Renton’s long-time general aviation service provider, Pro-Flight, has been sold to a company with an express plan to transition it to servicing Jet Aircraft, to relieve Boeing Field. An enhanced fueling station (a gas station for jets) appears to be part of their plan.
I’m not referring to new Boeing jets, which are the latest technology, and take-off lightly-loaded over the lake once or twice per day. I’m talking about 30-year-old Learjets price-shopping for fuel, and landing at all hours of day and night.
Excerpt from Dark Horse business plan
Industry pressure to cater to jets in Renton has existed for decades, but we resisted this pressure during the 28 years I was on Renton City Council. Jets are typically 2-3 times louder than the propeller-driven counterparts, and Renton neighborhoods are already barely tolerating airport noise as it is.
In addition, private jets are not as available to residents. With smaller propellor planes, a Renton resident wishing to learn how to fly can go to Renton airport and take lessons. Similarly, a Renton photographer can charter a plane for a photo-shoot. Other Renton residents have joined flight clubs at our airport, or even keep their private airplane here.
Our airport is currently a Renton Community Airport (that also launches new Boeing aircraft once or twice per day). If we’re going to switch the airport’s focus to relieving Boeing Field Jet traffic, this was worthy of a discussion by our Renton Airport Advisory Committee. The greater Renton community also should have been notified. While few noticed as the city extended this lease, everyone will notice when jets begin refueling regularly in Renton in the future.
Our community had a heated episode with a proposed Jet Center seventeen years ago, when our Council was presented with a proposal, and residents living from Benson Hill to Mercer Island formed an organized opposition. The “NoJets.org” group used every bit of leverage they could to defeat the proposal. This was not easy because FAA does not give cities any real say in what airplanes use our airport. Our city can only partially manage the airport activity by the choice of tenants we lease to, and by the length of our runway.
I do not blame the new Leaseholder, Dark Horse Aviation LLC, as they have been completely up-front with their intentions. They sent a letter to Renton’s Public Works Administrator back in November spelling out exactly how they would use the property if a lease was extended. I just wish our RAAC and Renton community had been notified.
The letter of introduction. The words “Renton’s outstanding future to be the legitimate first-class corporate reliever for light and midsize jets in the region,” ideally would have prompted airport management to consult RAAC and the greater Renton community for advice.
Renton airport may become a gas station for jets. Noisier older model jets, that burn more fuel and have owners that are more price-sensitive, may be Renton’s likely customer base.
This excerpt from the business plan shows the new lease will extend Pro-Flight’s current daytime prop-plane operation to 24/7 jet landings and takeoffs. This will be of interest to residents living within a few thousand feet of the airport. The RAAC has representatives from every neighborhood specifically to advise on topics like this.
This noise comparison published by Purdue University includes a Jet Airplane flyover at 1000 feet at 103 dB, and a propeller flyover at 1000 feet at 88 dB. Because of the logarithmic scale, the Jet is 2-3 times louder. This is due primarily to the greater flow of air at higher speed in a jet engine.
Sofia Farret carefully prepares landing gear kits for shipping to customers. She also performs other critical aviation roles at Landing Gear Works. Ms. Farret has spoken to Renton City Council twice, including this past Monday night, asking for help in settling the lease issue.
Renton Airport management and The Landing Gear Works are engaged in a landlord-tenant dispute that’s made its way up to the Renton Council, dominating Monday’s audience comment period. Eight aerospace workers could lose their jobs, and they were asking for Council help. Council Members seemed to want to help, but have been reluctant to engage directly with Landing Gear Works.
Renton airport management is frustrated with Landing Gear Work’s claim that the company repaired their roof in lieu of rent payments. Airport management asserts the roof was Landing Gear Works’ responsibility under the lease.
Landing Gear Works company founder Tom Anderson asked Council for help in settling the lease disagreement at Monday’s council meeting. He said his offer included his providing “good faith funds.”
