By:Andrew Coen
The Town-Village Aircraft & Noise Abatement Committee (TVASNAC) is attempting to stretch its wings from Nassau County's south shore all the way up to the gold coast.
Members of the civic group plan to send letters to and attend meetings of the Nassau County Village Officials Association in order to inform the mayors of all 64 villages in the county about the organization and encourage them to join the group.
In addition to representing the entire unincorporated portion of the Town of Hempstead, the TVASNAC Committee has representation from the villages of Atlantic Beach, Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Hewlett Harbor, Woodsburgh, Valley Stream, Island Park, New Hyde Park and Floral Park.
"We should write them and ask them and let them know we exist," Kurt Langjahr, representing the village of New Hyde Park, said during the Monday, Aug. 31 TVASNAC meeting at Lawrence Village Hall.
TVASNAC Executive Director Kendall Lampkin said he would like to arrange to have aviation officials who regularly speak at the civic group's monthly meetings to also speak before the Nassau County Village Officials Association as another way of informing the county of the jet noise issues affecting their communities. "Clearly jet noise and air traffic safety matters is clearly something of a concern to people in the village officials association," said Lampkin in a phone interview. "Hopefully out of [meeting with them] we can generate interest and members."
Atlantic Beach Mayor Stephen Mahler, who is vice president of the village officials association, said he has tried to educate mayors of villages - that are expected to get increased air traffic noise in the next few months as a result of runway construction at Kennedy Airport - about the good things TVASNAC does.
Often during their monthly meetings, TVASNAC invites aviation officials from Kennedy Airport and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to inform residents about changes in flight patterns and keep them up-to-date on any issue that could impact them.
"This is definitely an issue that [The Nassau County Village Officials Association] is concerned about," said Village Officials Association Executive Director Warren Tackenberg. "There is a need for TVASNAC to continue to monitor the runway situation so that noise is distributed in an equitable manner to the different communities."
Tackenberg said he is open to meeting with TVASNAC officials in the near future.
According to Lampkin, there has been interest from Lynbrook village officials about the possibility of joining TVASNAC. Lampkin spoke on the phone with Lynbrook Deputy Mayor Tom Miccio on Aug. 30 about getting involved and the deputy mayor said he plans on attending the new few TVASNAC meetings.
"We will attend a few meetings and we will then see if this would be a useful group for us to join," said Miccio in a phone interview. "We're trying to be proactive because we know over the next few months people are going to be reactive to the change so we want to be ahead of the curve."
The next TVASNAC meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 27 at Lawrence Village Hall.
