The Port of Seattle, has "removed from consideration" the construction of a 1500 space parking lot that would have been built in North SeaTac Park. Westside Seattle was the first to tell you that the proposed parking lot would have displaced well established BMX bike riding trails and disturbed wildlife in the park. SeaTac Deputy Mayor Peter Kwon and park naturalist Noemie Maxwell were both extremely vocal in their opposition to the plan. Now, the Port has chosen to seek other alternatives to the parking needs for the planned North Satellite for the airport. Deputy Mayor Kwon said, "I would like to thank the Port Commissioners for listening to the concerns of our community and working together to preserve and protect our open green spaces for public access and recreation.  I'm confident there will be many more positive improvements to come and look forward to continued collaboration with our airport communities."

In a press release the Port said:

"Early this year, Port staff submitted the draft federal environmental assessment (EA) for the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) to the FAA for its review. The EA’s screening of alternatives included the proposed surface parking lot in North SeaTac Park (L06) and considered alternate ways to meet future employee parking needs.  In that draft document set, Port environmental staff made the recommendation that L06 be removed from further consideration and that different alternatives be explored.  

The FAA concurred with our analysis and issued a notification today that L06 is removed from further consideration.  

Port staff made this recommendation based on:      

• environmental concerns identified in public comments submitted during the scoping process in 2018-2019; 
• staff’s determination that L06 was not the best path forward from an environmental perspective; and, 
• the availability of an environmentally preferable alternative identified when preparing the draft federal EA.     

L06 is one of 30 projects being studied during the environmental review for the SAMP. The remainder of the draft EA is still subject to FAA review and public comment. 

Projects determined to be suitable to meet SAMP needs by the FAA will still be subject to state environmental review, FAA concurrence, public comment and Port of Seattle Commission authorization. Final approval of specific projects will not be made until all of the environmental review is complete.   

We continue to work with FAA to complete the draft federal environmental assessment. Once released, we encourage the community to provide comments on the federal environmental review of all the proposed SAMP projects. The state environmental review will begin shortly after the completion of the federal assessment."