The president of Landing Gear Works, Tom Anderson, said the city only made the roof his responsibility a few years ago through unfair pressure, and he doesn’t understand how the city would expect him to install a new roof and make other long-term upgrades to a building when he can only get a one or two year lease. He says he’s been trying to settle these issues for months, including making payments if they won’t accept his repair receipts, but the airport office has been uncommunicative. He points out the Renton airport is on their third airport director in three years, and recently had no director for several months after the previous director attempted to manage our airport from his home in Utah.
My opinion is that Council Transportation Committee should meet face-to-face with Landing Gear Works and see if an agreement can be worked out before going down the expensive path of litigation. Under RCW 35A.11.020, Renton City Council has ultimate leasing responsibility for Renton Airport, and past councils have engaged in these discussions with tenants when necessary. I recommend Council not go down the eviction path until they’ve personally tried to work this out.
Recent councils have not experienced many landlord-tenant disputes at Renton airport, thanks primarily to the long, productive tenure of a former Renton airport manager who worked closely with all airport tenants, and ensured there were regular monthly meetings of an empowered Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC). The RAAC combined the perspectives of airport users and representatives from Renton’s neighborhoods to build a thriving, compatible airport community, and they addressed tenant issues like roof maintenance productively and early. In my early days on council, Prior to formation of the RAAC, up to 25 percent of my council time was spent handling airport landlord-tenant disputes. Recently, frequent changes in airport management and infrequent RAAC meetings are bringing back landlord-tenant tensions at the airport.
Sergio Nunez, a ten-year employee of Landing Gear Works, asks the Council to help save his company.
Background on Landing Gear Works:
For 11 years Mr. Anderson and his company “The Landing Gear Works” have designed and built specialized light plane landing gear at Renton Airport. Mr. Anderson pointed out at the Monday meeting that he has deep roots in Renton; his Dad ran a Machine shop in Renton dating back to 1947.
The Landing Gear Works’ most popular product is a titanium landing gear system for Cessna 180 and 185 aircraft. These specialized landing gear are lighter weight and less susceptible to corrosion than alternatives, and are sought after world-wide by Cessna owners seeking improved performance and durability. They are not available from anyone else.
On a typical day, the Landing Gear Works will have two or three customer aircraft on-site receiving new gear, and will ship out additional landing gear sets to repair stations around the globe.
The products are made entirely in Renton, with major components fabricated in their airport workshop and other components coming from machine shops throughout Renton.
The shiny Cessna 180 titanium landing gear strut in front, available only from Landing Gear Works, weighs half as much as the approved steel strut behind it, and it is less susceptible to corrosion. The titanium gear reduces an airplane’s weight by 23 pounds, extending it’s range, adding cargo capacity, and reducing its carbon footprint. These are made in Renton.
The Landing Gear Works must maintain key approvals from the FAA to sell these products. The FAA has issued Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) approving the design, and Parts Manufacturer Approvals (PMAs) authorizing the manufacturing. Both of these approvals have to be rigorously maintained by Landing Gear Works, by showing they maintain high quality manufacturing processes and that their engineering team is responsive to in-service incidents involving their products. They have an FAA “continuing airworthiness” responsibility to care for the design, manufacture, and use of these products, as long as they are in service on airplanes.
One continuing airworthiness obligation is maintaining an approved spare parts supply. Needed parts must be readily shipped to anyone with an airplane on ground. FAA enforces this requirement to keep the world’s aircraft flying safely, and eliminate any temptation to use unauthorized parts in repairs.
An eviction of an STC and PMA holder (such as Landing Gear Works) with a mere thirty days notice is incompatible with meeting these Federal regulations and expectations. Ninety days for a move should ordinarily be considered a bare minimum, and more time would be better.
The Landing Gear Works maintains FAA-approved spares, manufactured in Renton, that can be quickly exported around the world to meet their continuing airworthiness requirements.
The Historic Building:
Landing Gear Works’ engineering and manufacturing takes place in a historic building at Renton airport. The “Old Tower Building” was built in 1943, and provided air traffic control when Renton was building up to one hundred and sixty B-29 superfortresses per month during WWII. Later, the building served as the Engineering Liaison office for Boeing’s flight line.
