Complaints from residents in Huntington Beach, California, about jet noise led to the city council passing a motion on Monday to create a jet noise commission. The city manager and city attorney will work together alongside city council liaisons to amend the municipal code to create the commission within a 90-day framework. Council members Barbara Delgleize and Patrick Brenden presented the issue and their resounding support for the creation of a jet noise commission.
“The spirit of this group has really been about collaboration and building consensus. I believe that the request we’re making—having the municipal code to create a jet noise commission—really will be in the long-term interest of our city and residents,” said Delgleize. “The residents will have a place to come to, complain to, or make suggestions. For a lot of folks, there’s been a lot of frustration because they didn’t know what to do or where to go.”
Following Delgleize’s comments, Brenden stressed the importance of creating a platform for the city to have a voice in the matter. “We need to have a voice when the FAA is making decisions. The lack of a voice creates a magnet for flights over our city,” said Brenden. “We can’t let that happen. This jet noise commission is something that will be in existence for many years to come and will continue to give us a voice and help to ensure that we don’t become a dumping ground for other communities’ issues with jet noise.”
In January, Huntington Beach created an air traffic noise working group to understand concerns about flight patterns and aircraft noise. A citizen group subsequently formed to combat the noise issue and created a website to provide a virtual petition. The goal of the petition, according to the group, is to “work with the FAA to revert these super-highways back to more dispersed and environmentally friendly flight paths as well as raise overflights to the maximum altitudes safety allows.” The petition currently has 1,470 virtual signatures.
