Cathy in our garden during last year’s tomato season

Raising our food in our own backyard, balcony or in a nearby community garden has many benefits.  Urban farming increases our food security, gives us healthy organic options, makes efficient use of our land, is educational, saves money, creates beautiful urban landscapes, and saves fossil fuel in food production and transportation.  Small farm animals, like chickens, ducks, and bees, can be symbiotic with our gardens to maximize the amount of food coming from our backyards.

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Author’s note 4/8/2024: The Master Plan Update and Runway length extension described in this blog entry were not implemented (as of this update.)  In the months after I wrote this entry, our aviation community and Renton leadership hired and aviation attorney and pushed back on the runway extension proposal.  Then the pandemic began and reduced air traffic world-wide, including in Renton. The lower traffic no longer merited a debate about runway length extension.  There was a seperate update to the Airport Layout Plan (a companion document that does not alter the runway) completed in 2022.

In this blog entry I describe critical issues at Renton Airport that must be resolved carefully to avoid negatively impacting the future of the airport and our city.  6.2 billion dollars a year in revenue, historic homes and neighborhoods, and thousands of jobs could all be impacted in various ways if the current Master Plan process is not sensitive to the needs of our unique airport and our community.   I suggest we carefully re-review the underlying assumptions made by the airport consultants that are causing so much impact, in collaboration with FAA, airport businesses, neighborhoods, and other stakeholders.

In particular, we should focus on the assumption that 737s are the “critical aircraft” for purposes of sizing the airport safety zones, since 737s takeoff from Renton but rarely land here.  (Landings are more hazardous than takeoffs and need greater safety margins.)  Furthermore, when 737s do takeoff from Renton they are brand new, recently tested, and lightly loaded.  We delivered even larger 757s safely and routinely from this airport for two decades, and never had any issues.  Smaller aircraft that are engaged in normal operation at Renton would be more appropriate to size the airport runway and safety zones.  The FAA Advisory Circulars allow for some leeway, and we should utilize it to protect our community and businesses.

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Aviation is the largest sector of Renton’s economy, directly providing over a third of all Renton jobs and indirectly creating many of our other jobs. Along with living-wage paychecks, our aviation businesses pay taxes which keep our city and schools succeeding.

Our 100-year-old downtown and surrounding neighborhoods are equally critical to Renton.  Our downtown represents our identity and our history, and our city has to have livable neighborhoods.

In the early 1990s, open conflicts between airport users and nearby neighborhoods were commonplace.  In my early years as council member, I witnessed hostilities over engine tests, flight schools, helicopters, seaplane noise, jet centers, and  flight patterns.  In 2001 a controversial jet center proposal packed our council chambers with frustrated residents, and we took steps to create sustainable peace.  We created the Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC), appointed with representatives from the airport and neighborhoods, to serve as a sounding board for the airport. The RAAC members worked hard to build bridges, getting neighborhood reps into airplanes and airport reps into backyards, to understand each other’s perspectives.  They also implemented voluntary steps to reduce noise.  While there are still occasional neighborhood complaints about the airport (mostly single-engine planes over neighborhoods), the RAAC deserves enormous credit for establishing peace and understanding among residents and airport stakeholders.

Comments on my previous blog post:

Hi Randy, I’m glad to see you’re updating the blog again! Can you provide an update on the Cedar River Apartment Project and VIA 405 Apartment project and when we can expect those projects to start? I’ve found that I’m enjoying downtown more and more with Melrose, Boon Boona Coffee and other great shops. I also noticed permit application for renovating the old JC Penney’s building into lofts and retail. That will be great! (also)…an update on the 200 Mill Ave S Redevelopment and what’s going on with that?

Thank you for the question Philip!

We are about to experience a housing boom in both our historic downtown and in the Renton Village area near the Red Lion Hotel as a result of job growth in Renton, strong population growth in our region, sky-high real estate prices in Seattle and Bellevue, and improved transit in Renton.

Historic Downtown Projects:

Cosmos Development is working to build a new mixed use apartment/retail project, shown above, at 200 Mill Avenue.  The project will tear down the 1960’s era former city hall building and put a river-front public park in it’s place.

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