Port Authority plans noise study

The Port Authority has begun developing a plan to conduct a study of aircraft noise in communities near John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports that was mandated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Nov. 14.
Originally introduced by State Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City) earlier this year, the bill required the Port Authority, which manages the two airports, to conduct a study. The information collected would be applied when deciding which runways and approach paths to use to mitigate aircraft noise over communities near those airports.
Cuomo vetoed the bill but directed the study be conducted. If he signed the bill into law, companion legislation from New Jersey would be needed and it was not forthcoming.
Kendall Lampkin, executive director of the Town-Village Airport Safety & Noise Abatement Committee, views the governor’s mandate as a victory as TVASNAC has been asking the Port Authority to conduct this type of study for the past 11 years. “For their part the Port Authority steadfastly refused very specific kinds of requirement for plotting noise in different communities,” said Lampkin, adding the study should take at least two years. “This creates a fact-finding deposition that would be indisputable regarding the magnitude of the noise.”
TVASNAC, which is comprised of 12 Nassau County villages, works to require the Port Authority and the Federal Aviation Agency to implement procedures that reduce aircraft noise during takeoffs and landing of planes at JFK and LaGuardia.

Using FAA computer modeling, noise-exposure maps will be created that will show the airport’s layout and operation. The software forecasts future anticipated aircraft noise within the airport’s noise impact area.
Carl Baessler, Atlantic Beach representative to TVASNAC, said he is very happy that the governor mandated study. Referring to the currently proposed runway expansion plan at JFK, Baessler believes this action should cause the Port Authority to pause before moving forward with projects or procedures that affect residents.
“We won’t know until it is completed, if and how it will affect the surrounding communities,” he said. “But at the least, it will put the Port Authority on notice that they need to step carefully before doing anything that will impacts its neighbors.”
Lampkin is hopeful that the study will move the noise debate away from the emotional of it rattling the China cabinets of residents to the scientific that will plot decibel levels. In addition, he sees the creation of an airplane noise community roundtable as a step in the right direction.
“The study will open up the discussion and hopefully lead to some transparency,” he said. “The creation of the roundtable and the public input portion could lead to greater rotation of the runways.”
Bob Seide, the Village of Woodsburgh’s TVASNAC representative, is not as optimistic about the study as Lampkin. “Frankly, I don’t expect much to come of it,” he said, adding that quieter jet engines would have a larger impact on noise reduction than moving the airplanes from one side of the airport to the other.
The Port Authority will pay for the study that is expected to be conducted by an independent contractor, agency officials said, adding that most of the costs incurred would be eligible for reimbursement from the federal government.

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