Drafter
Clerk 09/01/2022
Title
A MOTION calling on the Washington state Department of Transportation to remove the King County Southeast location in the Enumclaw agricultural production district from consideration in the Washington Aviation System Plan.
Body
WHEREAS, the Washington state Department of Transportation ("WSDOT") is in the process of completing an update to the Washington Aviation System Plan (“WASP”), which determines future air transportation capacity needs, and
WHEREAS, in 2019, the state Legislature passed Substitute Senate Bill 5370, which became Chapter 396, Laws of Washington 2019, establishing a thirteen-member commercial aviation coordinating commission ("the CAAC"), responsible for recommending a location for a new primary commercial aviation facility in Washington to meet future air transportation capacity needs, taking into consideration the data and conclusions of appropriate air traffic studies, community representatives and industry experts, and
WHEREAS, the CAAC seeks to expand one or more existing airports and to identify a suitable undeveloped site, known as a greenfield site, for a new future airport, and
WHEREAS, ten initial greenfield sites have been identified in Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston, Pierce and King counties, including a location in the Enumclaw agricultural production district known as "King County Southeast," and
WHEREAS, agricultural production districts feature some of the county's best agricultural soils in and serve as agricultural lands of long-term commercial significance, and
WHEREAS, the King County Comprehensive Plan designates agricultural production districts where the principal land use should be agriculture and will have minimal new residential and commercial development, and
WHEREAS, WSDOT identified that forty-four percent of the King County Southeast study area is an incompatible use within the expected noise buffer and seven percent of the land is in a floodplain, and
WHEREAS, under Chapter 396, Laws of Washington 2019, the recommendations from the CAAC may include possible aviation facilities or expansion of current aviation facilities, excluding those located in a county with a population of two million or more, and
WHEREAS, King County is a county with a population of two million or more, and
WHEREAS, King County currently houses two major airports, King County International Airport-Boeing Field averages one-hundred and eighty thousand takeoffs and landings each year and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had three-hundred and seventy-five thousand takeoffs and landings in 2021;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The council calls on the Washington state Department of Transportation to remove the King County Southeast location in the Enumclaw agricultural production district from consideration for a new future airport in the Washington Aviation Plan.