ANTI-NOISE MEASURES OK'D FOR AIRPORT.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - The Los Angeles Airport Commission on Thursday recommended a series of long-awaited measures designed to reduce the impacts of noise on homes near Van Nuys Airport.

The measures, which still require federal approval, include expanding a nighttime curfew to include all jets and helicopters and increasing fines and fees on noisier aircraft.

The board passed the 35 restrictions by a 5-0 vote, following the recommendations of a citizens steering committee that has been working on the issue since 1988.

While there was no debate or dissent at the meeting, the issues have been subject to fierce debate for years.

While homeowners groups have been seeking noise relief for years, some felt the board didn't go far enough, and airport businesses say they will fight curfews and other restrictions on their operations.

Also, most local television and radio news agencies with helicopters use Van Nuys as their base and are expected to object to any curfews that would affect their ability to report on traffic and breaking news at night and in the early morning. Many of the stations start their morning shifts at 5 a.m., two hours before the proposed curfew would end.

Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Association, praised the package of measures but said many residents worry that the Federal Aviation Administration will reject or dilute many of them, or will tie them up for years in additional studies.

``There's a lot of trepidation,'' Schultz said. ``I'm glad we've finally gotten this far, but it's a far cry from being over.''

Mark Sullivan, president of the Van Nuys Airport Business Association and owner of Skytrails Aviation, said he doubts the FAA would approve an expanded curfew at the nation's sixth busiest airport.

``If you're holding one airplane from landing at one airport, there's a domino effect,'' Sullivan said. ``It screws up the whole airport system. It's great they can have these dreams of curfews, but from a realistic standpoint, I don't think the FAA would ever buy into something like that.''

Commission vice president Mark Schaffer, who chaired the steering committee, said the package was the result of lengthy discussions and compromises between homeowners and businesses.

``Like most compromises, there are elements of it that some people are not happy with and other elements other people aren't happy with,'' Schaffer said. ``But I think we accomplished a lot toward coming up with some meaningful mitigation measures.''

Among the recommendations:

--Expand the current 10 p.m.-to-7 a.m. curfew on departures by Stage 2 jets, which are older and noisier than Stage 3 jets, to include all nonemergency jets and helicopters. That includes Stage 3 jets, as well as the news and traffic choppers that use Van Nuys as their base.

--Cap the number of Stage 3 jets at the airport.

--Study a cap or phase-out of the current fleet of helicopters.

--Recommend that the FAA require larger identification numbers on aircraft so citizens can better identify them for the purpose of registering complaints.

--Charge lower lease rates and landing fees for quieter planes, while increasing punitive fines on aircraft operators who violate noise policies.

--Develop a program to provide financial assistance to residents who want to move out of the noise impact area.

The steering committee will get another chance to review the recommendations before they are sent to the FAA.

The committee and the commission passed a smaller set of recommendations back in 1992, but they were rejected by the FAA a year later, on the grounds of inadequate data to support airport growth predictions. Those original recommendations were incorporated into what the commission passed Thursday, and airport officials said they were more thorough in assembling their data this time around and have gotten preliminary FAA approval for their methodology.