TagStART(502)

The Burien City Council wrote to Sea-Tac Airport CEO Lance Lyttle raising concerns about the operations of the Sea-Tac Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART), a cooperative forum between the airport and neighboring cities. The letter identifies four key issues: limited community input into meeting agendas, inaccurate or incomplete meeting minutes, a lack of formal consensus process when StART's name was used to promote a voluntary nighttime noise reduction program, and insufficient time given to the Council to review StART decisions before they are finalized. The Council requests clearer timelines, audio recordings of meetings, and greater opportunity for elected representatives to provide feedback before public commitments are made on behalf of the City of Burien.

The Burien City Council wrote to Port of Seattle leadership explaining why they suspended participation in the Sea-Tac Airport Round Table (StART), citing the Port's failure to respond to community concerns about health, noise, and quality-of-life impacts from growing flight operations. The council objected to the Port approving $10 million in design work for airport expansion under the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) without adequate community consultation, and called for that decision to be reversed as a condition of re-engagement. A companion comparison chart shows how StART's governance rules on elected membership, meeting recordings, and inclusion of expert witnesses fall short of standards used by similar advisory bodies at airports in Charlotte, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

This document outlines community and city grievances against the Port of Seattle regarding the StART (Sea-Tac Roundtable) stakeholder process, demanding greater transparency, accountability, and audio-visual recording of meetings. It criticizes the Port for making vague bad-faith allegations against unnamed citizen members, issuing one-sided press releases about StART's successes without member consent, and failing to respond to long-standing requests from neighboring cities like Burien and Des Moines. The document calls for charter reforms to prevent StART from being used as a marketing tool or as legal evidence of community engagement.

This document outlines the history of the StART (Sea-Tac Airport Roundtable) process, explaining why the cities of Burien, Des Moines, and Federal Way suspended their participation in summer 2019. The cities cited the Port of Seattle's decision to spend $10 million on design work for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) without completing environmental review or meaningfully consulting affected communities. Additional concerns included the Port's conduct at meetings, misrepresentation of community viewpoints, and a general feeling among city residents that their participation was being used to rubber-stamp Port decisions rather than genuinely influence them.

The StART Policy Working Group met on April 1, 2024 to discuss federal and state policy updates related to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport noise issues. Key federal topics included the passage of FY2024 appropriations, FAA Reauthorization progress, and efforts to secure funding for inspecting and repairing 'failed' sound insulation in nearby homes. On the state side, Washington's newly signed SB 5955 was summarized, which establishes a partnership between the state and the Port of Seattle to fund inspections and replacement of failed noise mitigation equipment, with a grant program set to sunset in 2029.

The SEA Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART) is a forum created by the Port of Seattle in 2018 to improve cooperation between the Port and nearby cities on issues related to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It serves as a platform for sharing information, discussing community concerns, and finding practical solutions to problems such as aircraft noise and emissions. The group was developed with input from near-airport city leaders and a consultant, and its operating procedures were last updated in 2021.

The Port of Seattle presented an environmental review of near-term construction projects at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as part of its Sustainable Airport Master Plan. Projects include expanded passenger terminals and gates to handle a projected 56 million annual passengers, additional cargo facilities, airfield safety upgrades to meet FAA standards, taxiway efficiency improvements, and new fuel storage to support Sustainable Aviation Fuel initiatives. The review maps out how these developments will be assessed for their environmental impacts across the airport and surrounding areas.

The StART (SEA Stakeholder Advisory Round Table) meeting agenda for February 28, 2024 outlines a two-hour session focused on reviewing the group's operating procedures and the Sustainable Airport Master Plan's (SAMP) Near-Term Projects Environmental Review. Key topics include updates from the Federal Policy and Aviation Noise Working Groups, along with a refresher on StART's organizational structure, including the roles of its Steering Committee and working groups. The meeting, held via Zoom, also included time for public comment, with the next tentative meeting scheduled for April 24, 2024.

The StART Aviation Noise Working Group met on February 12, 2024, to review Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's operational trends for early 2024, including a modest 0.2% increase in operations compared to the same period in 2023 and the handling of Boeing Max 9 groundings. The meeting also covered updates to the Late Night Noise Limitation Program, which monitors flights between midnight and 5 a.m. and tracks airline noise exceedances, as well as an overview of SEA's Sound Insulation Program, which has helped insulate over 9,400 homes. Additionally, members discussed promoting voluntary one-engine taxiing as a way to modestly reduce ground noise while significantly cutting fuel consumption and emissions.

The StART Federal Policy Working Group met on February 5, 2024, to discuss the stalled FAA reauthorization bill and key 2024 priorities related to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and surrounding communities. Topics included a potential study on failed noise insulation, seven legislative priorities such as sustainable aviation fuel and aircraft particle emissions, and a possible Washington D.C. advocacy trip. The group also expressed interest in expanding their scope to include state and local policy issues in addition to federal ones.