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The Mayor issued a statement about the Renton Airport on Friday. The complete statement can be found here.
The Mayor issued a statement on Friday about the Renton Airport which focussed on specific subjects I had been covering in my blog. I’m not sure who prepared the statement for him, or if he did it himself, but it has numerous errors in it. If it was prepared by individuals making decisions at our airport, it unfortunately validates concerns I’ve heard voiced about a shortage of experience and engagement in Renton’s airport leadership.
I have reviewed the Mayor’s statement paragraph-by-paragraph, and inserted my comments in bold or in blue or purple underline. My blue or purple underlined comments link to more detailed blog entries, which in turn link to the source data (like leases, emails, documents, etc).
The Mayor’s words are in italics.
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April 12, 2024
Good afternoon, Renton –
I’d like to take a moment to address a few points of interest I’ve heard garnering a lot of attention around the Renton Municipal Airport. There’s a lot of speculation out there, and some misinformation – and the fastest way to address that is to focus on the facts.
A primary source of misinformation is this Mayoral statement. If someone wrote it for the Mayor, they need some retraining. I’ll respond with accurate blog posts that include proof.
1. Is there a brand-new business coming into the Renton Municipal Airport?
One of our longterm existing airport tenants (Pro Flight Aviation) has sold their existing business to a new operator (Dark Horse Aviation). Under the terms of the 35 year lease, the existing tenant has the express right to do this. The only role the city can play is in evaluating the new operator’s financial capacity, experience in running an FBO, or fixed-based operator business, and compliance with Airport Leasing Policy.
This is not a new business, but a potential shift in focus of the business. The purpose of a Fixed Base Operator (FBO) is to provide fueling services to aircraft as well as ramp services for visiting aircraft. Proflight’s lease also specifies many other services that are propeller-airplane focussed, like a flight school, airplane rentals, aerial photography, and aircraft repairs and modifications.
Pro-Flight Aviation has operated this business from 2009 forward. The new firm is looking to try to service jets shut out of Boeing Field; however, this was going to occur naturally as Boeing Field is taking on greater importance as a cargo hub and site of large business aircraft. Renton opposed this for the 28 years I was on City Council, and it is not consistent with our FAA Approved Airport Sustainability Management Plan. Pro-Flight Aviation has traditionally serviced jet aircraft and sells Jet A fuel as well as Av Gas for propeller planes.
2. Will Renton Municipal Airport be opened up to 24/7 jet traffic? No, any business operations will be subject to the air traffic control tower operation hours – from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM in winter; and 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM during summer. This is obviously not true. As Renton’s own website clearly says, the airport is open to traffic 24/7, and gets significant traffic at night. This statement is a demonstration of a stunning lack of understanding of our airport by whoever wrote this statement.
The existing ramp operated by Dark Horse Aviation can only accommodate 6-8 medium/small jets. The Renton Airport operates within certain limitations due to Airport Rules and Regulations and Airport Minimum Standards. These rules and regulations are produced by the aviation and community representatives on RAAC, a body which the Mayor wrongly diminishes below.
FBOs are required to maintain public buildings, like customer lobbies, offices, pilot lounges, restrooms, and adequate parking. They also have to provide a ramp area for aircraft parking for at least five aircraft. An FBO is also mandated to have regular operation hours schedule, open for a minimum of eight hours per day and seven days per week. After-hours fueling services must also be available either through on-call employees or shared schedules, but the operational and regulatory demands contribute to the limitations on the airport’s 24/7 operations.
3. Shouldn’t this have been reviewed by the Renton Airport Advisory Committee? In short, no. The only role the city has in this scope is to review the new operator’s feasibility and have city council approve this. There are specific provisions noting that consent should not be “unreasonably withheld, conditioned or denied” by the council. If we took any other action beyond what is described in the lease, the city could have been open to an FAA Part 16 Complaint, or a potential lawsuit for damages as a result of losing the sale of the business. As stated above, there are many ways to influence the lease, and they are encouraged by the FAA-sponsored Renton Airport Sustainability Plan.