The Landing Gear Works occupies the old Renton Control Tower building, built in 1943.The view from Renton’s historic old control tower, looking over the Boeing flight line today. The black and white photo shows the view when Renton was producing 160 B-29 Superfortresses each month during WWII.The Landing Gear Works building still contains reminders of it’s long service for the Boeing Company. While at Boeing I personally spent long days and some overnights in this building as I worked with flightline “Liaison” engineers making adjustments to airplanes prior to first flight.
When Boeing gave up their lease on the building and turned it back to Renton, we searched for an appropriate aviation use that could occupy the building. The building does not have any hangar space and is designated in the FAA approved airport layout plan as “Aircraft Manufacturing.”
I remember when our long-serving airport manager enthusiastically announced he found the right company, with Renton roots and a high-end product. Landing Gear Works was to occupy most of the building, with the exception of the historic tower and some of the offices below the tower. At that time the city maintained the exterior of the building, including cutting the grass, picking up debris, and keeping the roof repaired. The airport manager also helped Landing Gear Works sublease three hangar spaces to install their equipment on aircraft.
Renton’s 2017 FAA-approved Airport Layout Plan available here, showed Building 36 (the old tower building) approved for for Aircraft Manufacturing (in green), which Landing Gear Works uses it for. Non-manufacturing use, general aviation, or non-aviation use would not be per plan.
The Landing Gear Works operated in smooth partnership with Renton for many years. The recent dispute took root when a later airport manager condemned the hangars used by Landing Gear Works and scheduled them for demolition, and insisted that Landing Gear Works must agree to rent the entire old tower building under a one-to-two year lease if they desired replacement hangar space.
Mr. Anderson says the city then stopped doing any repairs or upgrades to the building, asserting it had become solely a tenant responsibility. The roof began to leak in several locations, and a rusted AC unit broke from a wall in a storm and let water damage an office. The roof appears to be one or two decades past its design life, and is now subsisting only from frequent patching.
Normally, if the city expects a tenant to pay for long-term upgrades to a building, such as a new roof or HVAC system, the city will extend a lease for a long enough period that the cost of the upgrades can be amortized over many years. As a Council Member, I often helped negotiate these time frames, to ensure our tenants could amortize their improvements. That was apparently not done in this case. Landing Gear Works began to use a large percentage of their profits making short-term repairs to their building, not able to fund major upgrades without a long-term lease.
One of many manufacturing rooms. The large building comprises a compact factory, filled with carefully calibrated mills, presses, lathes and other machine tools that are used in manufacturing landing gear. Thirty days notice to move the FAA-approved operation is not respectful of the rigorous care and planning required for such a move.
The future for the historic Old Tower Building:
The Airport Layout Plan was updated in 2022. While the latest version is not yet on the City Website, I have included it below. The new layout plan shows that the historic old tower building along with several other buildings may eventually be demolished, and replaced with new hangars and offices. Ideally, new airport buildings would front the perimeter fence, so customers could visit a building without going onto the air side of the security fence. The layout plan shows such a configuration.
In the 2022 Airport Layout Plan, purple cross-hatched buildings including old tower building are designated for possible future removal, to be replaced by new hangar/workshop/office buildings shown in red along perimeter fence. Light blue area would get a revised taxiway.
Implementing this plan will require extensive coordination with leaseholders and other stakeholders to protect everyone’s interests. It will require a request for proposals, public review of options, planning, permitting, and FAA approval. Hopefully this plan will also include coordination with the Renton Historical Society and building architects, who should consider saving the historic tower cab and incorporating it into one of the new replacement hangars.
Finding an aviation tenant for a leaking office building that is planned for demolition will be difficult, and it’s possible the city could go months or years without income from this building. We can look a half mile east to the former Boeing Buildings on Park Avenue to see how poorly buildings can fare after a period without tenants. Unfortunately a recent airport break-in shows that the even the airport perimeter fence is not enough to stop intrusions on the airport.
