Third Hearing Due on Noise at L. B. Airport

The third in a series of public hearings on a plan city officials hope will end the long-running debate over noise at Long Beach Airport will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The meeting at Stephens Junior High School, 1830 W. Columbia St., is being held to get public response to a proposal hammered out by a 19-member task force. Two hearings were held last week.

The task force plan calls for a phased increase in commercial jet flights at the airport from the current 18 per day to 41 per day over a one-year period. (A flight is defined as one arrival and departure).

To earn the increase in flights, airlines would have to switch to quieter jets and flight procedures. Also, a jet taking off or departing would have to stay within a noise limit.

Task force members regard the plan as a compromise between the demands of airlines for more flights and the pleas of residents for less noise. The task force, which studied the matter for about two years, is made up of residents in areas affected by airport noise, airline officials, representatives of schools and airport businesses.

Besides allowing an increase in flights, the plan calls for moving noise-monitoring equipment into neighborhoods closer to the airport and limiting certain types of training operations.

Two more hearings are planned. A meeting will be held on March 5 at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School, 2625 Josie Ave., and on March 6 at Charles Evans Hughes Junior High School, 3846 California Ave. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m.