Port of Olympia commissioner Bob Iyall spoke out against a new airport for Thurston County on Monday and he urged his fellow commissioners to take a position on it as well.
The commission — Iyall, Joe Downing and Amy Evans Harding — are now set to vote at their next commission meeting on whether they support the proposal.
Iyall made clear at the port work session on Monday that he does not.
"I feel like if we don't take a position as the commission we are right now we're not serving our constituents in a way they would expect," he said.
He then went on to recall his early days in elementary school and how a teacher once told him the I-5 corridor between Seattle and Portland would one day be a big city.
"A project like this is one of those elements," he said about the proposal.
In 2019, the state legislature tasked the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission with finding a site for a new airport to be built by 2040. Such an airport would help meet commercial and cargo demand as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reaches capacity, The Olympian previously reported.
Instead, the state commission issued a report to the legislature indicating it had selected two options that were already under consideration: building a two-runway airport on a greenfield, or undeveloped site in either Pierce or Thurston County, and adding capacity to Paine Field in Snohomish County, according to The Olympian's reporting.
The so-called "Thurston County Central" site, still under consideration, has been identified as a circular area that spans six-miles in diameter northeast of Tenino and southeast of Olympia. Two sites in Pierce County also remain on the table. "Pierce County East" is an area south of Graham that state Route 161 runs through. "Pierce County Central" is south of South Creek that includes where state Routes 702 and 7 meet, The Olympian reported.
Iyall also pointed out that the Board of Thurston County Commissioners has already voted unanimously to reject the proposal. The Nisqually Tribe has done the same, he said, and Thurston Regional Planning Council is set to take a position on it next month. He believes, too, that the county commission has encouraged community mayors to follow their recommendation, "which I'm told, they all have," he said.
"I am against having this site in Thurston County," Iyall added.
This isn't the first time the port commission has taken a position on the airport proposal.
In July 2020, the port commission, which was then Downing, Bill McGregor and E.J. Zita, responded to a letter from the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission, asking if the port would sponsor a potential greenfield site for an airport or would consider expanding Olympia Regional Airport. The commission voted 2-1 against doing that and only expressed interest in possibly partnering with another port district to meet future state aviation capacity needs.
Downing acknowledged that his vote was the minority vote that day.
Until you stop population growth, or stop the love of flying, an airport has to go somewhere and that means where people live and where there is space, he said.
Downing said he empathizes with those who might live where the airport needs to be built.
"If it comes to that, I hope they are adequately compensated," he said.
Both Downing and Evans Harding agreed with the idea of taking a position on the airport, although neither one of them shared their opinion at the work session.
"I'm more than happy to take a position at our next meeting," Evans Harding said.
