VAN NOISIER AIRPORT JUDGE REJECTS COMPLAINTS, SAYS AIR TRAFFIC CAN GET LOUDER.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer In a blow to residents upset by noise from Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. , a judge ruled Friday that the airport can exceed state noise limits - and get even louder - if homes closest to the runways are soundproofed. Administrative Law Judge administrative law judge n. a professional hearing officer who works for the government to preside over hearings and appeals involving governmental agencies. They are generally experienced in the particular subject matter of the agency involved or of several agencies. Samuel D. Reyes rejected community calls for strict limits on noise, concluding Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Airport officials acted in good faith in trying to curb the problem through soundproofing Soundproofing is any means of reducing the intensity of sound with respect to a specified source and receptor. There are several basic approaches to reducing sound: increasing the distance between source and receiver, using noise barriers to block or absorb the energy of the sound and other measures. Based on those steps, he granted an exemption to state noise limits, which the airport exceeds. He said demands for more stringent controls, including a helicopter curfew and phase-out of noisy Stage II jets, affect air traffic issues that are a federal responsibility, not the state's. ``They're thumbing their nose at us,'' said Jim Nickla, 46, whose Hamlin Street house is among 1,050 residences next to the airport in the noise ``impact area'' regulated by the state. ``I wouldn't accept the soundproofing because it would make me a prisoner in my own home. I'd rather have a phase-out with a definite termination date termination date, n See expiration date. .'' Troubled by the ruling, anti-noise activists said they might appeal the order in state court or ask transportation officials to halt its enforcement while they mount a challenge. The ruling is the result of 10 days of hearings in September on whether the nation's busiest general aviation airport should be allowed to operate above noise limits set by the state. The state Department of Transportation required the hearings because measurements showed the airport was too loud for homes near the runways. Reyes acknowledged in his report that he expects the noise to increase. ``The airport is very valuable to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and to the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. ,'' Reyes said. ``On the other hand, the noise impact is significant and the noise impact area is not likely to disappear absent additional measures.'' Reyes said the airport can operate at present noise levels if it continues to measure the noise, log complaints, encourage pilots to fly quietly over homes and forge ahead with soundproofing. He said he could not order tighter controls on noise like a helicopter curfew or jet phaseout phase·out n. A gradual discontinuation. , as requested by anti-noise activists, because the Transportation Department cannot directly regulate aircraft or flight operations since they are Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control issues. Airport officials, pleased by the ruling, said more stringent rules are not needed beyond the curfew on nighttime jet departures, guidelines encouraging pilots to minimize noise on takeoff, and soundproofing. ``Van Nuys Airport has implemented so many other mandatory and voluntary programs that it clearly demonstrates we care about our local community,'' said airport spokeswoman Stacy Geere. By state law, Van Nuys Airport must apply for a variance every three years if nearby areas are subjected to more than 65 decibels, averaged over a 24-hour period. The most-recent variance, granted in 1989, remained in effect because it was not challenged until 1998. The area that falls within the noise regulations has been growing by an average of 5 percent per year since 1989 because of increased flights, the ruling says. At present noise levels, about 2,400 people in 140 houses and 913 apartments are affected. They are eligible for federally funded soundproofing, which would bring the airport into compliance with state noise laws. The insulation program officially will launch Thursday. ``If three years from today they do not have any more homes impacted they don't have to apply for another variance. They would just continue to operate forever without us bothering them,'' said Larry Thelan, attorney for the Transportation Department's Division of Aeronautics. The variance will go into effect June 19, marking the second and only other recent noise-control measure for Van Nuys Airport. Last month, the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. unanimously voted to cap the number
of Stage II jets at the present level of 54 and consider phasing them
out.
Residents were as upset with the council action as they are with the judge's ruling. ``This has zero teeth in it and is a totally meaningless document,'' said Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and a intervenor in the variance hearings on behalf of people who live outside the impact area. ``It makes our point that the residents are without protection when it comes to the state of California and its noise laws.'' Silver and others question the airport's good faith in part because people who've been calling the city's noise complaint hotline for years only recently found out it is a public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most tool that has no impact on noise policy. The variance will do nothing to reduce the noise, said Ellen Bagelman, whose Van Nuys house lies just outside the impact area. ``It's going to solve the airport's problem - they've just got to soundproof sound·proof adj. Not penetrable by audible sound. sound  proof v. 'x' number of homes and
they get carte blanche CARTE BLANCHE. The signature of an individual or more, on a while. paper, with a sufficient space left above it to write a note or other writing.2. In the course of business, it not unfrequently occurs that for the sake of convenience, signatures in blank are to do whatever they want,'' said Bagelman, president of the Lake Balboa Homeowners Association. |
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