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See Part 150 meeting | Not that easy | Serenity shattered | FlyAway Design Contract Awarded | FAA Counsel Asked for Answers to Noise Queries | Fines proposed for noisy aircraft | City Can Curb Airport Noise Now, Toughen Controls Later
This is a request to add agenda items the Part 150 meeting considering noise mitigations at Van Nuys Airport. The committee is using 1991 data in an attempt to solve 2000 problems.
If you are bothered by the increased jet noise come to this meeting tonight and let the Airport operators know the "You are mad as hell and you will not take it anymore"
Meeting Date: April 24, 2000, 7 p.m. Location: Airtel Plaza, Van Nuys Map
STOP THE NOISE! COALITION
PO BOX 260205
ENCINO, CA 91426
April 20, 2000
Mr. Maurice Laham
Environmental Management
Los Angeles World Airways (LAWA)
One World Way, PO Box 92216
Los Angeles, CA 90009-2216]
RE: VAN NUYS AIRPORT (VNY) PART 150 AGENDA ITEMS
It is our understanding that the Part 150 Steering Committee will be reconvened, and hold a meeting on April 24, 2000, at the Airtel in Van Nuys. We are pleased that Los Angeles World Airways (LAWA) will again move forward with this federally funded Part 150 Study.
During the past several years, noise problems have grown worse, as more helicopters and noisy Stage 2 and Stage 3 aircraft have joined the Van Nuys Airport (VNY) fleet. The Noise Compatibility Program (NCP) has done little to resolve noise problems, and has clearly proven to be ineffective. Instead of reducing the number of noisy jets and minimizing noise, the NCP recommended a weak "Fly Neighborly" policy that did not control the noise, nor account for the increasing number of jet and helicopter operations. The size of the 65 CNEL noise contour has increased significantly over the past several years, as has the number of impacted residents and dwellings.
For the full letter click here
Even though the March 31 Daily News stole my thunder with "Airport neighbors sound off," I am, like others, dismayed by the callousness of the airport administration's attitude. I've always felt my calls were dismissed, so I've reserved my complaints only for their most egregious displays of intolerable noise. But now I see even those were a waste of time.
Perhaps you saw the recent edition of the PBS show, "Life And Times." It featured one of the airport tenants saying to the residents -- about the jet noise -- that they should just get used to it.
Too bad it's not that easy.
Alan von Arx North Hills
Noise at Burbank Airport, sure. But what about Van Nuys?
Phone conversations must be halted, televisions must be on loud, doors and windows must be closed due to the noise from aircraft overhead.
Don't think about a weekend gathering; it's not possible to be heard over the continual drone of the planes preparing to land at Van Nuys. The daily flight activity increases on the weekends. It's the jets, large and small, that affect me, the shrill noises from their engines piercing my serenity.
Rhoda Freigher North Hills
By STEPHANIE STASSEL
The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners on Tuesday awarded a design contract to a Los Angeles firm for the expansion of the Van Nuys FlyAway bus terminal.
Commissioners voted 3 to 0 to hire Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall of Los Angeles to perform design and construction administration work for a new FlyAway terminal that will accommodate additional buses and other transportation services. Total cost of the design work is not to exceed $699,112.
The terminal project will include 500 additional parking spaces, a larger waiting area, an ATM machine, improved vehicle and pedestrian flow, and better food service. The terminal's 2,000-space parking lot fills during peak travel periods. In 1998, the facility served 575,000 passengers and 142,000 LAX employees who commute to the airport on FlyAway buses.
Expansion of the Van Nuys FlyAway facility "is an important first step toward Los Angeles World Airports' development of a proposed network of intermodal facilities spread geographically across Los Angeles County," said Commission President John J. Agoglia.
The $18.5-million expansion is expected to start in the summer or fall of 2001 and be completed before Thanksgiving 2002.
[Design $700,000 total cost $18,500,000 for 500 parking places, waiting area, ATM and new driveways?. Seem very expensive unless more is being done or other entities are to be paid]
Wary of more delays, Councilman Joel Wachs proposed Tuesday summoning the FAA's chief counsel to Los Angeles to answer questions about a plan to cap noisy, aging jets at Van Nuys Airport. The council held an extended debate over the proposed cap in November, but lawmakers voiced so many questions about their authority to limit so-called Stage 2 aircraft that they put off a decision until February.
Of particular concern to council members was whether they had the option of tightening noise restrictions now, then making the rules stricter later. Last month, Federal Aviation Administration Chief Counsel Nicholas G. Garaufis said in a letter to Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) that any controls adopted by the city could still be strengthened later. The letter implies that the city could someday phase out the noisy planes instead of merely capping their number at the airport, according to Wachs. But the lawmaker wants to make sure.