I think Council and Landing Gear Works should sit down together and attempt to sort this out. If a settlement can be reached for Landing Gear Works to catch up on rent, with a possible allowance for continuing to nurse-along the aging roof, it would make sense to keep them in the building until demolition is near. If demolition will not happen for ten or more years, then a long-term lease that allows Landing Gear Works to install and amortize a new roof would make sense.
New titanium gear installed. (This photo is from The Landing Gear Works website)
In my blog entry of November 30, I provided documents describing King County’s anticipated purchase of the former Renton Red Lion Hotel. The documents show the County was choosing to purchase the damaged hotel instead of repairing it to save cost. Their future plans for the building and the site were not revealed.
That purchase was recently completed, and the questions have not been answered regarding their intended use for the property.
If you vote in Renton, your King County Voter “Pamphlet” arrived with your ballot. It’s a single folded sheet of paper since there is only one item on the ballot.
Many of us wait until we’ve received our King County voter pamphlet, typically a stand-alone booklet, before sitting down with our ballot and voting.
But in this election, there is no reason to wait. Open your ballot now, and you will find your voter pamphlet. Since there is just a single item on the ballot, the “pamphlet” is a large page folded up inside the same envelope as your ballot.
The voter pamphlet in the ballot does not have the full text of the initiative, so I encourage voters to go to the online voter pamphlet which does have the full text. That can be accessed here.
Mayor Pavone has joined with Renton’s two retired Mayors, Denis Law and Kathy Keolker, in asking voters to reject Initiative 23-02.
They agree that higher wages could benefit our community, but feel that this is not the right legislation to achieve it. They have co-authored and published the following letter with their specific reasoning and concerns.
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Renton voters have a decision to make on Feb. 13 on an initiative that is more heavy-handed than meets the eye. The catchy slogan fails to inform you that the initiative goes well beyond wages and creates new labor regulations the city will be required to enforce for every employer operating in the city.
As your current and former mayors, we urge you to read beyond the slogan before you cast your vote.
Why is this so important that the three of us are writing to you now?
The initiative requires a simple majority of those casting a vote to pass and, if passed, could only be altered in the future by another vote of the people. In other words, to make any change or improve the regulations it imposes, it will be expensive and slow, eroding the resilience of our community.
We can agree that wages being increased will help our community. We value thoughtful decision-making over locking ourselves into the flawed initiative process.
From the vantage point of the mayor’s office, we’ve seen our community survive through some of the most challenging economic times of our generation. The Great Recession and the COVID pandemic demonstrated the value of being nimble, responsive, and able to pivot quickly to sustain through crises. We were able to act, through city council action, to adapt regulations to economic conditions in support of our businesses and residents. We will have less flexibility in our toolbox if this initiative passes.
So what would be made law on top of a nearly $4/hour jump overnight that businesses will have to absorb?
The initiative would impose new labor regulations mandating that employers prioritize part-time employees by offering them additional hours before considering new hires or subcontracting work. This would be required to be documented by the employer and certified by the city and failure to comply involves penalties and fines. In addition to these stringent hiring regulations, the initiative establishes protections against employer retaliation and opens the avenue for civil litigation in case of violations.
Will this solve the affordability crisis? No. Will this protect our workforce? No. Will this new regulatory function cost taxpayer dollars? Yes. In short: We believe that instead of yielding positive outcomes, this measure will inadvertently cause more harm than good.
Increased costs to the consumer and closely regulated operating requirements enforced by city government is not the recipe for a successful business.
The notion that mandates impacting local small businesses and nonprofits should be decided at the ballot initiative is extreme and warrants rejection. Renton is not Seattle or SeaTac and if you look closely, their situations haven’t improved since adopting their wage laws, which were far different than what you are being asked to consider.
A better approach is possible by working together, as a community. Addressing wages as a singular issue, through the City Council, is possible. Continuing to work toward affordable housing options and workforce development and education is possible. Supporting our businesses to remain viable, employing more of our residents, and continued investment in Renton is possible.
Don’t sit on the sidelines. Vote no on Initiative 23-02.
