Message #1

Dear Commission President Cho, Vice President Hasegawa, and Commissioners Calkins, Felleman, and Mohamed,

Port officials have stated that they’re “not considering any development in North SeaTac Park”.

But in August 2021, the Port published recommendations for “340,000 square feet of aviation supportive use” and a new Food Innovation Center inside the park in its Real Estate Strategic Plan.

These recommendations, along with the fact that North SeaTac Park is zoned aviation commercial and that the Port can take 55 acres of it out of park use “at any time,” means that the park is at risk.

It will not be safe until the Port:

1. Formally withdraws all recommendations or proposals to develop inside it;

2. Supports the City of SeaTac in changing North SeaTac Park zoning from Aviation Commercial to Park; and

3. Commits to a process to permanently protect the park from development or, alternately, to transfer ownership of the park to the City of SeaTac, which has indicated willingness to acquire it.

This park was created “to compensate the area residents for cumulative airport impacts.” Those impacts only continue to increase. In 2020, the local health department recommended expanding tree canopy here to reduce our exposure to deadly airport pollution. The Port must not go in the opposite direction and remove the forest that is already here.

Sincerely,

Message #3

Dear Commission President Cho, Vice President Hasegawa, and Commissioners Calkins, Felleman, and Mohamed,

The Port’s Sustainable Airport Master Plan and Real Estate Strategic Plan propose to expand the airport on an estimated 107 acres of mostly forested land in SeaTac.

This expansion would be on land that was purchased and cleared of homes, schools, and businesses by the Port and FAA in the 1970s and 80s as airport expansion made the area uninhabitable.

The 1975 SeaTac Communities Plan, which was later incorporated into the King County Comprehensive Plan and which governed land use connected with the removal of these neighborhoods, held that these airport acquisition areas “should be primarily open space.”

It outlined policies to “promote diversified and extensive open space systems” on this land and “safeguard the abundant natural features of view, water, and vegetation,” basing development on “an environmental conscience which will preserve and protect the natural environment.” (SeaTac Communities Plan Section 6.6.1, p. 6. [369-70 in the pdf]).

In the Plan, the question of whether to allow intensive commercial or industrial development in this area was answered in the negative because, in part, these uses would "destroy the area’s natural character” and “impose incompatible uses on surrounding permanent residential neighborhoods.” (SeaTac Communities Plan, Section 6.6.3, p. 3-5 on p. 394 and 396 in the pdf).

In the years since this Plan, research has established that trees and green spaces in urban areas not only preserve a community’s natural beauty and character, but also save lives, reducing toxic exposures, cooling the air, and reducing stress.

Please abide by the environmental conscience called for in the SeaTac Communities Plan, as well as the policy it established, and take action to protect the forested land in the community near the airport.

Message #2

Dear Commission President Cho, Vice President Hasegawa, and Commissioners Calkins, Felleman, and Mohamed,

Tub Lake Bog is a rare sphagnum peat moss bog in North SeaTac Park. Multiple community plans over four decades have recommended that a natural wetlands preserve be created around this bog.

In 1975 The SeaTac Communities Plan* recommended: “The area surrounding Tub Lake should be a wetland preserve; development for community recreation should allow only the Miller Creek footpath and, if suitable, a public swimming area.”

The 2020 City of SeaTac Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan contains a recommendation to: “Preserve the area surrounding Tub Lake as a natural wetland and increase opportunities for public enjoyment of the area, including installing boardwalks and interpretive information.”

Instead of protecting this bog, the Port has recommended building a 340,000 square feet of aviation supportive uses right on the edge of it, on land now covered in forest, community bicycle trails, wetlands, and at least one tributary of Miller Creek.

Please withdraw these recommendations and instead work with the City of SeaTac to create the long-promised wetlands preserve in this area.

Sincerely,

*Note: SeaTac Communities Plan p. 12 of section 6.6.3, p. 405 in the link.

Message #4

Dear Commission President Cho, Vice President Hasegawa, and Commissioners Calkins, Felleman, and Mohamed,

Most of North SeaTac Park’s 220 acres are leased by the Port to the City of SeaTac for use as a park until 2070 or 2041. However, the lease agreement for the park was amended in 2002 to allow the Port to vacate 55-acres of the park “at any time” in order to allow for commercial development including warehouses, office space, parking lots, and other aviation-supportive uses.

