Port Commission DOES hear from public

The meeting of the Port Commission on Tuesday, 23 March, indeed did hear from the public on the subject of the Part 150 noise study now underway for Sea-Tac Airport.  Our post on the 19th reflected uncertainty on this point.   As part of its regular business meeting the Commission had scheduled a staff briefing on the study, but no action was contemplated.   Nonetheless, a small group of interested members of the public, as well as local elected officials, were on hand.  

The staff presentation was held to a minimum.  Commissioners had available print versions of the extensive report on the 24 February 2010 workshop.  It was not clear whether they had found time to peruse it, & there was minimal discussion between the Commission & staff.

The bulk of the comments seemed to deal with issues that the study team had not come to grips with.  

        *  For example, Pastor Jon Cortese, Burien Free Methodist Church, pointed out that many churches are subject to overflight noise, yet the study team was not suggesting anything that dealt with their problems.  

         *  Clarke Brant, Normandy Park Councilmember, responding to a comment from the Airport's noise-program manager, Stan Shepherd, that a night-time curfew was outside the scope of the study, noted that most developed countries do not allow night-time operations at metropolitan airports.  He called upon the Commission to advocate changes in Federal law to return control of night-time flights to local authorities.  

          *  Shawn McEvoy, Councilmember from Normandy Park (& former mayor), urged the Commission to fund mitigation outside the 65 DNL contour.  Mr McEvoy also spoke to the need for the study to have a longer planning horizon (at least 10 years), the need to define noise from the third runway with care, & the need to examine compliance with existing procedures.

We will carry on this discussion in later posts.