BUR Noise Study - Comment at IN-PERSON CAC Meeting on 2/26 at 4 pm

IMPORTANT BUR NOISE MEETINGS ON THURSDAY 2/26

PLEASE ATTEND in person and make a public comment at the next Citizen's Advisory Committee meeting:

4th Citizen's Advisory Committee Meeting - Important to Attend

Thursday 2/26 -- 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Public comment at beginning of meeting

Open House #3 - Optional

Thursday 2/26 -- 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Burbank Elks Lodge 

Located behind the Public Storage facility 

2232 N. Hollywood Way

Burbank, CA 91505 

Free parking

If nothing else, come at 4 p.m., make your comment, and head out.

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WHY IT MATTERS

As part of the ongoing Noise Study, BUR released the final Noise Exposure Map (Noise Map). Like the draft Noise Map, the final Noise Map includes only the immediate vicinity of the airport for noise relief.

After canceling the last Citizen's Advisory Committee meeting, BUR has now prepared draft Noise Compatibility Program recommendations (Noise Recommendations) based on this inadequate Noise Map.

The draft Noise Recommendations will NOT help the areas away from the airport that are impacted by the FAA's NextGen flight path changes.

But these are DRAFT Noise Recommendations, and if many people show up and make their voices heard, there is still the opportunity to add Noise Recommendations to help with NextGen impacts. If only a small handful (e.g., 5-10 people) attend and make comments, it will not happen.

We recognize that coming to a meeting at 4 p.m. on a Thursday in Burbank is difficult, inconvenient, or even impossible. We and the CAC members have asked repeatedly for Zoom and phone options so that more people can participate, but regrettably each meeting continues to be in-person only.

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SUGGESTED COMMENTS

• There has been an alarming surge in the press recently regarding the safety of Burbank Airport. The head of the NTSB warned of a high risk of a Burbank mid-air collision. Burbank and Van Nuys flights share the same airspace. You can improve safety AND help the community by separating the airspace. Add a Noise Recommendation for early turns directly off the runway for Burbank departures.

  
  

• BUR participated in a Task Force with stakeholders from throughout the Valley that made recommendations, including this Noise Study, to the FAA based on a sudden onslaught of noise complaints following flight path changes at BUR. While the draft Noise Map documents showed nearly all noise complaints are from Studio City and Sherman Oaks, the brainstorming Noise Recommendations will not address those complaints.

  
  

• At each CAC meeting so far, you have heard an hour of public comment from areas away from the airport like Studio City and Sherman Oaks that experience severe BUR noise. You had also received many written public comments from the community on the inadequacies of the draft Noise Map last summer. Based on the final Noise Map and the brainstorming recommendations at the last Technical Advisory Committee meeting, the draft Noise Recommendations completely ignore all the people who have made these comments at and following these meetings. You assured us at a prior meeting that you would not be limited by the Noise Map's constraints. The Noise Recommendations must be modified to reflect the overwhelming public sentiment asking for relief for the larger Noise Study Area, outside the 65 decibel threshold.

  
  

• This Noise Study will have failed and wasted everyone's time if you agree to the Technical Advisory Committee's request at their last meeting to simply rehash the same Noise Recommendations from a decade ago, from before the FAA NextGen flight path changes.

  
  

• Based on Recommendation 14 from the Task Force, the Noise Compatibility Program is required to determine whether a more northerly flow of departures provides noise benefits. The draft Noise Map showed that 94% of jets depart south and that a larger area south of the airport bears concentrated noise impacts, but the Noise Recommendations might only consider a minimally revised southerly departure. The draft Noise Recommendations should be updated to consider options for departures in alternate directions, not only south.

• Based on the Task Force recommendations, the Noise Compatibility Program at BUR is also required to analyze Runway 33 arrivals to limit the use of the wind arrival flight path over the Santa Monica Mountains. The brainstorming Noise Recommendations do not reflect this. The draft Noise Recommendations should be updated so that the Noise Compatibility Program achieves this objective.

  
  

• I understand that there are certain FAA rules about the data components and how the Noise Map and Noise Recommendations are prepared, but the brainstorming Noise Recommendations do not respect the intention of the Task Force in commissioning this Noise Study. The draft Noise Recommendations must be updated and expanded to provide relief to the known areas that are suffering from flight path changes, and which have filed over 4 million noise complaints. Please discuss this with the FAA.