EVERETT – A 1979 agreement discouraging passenger flights at Paine Field is irrelevant, cumbersome and should be abandoned, a member of a committee updating the document suggested Thursday.
Panel member John Shaw, an Everett businessman and attorney, told the group that airport policy should be consolidated into other, more binding agreements, such as airport master plans and regional planning efforts.
“The (’70s document) has become redundant and should not be ratified or revised,” Shaw said in a three-page written statement to the panel.
Shaw’s idea was supported by a few other panel members – mostly businesspeople – and opposed by others, mostly representatives of south Snohomish County cities.
Some residents who have been fighting any expansion of operations at the airport were in the audience and also objected.
Barbara Ward of Mukilteo, a member of the opponent group Save Our Communities, quivered with anger as she responded.
“I can guarantee you that to the many thousands of people living in the flight paths in the county, the (document) is anything but irrelevant,” she said.
Shaw is president of Stuchell Enterprises Inc. and manages timber and real estate assets for the family-owned company.
When asked his position on commercial flights at Paine Field, Shaw said, “I think the market ought to decide that.”
With the county growing, it’s inevitable that an airline will approach the county about passenger service, he said. When it does, the question will be, “How do we best accommodate that in a way that doesn’t have a tremendous negative impact on the people who live around the airport?”
The 1979 agreement that discourages passenger flights was relevant when written but has served its purpose and accomplished its goals, he said.
The 12-member panel of officials and businesspeople was appointed a year ago by County Executive Aaron Reardon to update the 1979 document that guides airport operations.
That agreement was reached between Snohomish County, which owns and operates the airport, and surrounding communities concerned about the possibility of airport growth.
Two years ago, airport director Dave Waggoner spoke in hypothetical terms about expansion in a presentation to community groups about a county study that suggested passenger flights would be good for the economy. Expansion opponents shrieked, and Reardon appointed the panel in response to the outcry.
Five cities, including Mukilteo, Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace, have approved resolutions opposing air passenger flights. Each of these cities has a representative on the panel. Lynnwood and Woodway also passed anti-expansion resolutions.
Without the policy document, Edmonds community services director Stephen Clifton said, airport plans “could be easily and slowly changed to not even reflect what this has said as a guide for 20-some years.”
The committee also spent time Thursday updating the wording of the 1979 agreement. Peter Camp, a county executive director who runs the panel, said the updated document and Shaw’s proposal would likely both be presented to Reardon and the County Council as a report on the committee’s work.
The panel plans to wrap up its work at a meeting Dec. 14.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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