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190 191 Another advantage is SeaTac’s relative economic strength, and its streamlined permitting processes. “We’ve been able to manage the city in a fiscally responsible manner over the last fewyears,”Scor- cio says.“We have no debt as a city.We have strong strategic reserves in all our funds and accounts.The city is run verymuch, and effectively, like a business. And we’ve spent the last five years significantly streamlining our development regulations and pro- cesses. If you’re a suburban city that’s growing, and you’re doing new housing developments and new subdivisions, you have a very different development code than one that is based almost entirely on rede- veloping everything.You just have to have different standards, and we finally have a development code that reflects that.” In terms of residential development, Scorcio mentions two types: “We are still seeing apartment development at two levels–market rate and senior housing–both of them driven mostly by proximity to light rail and our bus rapid ride system.There are still some larger tracts of land where some tradi- tional single family housing is going in–larger in the sense of maybe a dozen homes, but no large subdivisions.”Regarding its population, SeaTac is an extremely diverse community–a minority-major- itymunicipality in terms of its ethnic makeup with approximately 70 languages spoken by its residents. And then there’s the airport,whose relationship with the city is synergistic. Scorcio explains,“We have a new ILA, an interlocal agreement with the Port of Seattle, the managing entity of Sea-Tac International Airport that is part development agreement and part relationship agreement.We’ve had an interlocal agreement with them for 22 years but just last February, the newest version of the agreement went into effect and it is radically dif- ferent from its predecessors. It’s now based on the idea that as the airport succeeds and grows - the city succeeds and grows with it.” CWA Consultants specializes in structural and non-structural plan review, code consulting and structural design. Our goal is to provide quality plan review services that are delivered on time and on budget. We’re committed to helping our clients with all aspects of the plan review process. Specific services include: l Structural and non-structural plan reviews. l Fire and Life Safety, Energy, Mechanical, Accessibility, Plumbing, and Sprinkler. l All types of building construction, with a specialization in wood construction. www.cwaconsultants.net CWA Consultants, 8675 E Caraway Rd, Port Orchard, WA 360.871.5433 chuck@cwaconsultants.net PREFERRED VENDORS n Seattle Southside RTA www.seattlesouthside.com Seattle Southside Regional Tourism Authority is a national award–winning destination marketing organization and the official destination marketing organization for SeaTac, Des Moines, and Tukwila - three cities near Sea-Tac International Airport. The organization markets Western Washington to leisure and business travelers, as well as meeting and event planners. Seattle Southside RTA is funded by a self-assessed hotel fund and supported by a lodging tax from the cities of SeaTac, Tukwila, and Des Moines. n CWA Consultants www.cwaconsultants.net THE CITY OF SEATAC “The airport cannot pay property taxes, because it’s a separate government entity,”Scorcio continues, “but they have agreed to pay a community relief amount that compensates, in part, for not paying property taxes to the city.We are able to provide police officers and provide some general govern- ment support that normally property taxes would pay for.Airports are very different than other private development because the types of buildings and in- frastructure they have to have is unique to airports. And so, our agreement with them recognizes those unique features and allows us to move smooth- ly through them.We’re working hand-in-hand on transportation projects at a new level.We have a streamlined permitting system that expedites the ability for the airport to grow and do what it needs to do.” “So, this is a watershed moment for the city,” says Scorcio, in conclusion.“Because it now allows us to address the fact that we have a very large property owner–42 percent of the city is the airport–that is now contributing to helping make our city better, stronger, and safer, as we move forward.”