El Segundo Moves to Curb Copters, Prevent Problems With Noise

In an effort to avoid the kind of helicopter noise problems that plague neighboring Westchester and other nearby beach communities, the El Segundo Planning Commission has drafted a set of stringent standards to regulate the use of the city’s nine helistops and encourage pilots to steer clear of residential areas.

Although cities cannot preempt Federal Aviation Agency safety regulations controlling where and at what altitude helicopters can fly, they can regulate such things as the location of landing pads and the number of daily flights in and out of facilities within their boundaries.

The proposed regulations, which businesses would have to agree to before receiving helistop permits, would stipulate landing hours and require that owners place clearly visible identification numbers on helicopters. Operators would also have to provide a list of the pilots and aircraft that would fly in and out of the city.

A public hearing on the proposed regulations will be held June 26. The City Council will review the Planning Commission’s recommended regulations for final approval in July.

“It’s a novel approach to dealing with helicopter traffic and the noise they create,” said Lynn Harris, El Segundo’s planning director. “But helicopters are still a relatively new phenomenon in city government. We had always dealt with the permits in a piecemeal manner until we realized just how many flights we have coming into the city each day.”

El Segundo’s nine heliports, which mainly serve local aerospace and banking firms, handle about 550 flights each month--or 18 flights a day. The city has the second largest concentration--downtown Los Angeles is first--of helistops in the county.

Despite the concentration of helistop pads, the noise generated by the choppers has been a relatively minor problem for El Segundo homeowners who live near the beach or adjacent to the main flight corridor along Sepulveda Boulevard.

“We get a few complaints every month, but so far it’s pretty much under control,” said Stephen Storm, a member of El Segundo’s Noise Abatement Committee who has worked with the Planning Commission in drawing up the new heliport standards.

“But residents are afraid that there might be more helicopters and that they will start flying lower or closer to their homes.”

City officials say that many of El Segundo’s aerospace and banking firms depend on the quick service helicopters provide. For instance, FAA officials estimate that it takes three minutes to travel from El Segundo’s industrial center east of Sepulveda Boulevard to Los Angeles International Airport, compared to at least 15 minutes by ground.

“We understand that our corporate users need their helistop facilities,” Harris said. “But the city has to be aware of the residents’ concerns also. If (businesses) start increasing their flights in and out of the city, we might start to have some of the noise problems our neighbors have,” Harris said, referring to Westchester residents’ longstanding battle against the noise of choppers going back and forth from Los Angeles International Airport.

El Segundo officials say that about 90% of the complaints about helicopter noise come from residents who live within three blocks west of Sepulveda Boulevard, a major helicopter corridor.

In issuing permits, planning commissioners will encourage pilots to fly flights farther east of Sepulveda Boulevard, but not so far as to bother residents in neighboring Hawthorne or Lennox.

Under the proposed regulations, the number of helicopter flights in and out of a landing pad would be established when a business applied for its heliport permit, and could not be increased without Planning Commission approval.

“The idea is to have no more than between 600 to 800 flights a month,” Harris said.