To the Editor:
Harvey Field has put forward yet another plan to expand to the south without giving a credible reason why this would be a public good. Harvey Field is thriving now as it has for 80 years. The FAA says no increase in air traffic is projected for the next 20 years. Nearby Paine and Arlington easily accommodate larger planes requiring a longer runway. The FAA is NOT threatening to shut Harvey Field down as a privately-owned airfield. It can continue to thrive in its current configuration.
As recently as 2021, Harvey Field received $1 million in grants to reconstruct the current runway saying it would serve the next 40 years. Now they are wanting to replace that new runway and build a longer runway reaching into Hanson’s Slough, a critical floodwater conveyance. This would entail putting 9.3 acres of fill into the Slough, putting at risk the current flood control structures.
Further, re-routing of Airport Way to accommodate the runway is certain to add to traffic (trucks of fill) at an already highly congested intersection (Highway 9, Airport Way and Springhetti Road).
The study of the potential impact on fish has not been completed, yet the deadline to comment is Friday, May 24.
Why did the project’s environmental study NOT consult Snohomish County floodplain hydraulic engineers, the Marshland Flood Control district, FEMA, or the Army Corp of Engineers all of which have been called into action and used taxpayer dollars for repairs when levees were breached by flooding?
Candace McKenna
Snohomish
