90 Attend 1st Workshop : Van Nuys Airport Study Begins

About 90 people turned out Tuesday night at the first public workshop for what is expected to be a lengthy study of noise and other problems attributed to Van Nuys Airport.

The meeting at the Airtel Plaza Hotel on airport property was held to gather suggestions from the public about topics that should be studied.

After breaking into more than a dozen small groups for discussion, participants suggested a host of topics, including helicopter and jet noise, flight practices and a stricter curfew on night takeoffs.

There were suggestions for a restriction on the conversion of airport land to non-aviation uses, a suggestion of a buffer zone of light industry between the airport and residential areas, and requests that the study include proposals for the future of the 62-acre airport base being abandoned by the Air National Guard at the end of this year.

Organizers of the study asked participants not to debate specific measures but to prepare a list of subjects to be considered later.

The $300,000 study, sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, began in December with formation of a 16-member committee of representatives selected by the city of Los Angeles and federal elected officials and members of the city Board of Airport Commissioners. A 10-member technical committee was named later.

The workshop Tuesday night was attended by representatives of Los Angeles City Council members Joel Wachs, Joy Picus and Hal Bernson and an aide of Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), who represents the airport area. Also attending were members of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, the city Department of Airports, the FAA, the aeronautics division of Caltrans and the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council, created by the City Council to deal with airport noise and other community complaints.

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 with 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 recommendations are being considered by the FAA.