Northern Hills Homeowner's Association

Foes sound off on airport plan

Oct 04, 2000

Express-News: Metro and State
Foes sound off on airport plan
By Patrick Driscoll
Express-News Staff Writer

A plan to steer the roar of jet engines away from two neighborhoods near San Antonio International Airport has residents in another area in an uproar.

While accusations and denials fly concerning whether noise would be diverted from some residential areas at the expense of others, arguments on both sides include the refrain: What's best for all.

"What we want to do in essence is affect less homes," said Jerry Rankin, the city's airport noise mitigation administrator.

To do that, officials propose routing more flight departures to the northeast runway and reducing the load on the southeast runway, where more than 40 percent of all aircraft now take off. Because takeoffs are the noisiest part of an aircraft's flight, that would help Northwood Estates, just south of Loop 410.

In addition, a draft of the plan recently released by airport officials recommends that flights taking off in a northeast direction turn slightly to the right to avoid most of the Stoneridge neighborhood. The flights instead would head out over commercial and vacant land east of Wetmore Road.

But just to the north of that proposed path lies Northern Hills. The new airport noise boundary, based on federal standards for loud noise, would come to the edge of that neighborhood.

However, those boundaries are deceptive, said Mike Gallagher, who heads the noise abatement committee for the Northern Hills neighborhood.

Just because government draws a line doesn't mean the roars of jets suddenly cease at the boundary, he said. The lines mark averages over time. But Northern Hills would suffer more ear-deafening sounds overhead.

"Any neighborhood in Northeast San Antonio will be affected by this plan," he said.

Not only that, some of the changes would not be safe, which would be bad for all of San Antonio, said Gallagher, who served six years as an Air Force air traffic controller.

He said there are several problems concerning proposals on northeast departures. Requiring the turn of 15 degrees, having aircraft of various speeds ?— from jets to propeller planes ?— take off in the same direction, and sending more flights into Randolph AFB flight paths could spell trouble. He also said prevailing wind directions don't favor northeast takeoffs.

"This plan is dangerous," he said after reviewing the draft.

Most of Gallagher's neighbors also are unhappy. About 1,200 residents in the 1,700-home subdivision signed petitions opposing the plan.

Rankin said all of those issues would be studied in more detail. Even if the plan is adopted ?— first by the City Council and then the Federal Aviation Administration ?— each recommendation would have to be separately reviewed and approved again by the city and FAA before being funded and implemented.

Philip Salemi, a vice chairman of the airport's Noise Abatement Advisory Committee and a resident of Northwood Estates, said Northeast Side residents would not experience much more noise under the plan, but other neighborhoods would benefit tremendously. He said he supports the controversial 15-degree turn even though that wouldn't help his neighborhood.

"It is a better solution for all of San Antonio," he said.

In recent decades, noise has increased around the airport mostly because of increased flights, Rankin said. But because older jet engines have been retrofitted and are being phased out to meet federal guidelines, noise is decreasing. That means the airport's noise impact area is shrinking, so the boundaries are being redrawn.

By 2004, only 5,150 homes would be within those areas compared with 8,240 in 1998. If more departures are diverted to the northeast and required to turn 15 degrees, up to a third more residents would be outside the boundaries.

A public hearing on the plan, called the Noise Compatibility Study, is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at Coker United Methodist Church at 231 E. North Loop Road. Copies of the plan are available for review at the San Antonio Central Library and the Brook Hollow, Ed Cody, Oakwell and Thousand Oaks branches.



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pdriscoll@express-news.net
10/03/2000