Northern Hills Homeowner's Association

Public can discuss airport noise

Mar 12, 2001

Nancy Bowman
Dayton Daily News
Monday, March 12, 2001
?¿½ 2000 Cox Interactive Media

TIPP CITY--Dayton International Airport officials can expect to hear some noise from their neighbors during public meetings this week on a study designed to pinpoint noise problems associated with airport operations.

Noise exposure maps generated as part of the airport's Noise Compatibility Study Update, conducted by Ricondo & Associates Inc. of San Francisco, will be on display at the meetings, and will come under attack. Rich Guenther, a resident of Miami County's Monroe Twp., said the computer-generated noise maps don't reflect the real world.

"People are going to have to understand that this doesn't make sense," said Guenther, who serves as chairman of the Tipp-Monroe Airport Task Force,
which opposes the airport's $1.3 billion expansion plan. "I think most people attending are going to look at this and not understand why they are hearing noise, and they are not shown in a problem area."

The meetings are scheduled for Tuesday at L.T. Ball Junior High School in Tipp City, Wednesday at the Dayton Convention Center and Thursday at
Vandalia Butler High School.

Each session will follow the same format with an information fair featuring maps and experts available to answer individual questions from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Town hall meetings with a presentation, followed by audience questions
and answers, will be held beginning at 7:30 p.m. David Ponitz, former president of Sinclair Community College, will serve as town hall moderator.

The noise exposure maps are considered drafts and are part of the first phase of the noise study's two parts. The next phase will deal with developing solutions to abate or mitigate identified noise problems.

Maceo Clarke Jr., airport manager of noise mitigation and land acquisition programs, said the maps were created using an FAA-sanctioned computer model that looks at factors including the types of aircraft using the airport, their engines and flight tracks at the facility.

"It's obviously not a foolproof process. So, consequently, in workshops and public meetings, we are seeking to have the general public take a look at maps and have their input from what they see. This is their opportunity to say, 'This is what I am hearing,'" Clarke said.

Clarke said those attending the public meetings can make their comments either individually to stenographers during the information fair hours or to others gathered during the question-and-answer portion of the town hall sessions.

The noise study includes maps for existing conditions based on 1999, the most recent full calendar year of data available, plus projected conditions for 2005 and 2018 based on aviation forecasts outlined in the airport's strategic master plan update. The plan states the airport does not have adequate capacity to accommodate projected increases in activity through 2018 and will need to build two runway extensions and a new parallel runway.

Opponents such as the Tipp-Monroe Airport Task Force and the Stop Airport Noise and Expansion organization in Tipp City and Monroe Twp. say the expansion is not needed.

SANE representatives plan to question several aspects of the report, including why the noise "footprint" is larger than in the last noise report (1993) even though planes are quieter today and business at the Emery
Worldwide cargo hub is down.

Bill Jones, Tipp City mayor and a SANE member, said a larger noise impact area increases the airport's eligibility to buy land with FAA funds for noise mitigation. "I believe it is a way to grab land using federal money," he said

Tipp City Manager David Collinsworth said he believes the computer model that was used diminishes the impact of single-event noise because noise is averaged out over a 24-hour period. The noise meetings and what goes into
the report are important, he said.

"Assuming the airport completes its proposed master plan, Tipp City will be significantly impacted by noise for the foreseeable future. And regardless of the proposed expansion, we have a noise problem today that needs to be addressed," Collinsworth said. "Will planes be quieter in 30 or 40 years?

Probably, but that's little consolation to those of us who will endure this noise impact in the intervening decades."

The airport and some of its neighbors already are in federal court over airport noise.

Tipp City and Monroe Twp. filed a lawsuit in September claiming that since 1999 the airport has not enforced a 1995 tower order regarding flights departing to the northeast and that the airport has ignored requests to talk about complaints.
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I'll bet if we substituted San Antonio for Dayton, nobody would have noticed. The stories sound TOO similar! -John Penry