Van Nuys Airport Neighbors : Berman to Chart Noise Complaints

Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) is launching a survey to determine if noise from Van Nuys Airport disturbs many of the airport’s neighbors.

Berman said Thursday he is mailing about 20,000 questionnaires to homes near the airport “regarding the extent of the noise problem among my constituents.”

“The results are initially for my own information,” he said, but will eventually be used by his representative on a committee formed to study airport noise and suggest remedies.

The study, sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, began in December with formation of a 16-member committee of representatives selected by city and federal elected officials and members of the city Board of Airport Commissioners.

A similar study at Burbank Airport took two years. It concluded last year with a recommendation for a $50-million program, 90% to be paid by the federal government. The plan envisions demolishing 54 homes in a two-block area of the heaviest noise and providing soundproofing insulation for thousands of other homes in return for agreements granting the airport the right to continue creating noise over the properties.

The FAA is considering the recommendations.

Berman’s seven-question survey asks constituents how often they hear planes, whether they believe airport noise is increasing or decreasing, whether they favor a longer nightly curfew and whether the noise is loud, moderate or barely noticeable.

Van Nuys Airport spokesman Bob Hayes said he would not comment on Berman’s survey because he did not want to get involved in “politics.”

He repeated the longstanding contention of airport officials that many complaints about airport noise come from a relatively small group of well-organized protesters. “Most of the complaints are made by about 10 households,” Hayes said. “One is responsible for about 40%.”

Don Schultz, president of Ban Airport Noise, and his wife, Prudy, made 376 of the 520 complaints about helicopter noise last year, he said.

Berman said he expects those unconcerned with noise “will just throw the questionnaire away . . . but if thousands of people indicate it’s a serious problem, then we have something instructive.”