By Jack Mayne City Nanager Michael Matthias told the Des Moines City Council Thursday (Sept. 27) that the Port of Seattle have been told by that the city is concerned about several airport related issues, including noise and health impacts, fuel dumping over the city, fuel emissions over airport communities and impacts of transportation because of the airport. The city has added “scoping needs to include a review of options to growth at Sea-Tac Airport, including options for siting a second regional airport.” Matthias told the Council Study session that the city is developing comments to Sea-Tac Airport’s developing plan on the aviation environment and the facility’s sustainability. Early development says the Port of Seattle “does not appropriately consider the context of development that has occurred and is occurring at the airport. The city believes that the appropriate timeframe to establish the baseline for environmental review is the time frame from 2012 to 2018.” It also complains that the review of the plan “has taken place outside the bounds of the state Environmental Policy Act.” “Finally, we express concerns about the specific impacts on our city from aircraft operations that need to be included in the scoping process.” The Council was told that the passenger count at SeaTac was the largest in many years, noting that there were 33.2 million passengers in 2012 and 46.9 million in 2017. The city also believes the development of the growth plan for the third runway was “highly controversial” and modified over time to expand its use. “Developing a growth plan that continues to utilize the Third Runway in an expanded operational role does not adequately address increased environmental impacts that have occurred over time” and that the issues the city sees “need to be addressed…” Matthias said the city also asked in August for the Federal Aviation Administration to provide more information on its control tower standard operating procedures. “We have not gotten a reply,” he said. City manager pay hike The Council voted unanimously to give City Manager Michael Matthias a step pay increase of $7,008 annually following a performance review that was “overwhelmingly positive.”]]>

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