Renton Mayors Armondo Pavone, Denis Law, and Kathy Keolker
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Note: The complete text of this Initiative can be found on the King County Elections website at this link.
Renton’s former Red Lion Hotel remains boarded-up after being used as an emergency shelter during the pandemic
Former Mayor Denis Law received news that King County is preparing to buy the Red Lion Hotel, and he has written to two of our County Councilmembers to ask them to help improve inter-agency collaboration. King County’s plans appear to be intended to relieve the County of further ongoing costs, while failing to return a hotel in serviceable condition. Per King County documents: This property is being purchased to relieve the County of liabilities associated with the License Agreement. The property previously operated as a hotel at this location, is currently vacant, and there are no known plans for the property to be used at this time.
The news that the hotel will likely be purchased by King County with no specific plan to make the property productive motivated former-Mayor Law to speak out for Renton on this topic. Here’s his full letter to Council Members Upthegrove and Dunn.
As you are well aware, the homelessness crisis in this state continues to be one of the most frustrating issues with the public. Despite spending literally billions of dollars in tax dollars, the numbers continue to grow. There obviously are no easy solutions but one thing is certain: merely dedicating billions of taxpayer dollars has not made any progress to date.
I strongly feel that a poorly executed plan to decentralize Seattle’s homeless to suburban cities during the beginning of the COVID crisis, including taking over a hotel in Renton, proved to be a total failure that continues to cost taxpayers millions of dollars. This is only one of many such projects and we’re talking about millions of dollars for the Renton location alone.
As you know, the County, operating under a, “declaration of emergency,” took over the Renton Red Lion Hotel in April, 2020, to house up to 200 chronic homeless individuals with a goal to help stop the spread of COVID. This was done with no input from city leaders, which was legal due to the emergency declaration, but totally inappropriate and lacked in any sense of collaboration. To be fair, the COVID crisis was an emergency since everything was shutting down as the pandemic and fear spread like wildfire across the country. However, there was no effective plan of managing and serving this population that was relocated to the hotel and the consequence was considerable. Renton police and fire were overwhelmed with emergency calls for service at the hotel, from arson fires to assaults and other crimes. Local businesses were severIy impacted and in the end, upwards of $18 million dollars in damage was done to the hotel. The county’s contract agreement with hotel owners obligates you to return the hotel to its original condition, which has created another very costly challenge.
The homeless tenants were moved out of the facility within 16 to 18 months, around September of 2021. Fast forward to today, 26 months later, and the hotel remains boarded-up and surrounded by cyclone fencing. This is a major gateway to the city and has remained an eyesore for all this time. To make it worse, the County has continued to pay the owners of the hotel $330,700 per month in lease payments, more than $8.5 million since the buildings were vacated.
I must admit that the numbers I have may not be totally accurate, but they have not been disputed during conversations I have had with a couple county council members. The reason for my angst now, in addition to the hotel remaining an eyesore at the entrance to Renton, is a proposal before the county council to purchase the building. It’s my understanding that this is due to the huge amount of money required to repair the building, and there is no reasonable way the county can justify paying these repair costs and come away with nothing. The purchase price is $36,200,000 and to my knowledge, there has been no public discussion regarding this expenditure. This price is essentially for only the land since it’s likely the buildings would need to be demolished for new development. Here is some of the justification made to the county council for authorizing this purchase:
King County’s “Rationale for transaction:” Under the License Agreement the County is responsible for damages caused by the County’s use. While being used as a quarantine site during the COVID-19 pandemic, guest rooms, and common areas were extensively damaged. Damage ranges from broken furnishings such as mirrors and lighting, to soiled carpeting, to water damage due to demising walls and ceilings from over run toilets and bathtubs. There is also damage from an intentionally set fire in November of 2020. The estimated cost to restore the property to the condition contemplated by the License is $17,920,000. In addition, the County is paying $330,700 per month under the terms of the License. Acquisition of the property will relieve the County of the liabilities of the License.
