Mukilteo asks court to slow Paine Field terminal plan

MUKILTEO — The city of Mukilteo and a community group have asked state courts to void Snohomish County’s agreement with a New York company seeking to build a terminal for regular passenger flights at Paine Field.

The city and Save Our Communities want the county to perform a full review under the State Environmental Policy Act before any deal with Propeller Airports moves ahead. They filed a petition for judicial review in King County Superior Court in Seattle on March 23.

“We’re just saying they should go ahead and do that analysis before they commit exactly to what the lease looks like and any of the potential costs,” Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said.

The environmental review could include categories such as air quality, stormwater, noise and traffic.

The county, which operates Paine Field, is reviewing the petition and preparing a defense, said Jason Cummings, the county’s chief civil deputy prosecutor.

“We’ve been served with the complaint,” Cummings said. “We feel confident in the process that’s been followed and we’ll defend against the lawsuit accordingly.”

The suit takes aim at an option-to-lease agreement that the County Council approved March 2 by a 3-2 vote.

The agreement grants Propeller Airports the option to sign a 30-year lease for 10.7 acres of airport land for the purpose of building a passenger terminal and parking facilities.

The company would pay the county about $429,000 per year in rent. The county also would receive a cut of operating revenue from air service and parking.

Before executing a lease, the company has up to three years to design an acceptable facility and perform environmental studies.

Those are the studies that Mukilteo and Save Our Communities argue, in their lawsuit, should be done before committing to a long-term lease.

For Save Our Communities president Mike Moore, it’s a question of sequence. He wonders how the county determined the lease rate and impact fees, if it lacks a thorough understanding of the impacts that a future terminal would have.

“Why wouldn’t you do your own analysis before making a commitment for up to 50 years?” he asked.

On Tuesday, Propeller CEO Brett Smith said he was unable to comment on pending litigation or provide further details about the project.

After the County Council voted in favor of his company’s proposal a month ago, Smith sought out Moore and other opponents in the audience, offering to talk through their concerns.

An envisioned two-gate terminal could handle an average of more than a dozen takeoffs every day. That would add about 8,340 takeoffs and landings per year, according to previous studies.

Paine Field has handled 107,000 to 113,000 flights annually in recent years, airport director Arif Ghouse said.

The Federal Aviation Administration determined in December 2012 that the proposed level of commercial passenger flights would not harm Paine Field neighbors. The FAA decision was based on a federal environmental review that cost taxpayers $654,000 and took three years. It only looked at potential impacts through 2018.

The study was based on earlier proposals to operate regularly scheduled passenger flights by Allegiant Air of Las Vegas and Alaska Airlines subsidiary Horizon Air of Portland. It’s unclear now which airlines Propeller hopes to attract.

Mukilteo, Save Our Communities and the city of Edmonds sued the FAA in federal court to challenge the findings. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the case last year. The court would lift the stay and weigh a decision once there’s “conclusive evidence of a viable funding arrangement for the construction of the terminal,” the judges said in their order.

Mukilteo, which adjoins Paine Field, has spent $200,000 on the federal lawsuit since it was filed in early 2013, Gregerson said. The city has up to $110,000 on hand in a reserve fund for Paine Field legal issues.

That doesn’t include Save Our Communities’ contribution.

FAA rules. meanwhile, obligate the county to negotiate in good faith with parties that want to lease vacant airport property for aviation.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.