Port of Olympia commission votes 3-0 to sign letter in opposition to proposed airport
The Port of Olympia Commission voted unanimously on Monday to sign a letter expressing opposition to a new airport in Thurston County.
The 3-0 vote now means that port commissioner Bob Iyall will sign his name to a letter that has already been signed by county commissioners and the mayors of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater. The letter will be sent to state lawmakers who represent Thurston County.
“As demonstrated in this letter, all local jurisdictions stand together in opposition to this proposal,” the letter reads.
Few issues have galvanized county residents quite like the state’s consideration of building a new commercial airport in Thurston County. No one spoke in support of it at the port meeting. Commissioner Joe Downing said the port has received about 200 emails on the topic, but none in favor of the airport.
Downing called the topic the biggest issue the port has encountered during his tenure on the commission.
Commissioner Iyall agreed.
“Since my swearing-in, no topic has brought more passion or response from the people of Thurston County,” he said.
“Thurston County Central,” as the proposed airport site is called, would be located within a circular area that spans six miles in diameter northeast of Tenino. The area includes a significant portion of Pattison Lake to the north, and Rainier Road Southeast cuts through it diagonally.
The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission included the Thurston County site in a list of recommendations that it submitted to the state legislature on Oct. 15. The commission has been tasked by the legislature with identifying one location for an airport by a June 15, 2023, deadline, according to The Olympian, because Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is reaching capacity.
In addition to the Thurston County site, the commission is also considering two “greenfield” sites in Pierce County for a new airport. As an alternative to developing a new airport, the commission also is considering expanding Paine Field in Snohomish County, The Olympian reported.
The port commission on Monday voted twice on airport-related business.
After they voted 3-0 to sign the letter, Commissioner Iyall made a second motion to update a letter the port sent to the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission in July 2020. That letter also expressed opposition to the proposed airport, but was signed by the previous commission of Downing, E.J. Zita and Bill McGregor.
The new letter would be signed by current commissioners Iyall, Downing and Amy Evans Harding, reiterating their opposition to the proposed airport “using input from each of the commissioners.”
What might that input be? Downing said he opposes the new airport, but he would support a modest expansion of the Port-run Olympia Regional Airport for commercial air service. The airport now sits between Old Highway 99 and the New Market Industrial Campus in Tumwater.
“I don’t want to close the door to commercial air service,” he said.
Discussion of the existing airport prompted Commissioner Evans Harding to query airport senior manager Warren Hendrickson about it.
There is no planned expansion of the airport under the port’s current airport master plan, he said, but they have done a feasibility study about commercial air service, which shows it could serve well over 200,000 passengers a year by 2035.
The port has been here before, but not in a long time. Big Sky Airlines used to operate out of the airport until that service came to an end in 2004, according to Olympian archives.
The Port Commission voted 3-0 to update the letter to the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission. It will come before the commission in draft form to be discussed in public at a later date.
This story was originally published October 25, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
