SEATTLE — The Pierce County Council is doubling down on its effort to halt a potential airport site in the area. A resolution requests that any greenfield site in Pierce County be excluded from consideration for a new airport.
There are currently two greenfield sites being considered in the area. Though the sites aren’t considered urban, there are still businesses who said their livelihood will be impacted.
Jeremy Foust has named each goat on his five-acre farm. He raised them for milk and soap, chickens for eggs and meat.
“I bought the property in 2009 so 13 years, 14 years,” said Foust.
Foust has lived in Eatonville his whole life.
“This was home, so I decided to stick around,” Foust said.
When the Commercial Aviation Coordination Commission decided on three greenfield sites for a possible new airport, one was in Thurston County, the other two in Pierce.
“One of the maps we’re dead center in it,” said Foust.
This new airport is an effort to relieve Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from being at capacity as it’s projected to by 2050.
If the greenfield near Foust is chosen, he said, "the sacrifices I’ve made, the decision I made to be out here, I would be done.”
A proposed resolution in the Pierce County Council objects to the two sites, saying they don’t have the roads or infrastructure for an airport. It would require the commission go back to better assess air space, transportation, and environmental impact.
“There could very well be other regional airports that might be appropriate to grow that could take that kind of pressure,” said Ryan Mello, chair for the Pierce County Council.
Another option from the Commission is expanding Payne Field.
When it comes down to the final recommendation, Foust said it’s all about nature.
“You have to figure out if that’s important to us or not and to have nature, you need to sacrifice other things.”
The council plans to vote on the resolution on Tuesday. Commissioners are expected to announce their formal recommendation for one sight June of 2023.