Noise study moving ‘extremely slow’

It’s been more than a year since the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced plans to conduct an aircraft noise study — known technically as a Part 150 — focusing on the communities surrounding John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports.
The Port Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration are expected to work with the airports and nearby communities to examine the effects of plane noise. Monitors have been installed in those neighborhoods to track the noise levels of aircraft on takeoffs and landings. San Francisco-based Environmental Science Associates will conduct the study.
At a meeting last November, the Port Authority and representatives of the communities near the runways agreed to create a large round-table group and two subcommittees, one for each airport, to help shape policies that may come out of the study. The Port Authority appointed the members of the subcommittees.
Local elected leaders are concerned about the paucity of Nassau County representation in the three groups. State Assemblyman Brian Curran (R-Lynbrook), whose district includes Hewlett, wrote two letters to the Port Authority requesting more representation — one last November, and a joint letter last month with State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), whose district includes the Five Towns.
Neither Curran nor Skelos is a member of either subcommittee. Kendall Lampkin, executive director of the Town-Village Aircraft Safety Noise Abatement Committee, representing the Town of Hempstead; Ian Steinberg, representing the Town of North Hempstead; U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) and County Executive Ed Mangano are the four subcommittee members who represent the county. The round table and subcommittees have a total of 64 members.
“In the joint letter with Dean Skelos, we wrote the letter because we felt that the announcement by the Port Authority discussing the composition, or makeup, of the representation on the round table wasn’t fair,” Curran said. “Four seats for Nassau County alone is unacceptable. Many people in my district are upset about this.”