Snohomish County Considers
Passenger Service at Paine Field

Movers & shakers in Snohomish County are starting to get serious about future use of Paine Field for scheduled passenger service. An official Snohomish County economic stimulus task force has included in a list of action items, "Explore regional air service market at Paine Field".

On January 28, Snohomish County Labor Council adopted a resolution calling on Snohomish County officials to "give the matter of commercial air service a high priority" as part of efforts to "support … economic growth initiatives at Paine Field".

While the County Council, Executive, and the airport's staff contemplated a leisurely process, with multiple studies of various elements, State Senator Dave Schmidt (R-44) introduced legislation on January 23 to set up a $100,000 study of the possibility of building a new $20 million passenger terminal at Paine. A new terminal would be essential for scheduled passenger service. The public area of the existing terminal is about the size of a suburban living room.

The Airport says that the County has decided first to do a market survey, and then to do an architectural & engineering plans for new facilities. After those two steps, a long community-outreach process is envisioned. In January, the County issued a Request for Qualifications to consultants for the market study. The plan is to select a consultant selected this month. The first study will begin sometime in the next five months.

All of this revives a proposal that goes back to at least June 1992, when a task force ("Puget Sound Air Transportation Committee") recommended that scheduled airline service be extended to Paine Field, that a new major airport be developed, & that the Sea-Tac third runway be built.

Reaction from the airfield's closest neighbors was immediate & hostile. A no-expansion meeting was held on Saturday, February 7, organized by local Democratic legislators. The lawmakers said that they were worried about the quality of life in the "pristine residential area" around the airport.

Rep. Mike Cooper (D-21) said that Schmidt's bill would not do very well in the House of Representatives "because my party is a majority there". This was an odd comment, given that so many Democrats in Olympia have been so unhelpful to the residents of the areas impacted by Sea-Tac Airport.

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