• “The drive from Snohomish County to Sea-Tac can take longer than a flight to (name the destination).”
“A new airport will bring new jobs and new businesses.”
• “Do you really want to plunk down the blight of another city of Sea-Tac and Burien in Snohomish County.”
“A new airport will force businesses and people out of the area.”
The potential of expanded commercial flights at Paine Field is a passionate issue for those who live close by and under the flight paths of the county-run airport in Everett.
And it should be. Adding a major or regional air carrier to Paine Field is not the aviation equivalent of running a few more Sound Transit buses up and down I-5.
A county-sponsored panel is in the process of revisiting the arguments for and against allowing commercial flights at Paine Field.
Proponents say federal funding strings and the wording of a decades-old agreement make a prohibition on commercial air service out of the question.
Opponents say there is plenty of room between a prohibition and an airport marketing blitz to airlines to keep the likelihood of regularly scheduled jet service at bay.
The reality is that while Paine Field looks attractive, the impact on existing residents and businesses would be monumental. There is also the idea that Paine Field may already be too close in, too bogged down by its own traffic issues, to be a viable north-end airport site.
Over the past 20 years, Snohomish County has allowed a tremendous amount of infill development to occur under the shadows of existing air traffic at Paine Field. If an airport is needed north of Seattle, now is the time to look for a site that will meet tomorrow’s needs, not yesterday’s.
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