A county council resolution voicing support for commercial airline traffic at Paine Field was grounded Monday before it ever achieved lift off.
Quietly — and unexpectedly — a resolution proposed Dec. 13 by departing County Councilman Kirke Sievers angered many before Sievers unceremoniously withdrew it at the beginning of the Dec. 17 council meeting.
The resolution’s wording indicated that the county was “in principle willing to consider some level of appropriately conditioned commercial air service at Paine Field.”
Sievers said his successor on the council, Brian Sullivan, asked him to pull the item. A former mayor of Mukilteo, Sullivan has fought against commercial service since the early 1980s.
“For Councilmember Sievers to bring that up at the very last moment in his last meeting and with no notice to the public was fairly deceptive,” Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson said. “It was clear to me from the turnout that the public was not particularly pleased.”
That turnout was high. Other politicians from south Snohomish County, including Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough, crowded into a council chamber which was packed with angry citizens wearing bright yellow pins stating their opposition to commercial service.
Fellow council members welcomed Sievers’ withdrawal, with Dave Gossett calling Sievers’ resolution “ill-timed” and Dave Sommers calling it “premature.” Officials in Executive Aaron Reardon’s office said they had no advance warning — or any indication whatsoever until Dec. 13 — that Sievers wanted to discuss commercial service.
No councilmember spoke in support of the resolution.
Sievers, who represents the cities of Everett and Mukilteo, did not respond to requests for comment.
If anything, Sievers’ abortive flirtation seemed to have re-energized opposition at Paine Field.
“It was infuriating, but in a way, this action helps us,” said Greg Hauth, president of Save Our Communities, a South Snohomish County group that has fought commercial service for 15 years. “We got a lot of really angry e-mails from the community. They were against Sievers, and they were against this action.”
SOC had been meeting with new and returning council members in an attempt to make Paine Field a priority in 2008, Hauth said.
The county controls Paine Field, and the council controls its policies. While the council cannot block commercial service, it can effectively encourage or discourage service by removing or creating obstacles for airlines.
Council members were conceding that the issue “was on the table, but not that it was a priority,” Hauth said.
Sievers’ antics might have changed that, said Mike Cooper, who will replace Gary Nelson on the council in January.
“It is important for the leadership of this county to get on the same page and make and statement and put this to rest,” said Cooper, who will represent the cities of Edmonds and Lynnwood. “It is too bad in a way that this last-minute decision to bring this up has redefined the priorities for the council next year.
“To focus on the airport when we do not necessarily have a prospective airline is not the best use of the county council’s time. We need to move forward,” he said. “But, now let’s have the debate and put it to rest. One way or another, let’s get this done.”
It’s unclear what that might take.
Sullivan, a long-time opponent of commercial service at Paine Field, said the county should focus on industrialization around the airport rather than commercial service.
The area was designed to handle 40,000 daily workers, but handles only 12,000, he said. A new innovation center would serve the area better than new commercial airline flights, he said.
“There is plenty of growth opportunity up there for aerospace jobs,” Sullivan said.
If anything, a quick resolution seems impossible.
Paine Field keeps popping up, Edmonds’ Haakenson said.
“It is odd. It is really odd,” he said. “(The issue) won’t ever be dead until the county council puts an end to it.”
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