"The question we still have is can we do the phase-out?" said Tom Henry, an aide to Wachs, adding that the city needs more legal advice from the FAA.
The council will meet Feb. 23 to discuss the proposed noise restrictions, which are strongly opposed by aviation businesses. Garaufis' appearance at the meeting could avoid any further delays, Henry said. "We've been waiting for so long," he said, "and it's time to act."
By Jason Kandel, Staff Writer
VAN NUYS -- Citing loud jets that fly over Van Nuys Airport despite a fly neighborly policy, a resident who lives near the airport urged officials Tuesday to recommend assessing fines to penalize the worst violators.
"I want to see the (Citizens Advisory Council) recommend fines or exclusion from the airport for violating the Fly Friendly program," said Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, who spoke at a Van Nuys Airport Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday night. "A voluntary fly neighborly policy like this is like the police giving speeding tickets with no penalties. It has no impact. It doesn't reduce the noise."
Van Nuys Airport officials came up with the Fly Neighborly Program in 1994 as a way to help stem complaints from residents about the loud jets. The program was expected to help reduce noise from a 1.8-square-mile area to a 1-square-mile area.
A test by an independent noise consultant, however, found that the noise impact area was only reduced to 1.3 square miles. And the homeowners have since tracked hundreds of aviators over a two-year period who have been issued citation letters for flying jets that were too loud. Some aviators have been issued as many as 50 citations.
Silver recommended a $1,000 fine for aviators who violate the policy five times. If they do it two or three times after that, the aviator should be banned from the airport for a year, Silver said.
But Robert Rodine, a member of the Airport Citizens Advisory Council, who is opposed to assessing fines to penalize violators of the Fly Neighborly Program, said the airport already has a noise ordinance in place, and that fining aviators under a voluntary program will not work.
"The Fly Friendly Program is a voluntary program and as such it would be wholly inappropriate to have fines," he said. "The community was involved in the development of that voluntary program and now they're saying it is unsatisfactory."
Another Citizens Advisory Council member, Harry Berg, said Tuesday that the Airport Authority has no power to penalize aviators. "Get it out of your head," he said. "This is never going to happen. The only people who have the authority to do this is the federal government."
Residents also voiced their concerns Tuesday night over the droning of helicopter noise over their homes early in the morning and late at night. Some suggested imposing a curfew on the choppers from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., flying at higher altitudes, and complying with flying over industrial areas, not residential areas.
Aviation: FAA issues legal opinion that limiting only the loudest aircraft at Van Nuys would not preclude future restrictions.
By MARTHA L. WILLMAN, Times Staff Writer
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a legal opinion that Los Angeles can restrict noisier aircraft from using Van Nuys Airport now and still adopt stricter rules later.
The opinion, released Thursday by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), was sought after City Council members said they were uncertain about the limits of their authority to regulate air traffic. After a decade of debate, hundreds of people in November packed a council hearing to argue the pros and cons of a proposal to limit noisy planes--primarily private jets.
But the council postponed action, in part out of concerns that the federal government would prevent the council from making changes later. A federal rule adopted in 1990 prohibits noise and access restrictions at airports. However, since the restrictions at Van Nuys were proposed prior to the federal rule, new controls could still be imposed, the FAA had said in earlier opinions.
In the latest opinion, dated Tuesday, FAA Chief Counsel Nicholas G. Garaufis said that any new controls adopted by the city now could still be strengthened later.
The National Business Aviation Assn., which represents owners of private jets, has warned it is likely to challenge rules restricting private jets. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners in July approved a plan to phase out noisy private jets at Van Nuys over the next 11 years. The plan would exempt about 50 so-called Stage 2 jets--primarily those built before 1985.
Airport businesses argue the rules would adversely impact the economic stability of the airport. But some homeowners say the proposal should apply to all noisy aircraft and require a phase-out over a shorter time. Gerald Silver, president of the Stop the Noise homeowner coalition, called the proposed rules "weak, watered-down and ineffective."
Some council members have said they may favor approving the proposed rules in order to at least get some restrictions on the books, then toughen them later. Others say they may reject the proposal and order the airport commission to come back with a stronger proposal. Sherman said in a statement the opinion from the FAA "gives those of us fighting airport noise more options."
Van Nuys is the busiest general aviation airport in the country. The number of private jets based there has risen sharply, [along with the noise] driven by demand from corporate customers, wealthy individuals and the entertainment industry.
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