Boeing Field dispute delays runway funds

By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter

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The County Council deleted second-year funding for the project in May, and a new budget measure submitted Friday by County Executive Ron Sims didn't include the runway.

Sims is expected to resubmit his request.

The council's budget chairman, Larry Gossett, said the denial of funds was not intended to kill the runway project but to give the council more time to study progress on the noise issue.

King County International Airport, as Boeing Field is formally known, has enough federal and local money to begin the project this summer. Officials had asked for an additional $3.7 million that would allow the work to be done in one year instead of two.

The project would shift the airport's main, 10,000-foot runway 880 feet north to expand a federally required safety zone at the runway's south end. Railroad tracks and a road intrude in the existing safety zone.

The airport serves Boeing, air-cargo companies, flight schools and private and corporate airplanes.

Gossett said there was "nothing atypical, unwarranted or surprising" about the council's denial of runway funds, given members' keen interest in reducing noise.

Gossett and three other council members represent Seattle neighborhoods heavily affected by airport noise: Gossett represents Beacon Hill and Leschi; Dow Constantine, West Seattle; Dwight Pelz, Georgetown and Skyway; and Council Chairman Larry Phillips, who lives in Magnolia, an area below the flight path of many planes landing at Boeing Field.

Phillips, the council's most outspoken critic of aircraft noise, has raised the issue repeatedly with county Transportation Director Harold Taniguchi.

Continuing flights over Magnolia are a sore point for residents there and on Queen Anne Hill, Phillips said, because many flights could be redirected to airspace over Elliott Bay without affecting other neighborhoods. Noise-sensitive residents are awoken as early as 4:30 a.m. by large cargo planes making course corrections and lowering landing gear as they pass over the Magnolia Bridge.
 
Officials of Boeing Field and the Federal Aviation Administration are encouraging pilots to voluntarily shift from a route over Magnolia to one over Elliott Bay when weather permits. The airport last month began distributing thousands of brochures to pilots promoting the Elliott Bay route, but progress hasn't been fast enough for Phillips.

"I have been rational for 10 years in trying to get them to do the right thing," Phillips said. "On occasion I try to let them know I like to be a wild-and-crazy guy."

Neither Phillips nor Taniguchi would confirm or deny rumors that Phillips threatened to block runway funding unless he got assurances that planes will be banned over his neighborhood under most weather conditions.

Airport officials have made some progress in reducing aircraft noise.

Since the County Council mandated a series of noise-reduction efforts six years ago, the airport has banned "engine run-ups" for maintenance at night and has initiated a "Fly Quiet" program that advises pilots to fly as high above ground level as safety allows and to approach the airport from Elliott Bay instead of Magnolia in clear weather.

The airport also is studying construction of a "hush house" to dampen the noise of engine run-ups. For close-in neighborhoods, such as Georgetown, just north of the airport's two runways, officials plan to install noise insulation in existing buildings.

In July, air-traffic controllers are scheduled to offer Global Positioning System coordinates for Elliott Bay to pilots of incoming flights. The airport also is initiating a study on the feasibility of shifting instrument landings to Elliott Bay.

Taniguchi said relations with the FAA — which provides most money for airport improvements — are delicate, and it's too early to tell how successful voluntary measures will be.

Airport Manager Robert Burke said there are signs the voluntary program is working. "We're getting a lot of calls saying we're getting a lot of airplanes over the water. That's exactly what we want."

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com