Port of Seattle Resolution 3485, signed in April 9, 2002, and City of SeaTac Resolution 2002-02, authorized these governments to enter into this Agreement. Although the text of the resolutions and the Agreement correctly reference the land as being inside the park, the titles of all of these documents reference the property in question as being “adjacent” to North SeaTac Park.

Given the errors in the titles of the 2002 documents describing the actions that was under consideration, it appears that the public was not given adequate and proper notice of the true nature of what was at stake at the time. We should be afforded this opportunity.

This park was created to compensate area residents from cumulative airport impacts, impacts that have only increased since then. It is on land set aside for open community use. It should not be developed for airport expansion.

Please work with the City of SeaTac to withdraw this Agreement and, in consideration of the purpose of this park and the continuing cumulative impacts of the airport on this community, take action to permanently protect the entirety of North SeaTac Park as a park.

Message #5

Dear Commission President Cho, Vice President Hasegawa, and Commissioners Calkins, Felleman, and Mohamed,

I’m writing (speaking today) to ask you to please hold your agency accountable to its own commitments to reduce sprawl, protect and restore forests, and uphold social justice.

Current Port development recommendations would result in the loss of an estimated 107+ acres of mostly tree-covered land in the community near the airport.

Cargo warehouses and related infrastructure is expected to account for much of this construction because regional air cargo demand is projected to more than double by 2050, with warehouse space falling short by 2027.

More cargo warehouses means more noise, pollution, and heat. The Port’s proposals would both increase these harms AND destroy thousands of trees that protect against them.

Research shows that California’s recent warehouse boom has significantly increased pollution, noise and traffic, is projected to cause excess deaths, and has primarily impacted minority neighborhoods. We must not allow that here.

But the recent destruction of 70 acres of forest for warehouses and other structures near Madrona Elementary School in SeaTac (in addition to 16 acres of forest destroyed for a jail in that location) shows that our region’s eagerness for new warehouses is likely taking us down the road that is causing so much harm in California.

According to US News, 95% of the students attending Madrona Elementary are of minority background and 72% are from economically disadvantaged families. According to Washington’s Department of Health, this community ranks 8 out of 10 for diesel exhaust emissions, 10 out of 10 for proximity to heavy traffic, and 9 out of 10 for toxic releases from facilities. The Port should not have replaced protective forest with a jail and polluting warehouses near this school. It should withdraw its proposal to cut down 28 additional acres of forest here.

It's not to late to correct direction. Please enact a moratorium on Port deforestation near the airport and invest in a comprehensive plan to ensure a healthful level of tree canopy here to protect the lives of our children and all who live here.

Thank you.

Message #6

Dear Commission President Cho, Vice President Hasegawa, and Commissioners Calkins, Felleman, and Mohamed,

North SeaTac Park and surrounding public forestland entrusted to Port management are critically important public resources. These trees reduce the exposure of residents in our racially and economically diverse community to aviation pollution associated with elevated rates of premature and underweight births, learning problems in children, a wide range of health problems, and reduced lifespans. (1)

For these and other reasons, preserving existing tree canopy is a matter of upholding both justice and public health. Yet, although SeaTac already has one of the sparsest tree canopy percentages in the county, ranking 40 out of 45 cities (2), the Port has published proposals and recommendations that would develop an estimated 100+ acres of mostly forested land in this city. (3)

31.5 of these acres would be inside North SeaTac Park, which the FAA in a 2016 audit noted was created “to compensate area residents from cumulative airport impacts” in a “severely airport-impacted area.” (4)

With all due haste and in collaboration with the City of SeaTac, the FAA, King County and all other appropriate entities, please begin formal exploration of a wide range of ownership and legal options for permanently protecting North SeaTac Park and its natural and recreational resources as well as the larger interconnected forest it is part of. Please set a near-term goal, for example, the end of 2023, for agreeing upon a course of action and taking initial steps to implement it.

Please include in your considerations all feasible approaches, for example, conservation easements; land swaps; pursuit of grants and other funds; and designation of the park and areas of surrounding forest as a carbon offset zone, public health improvement district, or natural heritage site.

The Port is a signatory to the Joint Letter of Commitment of the King County - Cities Climate Collaboration, (5) in which it commits to reducing sprawl and restoring forests. As such, and in keeping with your commitments to social justice as well as laws that require federally funded programs to avoid disproportionately high levels of cumulative impacts on low income or minority populations, the Port must prioritize in its real estate and development planning the preservation of forested land in severely-airport impacted communities affected by its operations and plans.

Thank you.