Mayor, council, join in opposing airport expansion; officials say it’s unlikely to happen

The Gig Harbor City Council expressed united opposition to a possible expansion of commercial aviation at Tacoma Narrows Airport during a short Oct. 26 council meeting.

The mayor and council have been alarmed by two studies that have identified Tacoma Narrows Airport as one of six possible locations to expand for commercial passenger aviation.

Mayor Kit Kuhn has expressed fear of excessive noise, traffic, pollution, and damage to overall quality of life if the airport is allowed to expand.

The studies are by the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Washington State Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission, each charged with finding a way to accommodate future aviation needs.

“They are not looking at one location, they are looking at several, so we need to be as proactive as possible,” Council Member Jeni Woock said.

The council passed a resolution that authorizes the mayor, staff, and council members to take steps to make their opinion known. These steps include sending letters to multiple organizations, urging the city’s state and federal representatives to send letters on behalf of the city, authorizing the mayor, staff and council members to speak up on behalf of the city, and a few others.

In an interview with The Gateway earlier this month, PRSC executive director Josh Brown said it was very unlikely Tacoma Narrows would ever be expanded, even though it was among four regional airports identified in the study.

Although the airport has an FAA tower, necessary for air traffic control, and a significant local population — both advantages — it is also the most problematic of the four, Brown noted.

“It has by far the shortest runway, at 5,002 feet, and by far the smallest footprint, at around 644 acres. It does not have very good connections to water, sewer and fuel pipelines.”

And not least, he noted, the airport’s owner, Pierce County, is so dead set against expansion that any extension of the TNA runway is expressively forbidden in the county’s master plan.

Other airports identified include Paine Field in Everett, Arlington Municipal Airport in Snohomish County, and Bremerton National Airport in Kitsap County.

“None of these are obvious or easy facilities to convert to commercial aviation,” Brown said. “But they do meet the basic minimum technical requirements.”

Council Member Tracie Markley said she attended a Tacoma Advisory Meeting and has since been in contact with the chair of the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission, David Fleckenstein.

Markley said Fleckenstein has offered to do a 20-minute presentation for council at the Nov. 9 council meeting where he will discuss the study and the future of aviation.

“I am in favor of this resolution in making a broad statement in not wanting to expand these runways, but I think he will take some fear out of this for us,” Markley said.

This resolution was passed 7-0.

In other business, the Gig Harbor City Council:

• Passed a resolution to reconsider the Burnham Drive Roadway Improvement project. During the Oct.. 12 council meeting, the council expressed its preference of one of three options: a shared sidewalk between 96th and Eagles hall along the easterly frontage of Burnham Drive. The other two options were for a new sidewalk only or a bike lane plus sidewalk. But because full details of the chosen option were not available to the public Oct. 12, the council decided to bring the project back for consideration so the public would have a better opportunity to see all three options.

• Approved a resolution which adopts the 2020 State Legislative Agenda. The legislative agenda is designed to capture the intent of the mayor and council on key legislative matters.

• Adopted a resolution regarding the city’s council guidelines and procedures. During the Oct. 12 meeting council went over these guidelines, which included ways to keep listeners tuned in during council comments. Woock added an amendment to the resolution which states that documents about discussion items must be presented to the council four days ahead of council study sessions.

This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 5:30 AM.