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An extension of Renton airport would put the runway and taxiway right into Renton High School, which is about to undergo a half-billion dollar rebuild.
In 2020 the City of Renton worked diligently with the FAA to avoid an airport reclassification which would have required Renton to extend our runway and taxiway 1000 feet into Renton High School and the nearby homes and businesses. The arguments Renton made to avoid the extension leaned heavily on the fact that almost all our air traffic was lightweight propeller aircraft with just one or two carefully-orchestrated new 737 takeoffs per day. We barely prevailed….if the jet operations had been any more numerous, we would have needed to extend the airport into the neighborhood.
Today, to the dismay of impacted residents, Renton School District is purchasing and/or condemning much of the same neighborhood property that we protected in 2020, in order to amass land for a new half-billion-dollar rebuild of Renton High School.
This use of eminent domain is already controversial. But even more confounding, Renton Airport management (overseen by the Public Works Administrator) is aggressively driving out small aircraft and replacing them with jets, which could soon put the airport in need of the same property the School District wants to build on.
After many years of thriving, The Landing Gear Works was pushed from Renton Airport last year. Renton also lost two large popular flight schools and two seaplane-related businesses.
In the past year our airport lost two locally-owned flight schools, a small airplane parts manufacturer, a seaplane design engineering office, and a seaplane operator. Our new tenant is Dark Horse Aviation, who self-identify on their website as “a vertically integrated real estate private equity firm focussed on business-aviation hangar acquisitions and development.” They feature a business jet in their banner.
Renton’s new large tenant, Dark Horse Aviation, appears focussed on business jets
Past Renton councils could have rented to business jet operators at any time– there was always a long line of jet owners looking for space who would have pumped millions of dollars into the airport. But we made our airport support our Renton City mission of making our city a place where people choose to live, work, learn and play. We support our mission with flight schools for Renton’s aspiring young pilots, seaplane charters, and airplane manufacturing– not with private jet hangars for affluent out-of-town residents.
With our limited 5300-foot field length, Renton must be very careful not to encourage medium to large jet traffic. In Dark Horse Aviation’s marketing materials for their Pro-flight hangers, they show a notional graphic of a Learjet 60 business jet (along with other jets) in their new space. Just one jet of this Learjet 60 category, operating five flights a week out of Renton, could trigger an FAA airport reclassification from B to C (similar to the B to D reclassification we almost had from the Boeing delivery ramp-up in 2019) requiring an extension of our runway of approximately 700-800 feet. Unless the state, tribes, and other stakeholders allows Renton to infill in a quarter-million square feet of Lake Washington, the new taxiway would occupy the same neighborhood property that Renton School District is currently acquiring to build a half-billion-dollar new high school.
Darkhorse Aviation leasing materials show a possible Learjet 60 in Unit F. One of these aircraft making one takeoff and landing each weekday could push Renton’s runway into a longer category.
Encouraging private jet use is also counter to Renton’s climate and carbon goals. A traveler who flies on a private jet generates about ten times as much carbon as if they flew commercially, or drove a car, or flew in a light prop plane.
And these private jets land and takeoff at about 120-140 miles per hour, leaving only a few seconds of safety margin on a 5300 foot runway, while four-seat propeller planes takeoff at about 40 mph.
The Santa Monica Airport vividly illustrates the conflicts that lie ahead for Renton. The airport is like a sister to Renton, once home to McDonnell Douglas manufacturing and light planes, and then increasingly utilized by business jets. Ten years ago (10/28/14) The New York Times ran a story about Santa Monica titled “the noise near this airport is getting louder,” The lengthy story can be summarized by this quote: “The issue is, this used to be a small airport that didn’t have jets, and people managed to get along,” said John Fairweather, the leader of one of several groups that want either a reduction in jet traffic or closure of the airport.” Renton’s current Public Works Director, who was coincidently then-employed by Santa Monica and overseeing Santa Monica Airport at that time, was also quoted in the story. “You’ve got a greater and greater density” in population, said Martin Pastucha, Santa Monica’s director of public works. “The use of the airport at its inception is a different environment than what it is currently, and you have to ask, ‘Are those two compatible anymore?’ ”
But unlike Renton airport which was previously owned by the Federal Government, Santa Monica started as a private airport, giving residents more control of Santa Monica airport. And infuriated residents began to push on their Council and Mayor to close the airport to get rid of the jet noise. They’ve now shortened their runway, and are considering closing the airport in the coming years. The airport is the primary issue each Santa Monica council member now runs on every year, even while the city faces similar challenges with housing costs, homelessness, drugs, and other issues similarly to Renton.
Our airport’s history and on-going commitments to FAA would not allow Renton to close our airport, even if we wanted to. The only way to keep the runway from colliding with Renton High School, and to avoid Santa Monica’s fate is for Renton Council to carefully deliberate over every lease it agrees to, to ensure that new aviation tenants are performing aviation services that engage our residents and support our city mission statement. While I was on council we created an Airport Sustainability plan using an FAA grant that provides a blueprint that could help the council accomplish this important chore.
Wealthy individuals are looking for private jet space. But Renton did not have to give up our flight schools and small parts manufacturer to make way for them. Council should push back on these decisions.
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