In the end, taxpayers will pay upwards of $70 million dollars or more for this one initiative to address homelessness in King County. There’s no accounting on how many other similar scenarios exist, and not a surprise that billions of additional tax dollars continue to be budgeted by the state, King County and Seattle to address homelessness. There have been a number of initiatives created by these entities that have been disbanded due to a lack of funding or adequate outcomes. Again, there is no question that this is a very complex crisis, but there seems to be a need for better collaboration between government agencies as well as more public transparency on total costs and results.
I appreciate that you both have taken steps in the past to address the negative impact this effort has had on the Renton community and local businesses. It seems apparent at this point the county has few options remaining other than spending millions more to resolve the Red Lion issue. Finally, I feel it’s totally inaccurate and unfair for housing advocates to label cities as uncaring or unwilling to help vulnerable populations when they challenge the process of addressing homelessness.
I strongly encourage you to work with Renton’s elected officials on future plans for the Red Lion site.
Train headways that were once as brief as 6 minutes pre-pandemic (and were targeted to be 8 minutes) are now heading to ten minutes or more due to vehicle shortages and other financial challenges. Photo credit: Sound Transit
Urban Planner Stephen Fessler published an insightful op-ed in the Urbanist this week, with his suggestions for Sound Transit to get in front of their looming Link Light Rail capacity issues. I hope Sound Transit gives the ideas the consideration they deserve. In previous posts I’ve mentioned that Link Light Rail is running into vehicle shortages, and Mr. Fessler’s suggestions could potentially help mitigate these.
When Sound Transit’s Bus Rapid Transit Stride service gets implemented in Renton in 2028 (originally planned for 2024 ), it will drop passengers at Tukwila and Bellevue Link light rail stations. Link must have capacity and frequent service for the system to offer value to Renton commuters.
An excerpt from Mr. Fessler’s op-ed: “Ultimately, Sound Transit and its board need to understand that Link isn’t a bus, and the agency shouldn’t be in the business of treating it as such. Voters and partner agencies have approved billions of dollars to construct Link exactly because it’s a train, not a bus. But 10-minute frequencies and short trains tell the tale that Link is being run like a glorified bus. A rail line needs high frequencies and sufficient capacity to serve as the backbone of the regional transit network.”
We will likely see a proposed Sound Transit 4 in the next two to three years, as Sound Transit has been forced to make compromises on planned service and schedule due to rising costs and pandemic impacts. Polls show that voters in Seattle and surrounding areas remain highly in favor of mass transit (84 percent in Seattle), so any proposed Sound Transit 4 package is likely to pass, whether or not Renton is included in it or in favor of it.
A Sound Transit 4 package is likely to speed-up already approved projects, and Renton should insist on not waiting until 2040 for a light rail station. Given Renton’s already large 107,000 population, with thousands of new housing units currently in planning or construction, and zoning for tens of thousands more, a Renton light rail station should be targeted for 2030 or earlier.
Renton officials must assure that the voter-approved Renton planning study is completed, and that a Renton light rail connection is included in any future Sound Transit package.
The station location(s) should be identified,
The preliminary right-of-ways should be determined
The construction and operations costs should be estimated.
Ridership projections should be completed
Renton’s past and future contributions to Sound Transit should be professionally calculated, so a strong regional equity case can be made to include the rail line in any future packages
Renton’s elected officials should then work together to assure the package is included in any future Sound Transit 4 initiative
As I’ve covered in other blog entries, Renton taxpayers have already contributed an estimated one to two billion dollars to Sound Transit, and we’re obligated to spending billions more. Many Renton officials have worked hard to get this planning study authorized and underway. Getting our deserved light rail line will require that the council work together as a team, and keep the Renton light rail planning study at at the forefront so that we don’t run out of time.
We must work collaboratively on getting light rail to Renton, or Renton taxpayers will be paying billions for decades for most other cities in our area to have high speed rail transit while Renton gets left out.
Getting the approved planning study completed and Renton light rail line added to a future Sound Transit proposal will require strong collaboration by Renton’s elected officials. The plan I’ve outlined here was co-created with the many elected officials supporting me.
