Airplane Noise in Los Altos
The Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals, formed by Congress members Eshoo, Farr and Speier, has published its final report:
Congressmembers Eshoo, Farr and Speier have sent the Report and Recommendations to Michael Huerta, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and announced their acceptance of the Committee’s Recommendations. The announcement stated:
“We support the majority of the Select Committee’s final recommendation to return to the previous BSR Arrival ground track. While the FAA has committed to designing the routing over the previous BSR lateral track with the highest feasible altitudes and with the lowest possible noise impact, the Select Committee has recommended that at a minimum, the route be no lower and the noise impact no greater than the previous BSR. These minimums apply to the entire route including in the vicinity of MENLO intersection, where the Select Committee is recommending not only a higher altitude over MENLO but also specifying that the planes use only idle power over this area.
The return to the BSR track is planned as an interim solution while the FAA works with the affected communities and its elected leaders to develop and identify the best long term solution based on the Committee’s recommendations. Prior to the FAA taking any action, it will assess and report any environmental impacts in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and applicable agency rules.
We are tremendously grateful that 12 local elected officials and their alternates stepped forward and devoted countless hours to public hearings, technical briefings and document review. The process was transparent, thorough and deliberative.”
Background
The Los Altos City Council is aware of local aircraft noise concerns and is supporting regional efforts to address this issue. Council took action on October 13, 2015, to discuss aircraft noise and adopted Resolution No. 2015-35 supporting efforts occurring at the city, county and congressional levels urging the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to mitigate the increased aircraft noise problems. The staff agenda report to Council provides background and discussion of the aircraft noise complexities and can be viewed here.
City Council again discussed aircraft noise at their October 25, 2016 meeting. Councilmember Mordo, an alternate on the Select Committee appointed by Congressmembers Eshoo, Farr and Speier, provided an overview of the aircraft noise topic and expressed his desire to support one proposed ground track alternative, the notional DAVYJ route. Los Altos Hills Councilmember Gary Waldeck, who is a member of the Select Committee, also presented information to the City Council, which was followed by comments from the public. Based on the information available to date and the Federal Aviation Administration’s assessment, the City Council moved to have Mayor Bruins send a letter in support of the DAVYJ flight path to County Supervisor Joe Simitian, Chairman of the Select Committee and copies to the three Bay Area Congress members who formed the Select Committee.
The Select Committee will meet on November 3, 2016 from from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Palo Alto City Hall to hear public comment and discussion of their draft recommendations. They will meet again on November 17, 2016 where they will continue to discuss and are expected to adopt the final recommendations to be sent to Congressmembers Eshoo, Farr and Speier.
Meeting with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
On March 7, 2016, a meeting was held at the City of Los Altos Youth Center, with representatives of the FAA, Congressmember Eshoo, elected officials from Santa Clara County including Los Altos Councilmember Jon Mordo and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, representatives of community noise groups, representatives from Senators Feinstein and Boxer and elected officials’ staff members.
The purpose of this meeting was to conduct a follow-up meeting with local elected officials and community leaders from each city and community noise organization in the 18th Congressional District to discuss the “FAA Initiative to Address Noise Concerns of Santa Clara/Santa Cruz/San Mateo/San Francisco Counties.”
The conversation, with all parties present, addressed the change in air traffic patterns and the concentration of new traffic patterns over Los Altos and other affected cities in Santa Clara County. The FAA listened to questions and comments about the noise created from the newly concentrated aircraft routes, environmental impacts of noise to residents, feasibility of the return to prior aviation route patterns and numerous other public comments concerning impacts experienced due to aircraft noise. The parties addressed and encouraged regional solutions to mitigate the problems cause by aircraft noise.