RAAC has a limited scope as an advisory committee, and can make suggestions, but are not in charge of setting policy or changing lease agreements. City staff introduced a new Airport Director and updated the RAAC on airport construction at their February 2024 meeting, and advisory committee members will be introduced to the new operator at an upcoming meeting. RAAC is far more than a “limited scope as an advisory committee.” RAAC has much more influence and authority over aircraft in flight than does the Mayor, Council, or Airport Manager. Since RAAC includes pilots, aviation professionals, FAA, and neighborhood representatives, they have the leverage to manage aviation-related procedures better than our local elected officials.
4. Are City staff operating outside of their roles? No – in fact, our city staff works tirelessly to keep the city in compliance with all guidelines, including the potential of future legal action. Renton has an abundance of excellent staff, but any staff members who helped the Mayor write this statement clearly do not know enough about aviation or our airport. I presume this was our Airport Director and Public Works Administrator. Their decision-making have people in the aviation community concerned, and this statement will further validate their fears. It’s disorienting and worrisome to our Residents when a Mayoral statement can include so many obvious falsehoods like our airport closes at at 8:00 PM in Winter and 9:00 PM in summer.
5. Is there a business leaving the Renton Municipal Airport?
The City of Renton is moving through the legal process of eviction of a tenant for a long-standing non-payment of rent. The occupied buildings in question were originally scheduled for demolition in 2015. The buildings occupied by the Landing Gear Works, the old tower building and hangars, have never been scheduled for demolition.
The occupation of these buildings were at a deeply discounted rate, with an understanding that any repairs needed would be at the expense of the tenant. This statement is false. Landing Gear Works hangers are priced like all other Renton airport hangars. The old tower building was leased for the highest rate the Airport could get after it had been vacant for months.Airport management had responsibility for maintenance of common areas and the tower of the office building through most years of the tenancy.
The natural end of the lease was slated for July 2024, we have moved forward with a lease termination date of March 31, 2024 in light of nonpayment. This more accurately would say “in light of an ongoing rent dispute that began when we improperly billed the tenant, then ignored his concerns while we played musical chairs with our airport managers, and finally denied him and his employees their First Amendment rights to communicate with their elected officials.”
It is the responsibility of the city to maintain safe, functional and market-rate buildings for future tenants. It IS the city’s responsibility, and the city has unreasonably tried to get out of it by arguing that the building is going to be replaced in the future. It’s also the city’s responsibility to ensure that private buildings are safe, and they are failing in many places.
One of the core pillars of our city administration is to communicate regularly and clearly with plain facts and direct language. The Council, not the Administration, is responsible for leases under state law. The council members have never publicly discussed this lease issue with each other, or communicated in any way with the tenants. An attempt to reach out was made by one council member, and was apparently shut down by the city attorney. This complete lack of council involvement and communication is shockingly different than council behavior and actions in the past. There were many steps where a collaborative discussion between the tenant and the airport manager or council members would have quickly and peacefully resolved this dispute.
At all times, the City of Renton strives to operate openly, transparently, and in the best interests of our residents. After a memorable far-reaching uprising about jets in 2007, Renton just leased to a jet center without informing the RAAC or the community. The community knows about it because of my blog, not the City of Renton’s communication system. Unlike the Mayor’s statement which is one false statement after another, I put links to prove my statements are true.
I welcome any questions and conversations about this topic, please reach out at mayor@rentonwa.gov. Your Mayor, Armondo Pavone
I welcome your comments on this blog, below. You can also email me at racorman@comcast.net, or phone me at 425-271-6913.
Randy, thank you for this far reaching, extensive and accurate write up on all the inaccuracies in the mayor’s statement on the Renton Airport. You’ve provided documentation for every item unlike the mayor. It’s very concerning that so many decisions have been made by the Administration that directly conflict with Airport policies & procedures that have been Council-approved over the last 20+ years.
Renton may not have much media coverage, but you are doing an amazing job of presenting important information the Community is not getting from anywhere else.
Marcie Palmer
Renton City Council Member
2004-2015
Thanks for shining a light on this. There’s no chance we would have known if it wasn’t for you.
