Everett, Wash.
Published: Friday, August 24, 2007

Mukilteo readies fight of regular airline flights

By Bill Sheets
Herald Writer

 MUKILTEO - When Mukilteo hires an attorney to investigate how it might try to fend off regular airline service at Paine Field, it will already have a list of suggestions from some of its constituents in hand.

Save Our Communities, the Mukilteo-based group that opposes any chance of regular passenger flights at Paine Field, has supplied the city with several ideas for using the law to its advantage.

Federal law doesn't allow local jurisdictions to ban passenger flights at airports. But there are ways the law can be used to discourage such flights, said former Mukilteo Mayor Don Doran, a member of Save Our Communities, at a meeting of the Mukilteo City Council recently.

"It's probably best to focus on the speed bumps that we can put in place," Doran told the council and Mayor Joe Marine earlier this week.

The City Council voted unanimously to hire an attorney to provide legal guidance to the city on airport issues. The council also voted to pay for a survey to gauge public opinion in Mukilteo about the issue.

The city recently set aside $250,000 expressly for fighting any plans to expand service at Paine Field. The council's vote did not specify how much would be spent on the attorney and the survey, though Councilman Marko Liias said recently the city hopes to keep most of the money available for fighting any actual proposal for passenger flights that may arise.

Currently, no airline has announced plans to offer regular service from Paine Field. But some Snohomish County business leaders are pushing passenger flights at Paine Field as an economic development measure. The Private Enterprise Coalition of Snohomish County, an Everett-based business group, plans to spend $100,000 to promote the idea. To that end, it recently started a Web site, www.flyfromeverett.org.

When the business group announced its campaign last spring, Mukilteo countered by setting aside its funds. Mukilteo and other opponents say passenger service would bring noise to neighborhoods and reduce property values.

The fact that no airline has approached Snohomish County, which owns and operates Paine Field, about offering flights is a good thing for the city, Doran told the Council.

"That provides us with the time to put together a game plan and educate the community," he said.

Doran said the state Growth Management Act requires that long-term plans at the regional, county and city level be consistent with each other. Two regional planning documents, Destination 2030 and Vision 2030, and Mukilteo's long-term plan all oppose use of Paine Field for scheduled airline service, and the city can encourage other surrounding cities to adopt similar language, Doran said. The cities of Mukilteo, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and Woodway have all approved resolutions opposing passenger flights at Paine Field.

Snohomish County's comprehensive plan remains silent on airline service and the city should pursue an agreement with the county to make sure the plan isn't changed to encourage it, Doran said.

Also, Mukilteo needs to make sure the county doesn't subsidize any improvements to the terminal or roads that would accommodate passenger flights.

City officials said they'd consider the suggestions from Save Our Communities.

"We'll take this report and review and see if there's anything else it makes sense to add as we move forward," Liias said.



Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA