Truth in Aviation: Newsletter of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs

PSRC Reminded of Commitment
to New Regional Airport

“My deepest fear is that in a decade we'll hear the rumbling of a fourth runway". So said King County Councilmember Julia Patterson at the meeting of the Executive Board of the Puget Sound Regional Council, on Thursday, January 22.

Councilmember Patterson was warning the leadership of PSRC that the region, & the State, must fulfill a long-standing commitment to develop a new major regional airport, to take pressure off Sea-Tac Airport (& the communities impacted by Sea-Tac activities).

In 1993, the regional planning organization had committed to pursuing the goal of a new airport "vigorously". From then till now, PSRC has done nothing to achieve that goal, & at an aviation workshop last October, PSRC staff suggested that nothing would need to be done till perhaps 2033. In a long letter, the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs criticized the inaction & called for PSRC to honor its decade-old commitment. RCAA agreed that the issue should be addressed at the State level. RCAA's comments were circulated to the Executive Board prior to its January meeting, as part of the staff report on the October workshop.

PSRC's new executive director, Bob Drewell (former County Executive of Snohomish County), confirmed that PSRC indeed had a commitment to a second regional airport (despite the reservations expressed by Douglas B. MacDonald, Secretary of the state Department of Transportation). After 20 minutes of discussion, the Board adjourned without taking formal action, but clearly a second regional airport is back on the agenda.

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