Thank you Anonymous. The work I’ve done here is similar to work that I did on Council Transportation Committee when I was on council, but now it’s in writing instead of a face-to-face discussion. When I was on Council we would have looked into the circumstances that created this lease conflict, and found a path to get everyone back on the same page without all the highly-public airing of details. I’m confident we could have received the rent owed to us, and fixed the roof with some fair agreement, while keeping the important Renton business thriving and bringing revenue to the city. Since I’m no longer in that role, and Council has stopped discussing the leasing issues they are ultimately responsible for, the conversation Council should have had is instead happening in cyberspace.
The fact that the airport has takeoffs and landings 24/7 and the city bulls#itted on this makes me doubt just about everything else the city is saying.
I mean, if they can’t get that right, what else is going on?
Thanks for the comment Greg. This was my immediate reaction too. Since the leaders thought that the airport being closed would protect Renton from the noise, and they obviously didn’t get that right, they’re essentially admitting that we’re in for decades of noisy nights ahead.
The number of jets will be doubled if they replace the Landing Gear Works and other prop-plane activities on the east side with a second jet center.
Dang!!! What the heck is going on down there?!!
One comment I’ve heard frequently, but have been dancing around in order to be delicate, is that the Airport Leadership has adopted a culture of bullying. Bullying is a terrible tactic for any landlord, and it’s even worse when attempted around aviation professionals. Pilots, safety inspectors, A&P Mechanics, aerospace engineers, and anyone else with an aviation license or ticket have all learned how to hold their own against bullies. They don’t like bullies, and will tend to identify them quickly and flush them out. That is happening now at our airport.
The more posturing the airport management does, the worse the problems become.
It definitely does not have to be like this. For a fifteen year run Renton enjoyed an Airport Manager that was a collaborator, and the airport THRIVED under his leadership. When challenges arose he sat down with tenants and city council, and we all felt he was on our side. We got great tenants, got revenues way up, and made Renton an airport that everybody wanted to work at. This gave us our choice of tenants, and we didn’t have to go after Private Jets from Boeing Field– there were plenty of manufacturers and propeller-plane businesses eager to pay top dollar for locations at Renton airport.
The RAAC was another tool for preventing disputes before they happened, but current airport management doesn’t even seem to like the RAAC. They’re letting memberships expire, leaving vacancies, and having very few meetings. I think they see the RAAC as a threat to their dominance.
If they would begin to collaborate more and bully less, they would realize that the RAAC (as pilots, aviation professionals, FAA, and neighborhood representatives) has far important influence over what happens in flight that the Airport Manager will ever have. Our highly-successful airport manager who left ten years ago understood this about the RAAC, and never was threatened by it the way a bully would be. In fact he embraced it, and he utilized the RAAC to Renton’s full advantage.
The council should insist that all bullying end, and collaboration begin. A bullying hotline should be implemented.
As I’ve stated, I didn’t want to have to be so blunt, but Renton residents deserve the truth about what has been going on.
We had one airport manager recently that was tickled pink that the FAA was going to force Renton to extend the airport into Renton Highschool. Thought it would be good for his career I presume.
Turns out he never send the FAA a request for a variance, given the ‘jet’ traffic was basically Boeing takeoffs.
If we actually *do* get a jet center, we very well may be forced by the FAA to extend the runway into the city core because the jet traffic would now include landings.
Absolutely not. That airport reclassification was triggered by the number of 737 operations. The number, not type, of operations. It was a robotic tic of a box by the FAA due to size of aircraft without consideration of type of operation. Should there possibly be an increase in smaller jet operations, that will not tic the same box as 737 sized aircraft.
Anonymous 1 is right that there was a threat that the runway might have to be extended all the way to Renton High, and Anonymous 2’s clarification is accurate that it was the number of 737 operations that was tripping this requirement. It only took two or three 737 operations (takeoffs or landings) per day to require the longer runway, so if someone with a 737 Boeing Business Jet moved onto Renton field, their activity combined with Boeing would likely require a longer runway. I would have said this was impossible before, that the RAAC and Council would not allow it. But with the hands-off attitude being displayed now, I’m not as sure.