EVERETT – Both sides in the airport debate agree on one point: It’s about costs.
If commercial airline service is allowed at Paine Field, property values will plummet and the environment and public health will suffer, according to a group opposed to expanding operations at Snohomish County Airport.
If passenger flights are not allowed, the decision will cost people and businesses time, jobs and wages, say those who would like to see Paine Field become a full-service regional airport.
Both groups offered their visions of the future Thursday to a panel studying the future of Paine Field. The panel is expected to interpret a decades-old agreement and determine whether commercial flights could be allowed at Paine Field.
The county unofficially has been considering the idea, with supporters saying more convenient air transportation would attract jobs.
Detractors, including the cities of Mukilteo, Lynnwood and Edmonds, say the increased noise and other effects would offset any benefits.
About 40 people attended Thursday’s meeting.
Greg Hauth of Mukilteo, a member of the anti-expansion group Save Our Communities, spoke first. He was followed by business consultant Hans Toorens of the Private Enterprise Coalition of Snohomish County, an advocacy group of business owners.
The audience, many sporting black-and-yellow buttons reading “NO commercial airline service at Paine Field!” applauded heartily after Hauth’s half-hour talk, and politely following a slightly shorter talk by Toorens.
Hauth offered the panel and audience a hypothetical wager – that if he rolled a die and it came up 1, he would pay the taker $100. If it came up anything other than 1, the taker of the bet had to pay him $1 million.
That’s the same cost-benefit relationship in the airport expansion issue, Hauth said.
If the county refuses to allow passenger service at the airport, it could lose $2 million annually in federal funds, he said.
The costs of expansion, though, would total $1.6 billion from devalued property and other societal costs, Hauth said.
“We don’t know all the costs for society and the environment and (our) health, but they’re going to be high,” he said. “If you’re going to do this, you might as well take my bet.”
Toorens was introduced by panel member Tom Hoban, co-owner of Coast Real Estate Services of Everett. Hoban, a founder of the business coalition, said he has seen companies locate south of Seattle rather than in Snohomish County because of the difficulty of travel to Sea-Tac International Airport from the north.
“Those of you who travel to Sea-Tac know the situation is bad and getting worse every day,” Toorens said.
He said the county’s population is projected to increase to 910,000 from 654,000 by 2015, a 39 percent increase, and an “efficient alternative” to Sea-Tac will be needed.
Large companies “have to be connected to the world,” he said.
With more convenient air service, “it’s likely that a better number of high-tech companies paying high wages will settle in Snohomish County.”
He said passenger jets are significantly quieter now than they were in the late 1970s, when an agreement between the county and adjacent cities discouraging airline service at Paine Field was reached.
The panel’s mission is to decide whether or how much to change that agreement.
Toorens and Hauth offered conflicting versions of the surrounding communities’ ability to refuse passenger service at an airport.
Hauth said Save Our Communities research shows that the federal government does not require an airport to convert to passenger service.
Toorens said a federal law prohibits discrimination against commerce.
Hauth said his group doesn’t necessarily oppose passenger service in Snohomish County, “we just oppose it at Paine Field.” He noted that a state committee is studying options for expanded air service.
Questions weren’t taken from the audience.
Panel member Tom Gaffney, a business consultant, said he was impressed with both presentations.
Gaffney said he has approached the issue from a business perspective, but that “it was helpful to get a clear idea on some of the other issues.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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