmental justice studies, and a decision to produce two separate review documents instead of one combined report. The contract with aviation environmental consulting firm Landrum & Brown brings the total project cost to $6.4 million.

In September 2019, the City of Des Moines responded to a Port of Seattle apology letter regarding the allocation of $10 million for Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) design work without prior environmental review or stakeholder notice, which had prompted Des Moines and other nearby cities to temporarily suspend participation in the Sea-Tac Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART). The City challenged the Port's claims of meaningful progress on noise reduction measures, requesting specific data on the Late Night Noise Limitation program, changes to nighttime flight schedules, and the status of runway glide slope adjustments. The exchange highlights ongoing tensions between Sea-Tac Airport and surrounding communities over transparency, environmental compliance, and the effectiveness of collaborative noise mitigation efforts.

The Port of Seattle and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a public scoping process in 2018 to gather input on the environmental impacts of near-term construction projects planned at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) as part of the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP). The 60-day scoping period, which ran from July 30 to September 28, 2018, invited comments from the public and agencies through meetings, mailings, and an online open house advertised in five languages. This report summarizes the scoping process, public feedback received, and outlines next steps for the full environmental review under both federal (NEPA) and state (SEPA) environmental policy laws.