Flight Fight : Noise Is the Focus of Heated Debate Over Future of Van Nuys Airport

Ever since an airplane runway was carved smack-dab in the center of the San Fernando Valley in 1928--when the area’s many chicken farmers complained that the roar of departing biplanes severely flustered their hens--noise from Van Nuys Airport has ruffled feathers along the flight paths.

Originally launched as Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport, it was commandeered as an Air Corps base in World War II, then donated by the postwar government to the city of Los Angeles, which saw it grow into its current role as the busiest general aviation airport in the world.

While supporters point to more than $1 billion in economic benefits annually to the Valley, the 730-acre operation has been a money-loser since 1992, landing more than $1.1 million in the red last year alone.

Now, almost 70 years after its inception, Los Angeles city officials are struggling to adopt a 20-year master plan for the airport. And though the plan’s purpose is to establish land-use and development guidelines to achieve a balance of economics with compatibility that would dig the airport out of its economic problems, the heated arguments over the study are basically a debate over noise.

The master plan study, launched more than four years ago, is the focus of a contentious battle among aviation interests, business owners and residents. City, state and federal authorities also are embroiled.

So much heat has been generated that airport officials have extended the period for public comment until the end of March on 11 wide-ranging alternative proposals, outlined in a five-volume, 800-page document released in November.

“Most of the comments have to do with noise, and that’s not a big surprise,” said Lydia Kennard, a deputy executive director of the city’s Department of Airports. “The predominant issues do not have much to do with planning.”

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At one end of the debate’s spectrum are homeowner groups that would like to abolish the airport altogether. They suggest that the entire property be redeveloped, and offer various plans for business, industrial or residential uses.

At the other are aviation interests who propose full utilization of the sprawling complex for airport services only. According to the master plan study, that would attract enough planes to boost the number of aircraft based at Van Nuys by more than 62% and almost triple the number of jets and helicopters--the aircraft most despised by noise-hating neighbors.

A so-called preferred alternative, proposed by airport business tenants and endorsed by city planners, would blend increased aviation use with non-aviation businesses on leased airport land--such as hotels, restaurants and shopping areas--and open space as buffer zones for the neighbors.

The proposal calls for developing 71 of the airport’s 113 vacant acres for aviation use. According to the study, that alternative would increase the number of jets and helicopters at Van Nuys over the next 20 years by almost 60%, even though the total number of planes based there would drop about 15% from the current level of 733 aircraft.

Opponents decry the preferred alternative as an expansion of the airport, a charge city officials and aviation leaders emphatically deny.

The plan’s supporters point out that there are no plans to expand the airport acreage or the length of runways, for instance.

Indeed, the number of aircraft based at Van Nuys has steadily decreased in recent years, largely explaining the falling revenues, according to city studies and officials.

But the decline, and the expectation that it will continue, reflects the dwindling number of smaller, quieter, piston-engine airplanes hangared there. Their number is expected to drop from 551 today to 391 in 20 years, under almost all of the proposed plans.

Rather, what residents fear is an increase in noisier aircraft--small business jets and helicopters.

Private studies for aircraft-oriented business associations have determined that the demand for jets and helicopters--and airport facilities to accommodate them--is increasing dramatically. Van Nuys already has exceeded its basing capacity for jets and helicopters and, without changes, will not be able to meet federal goals for growth of the air traffic system.

The proposed draft master plan would provide facilities that could accommodate an increase in the number of jets from 107 to 165 and helicopters from 44 to 69. Those are the figures that rile opponents, such as Stop the Noise, a coalition of 25 Valley resident associations.

The transition to jets has caused airports throughout the country to be bombarded with complaints from residents about noise. But the FAA, which regulates airports with an eye toward the smooth running of a national air transport system, prohibits localities from banning jets.

Instead, the federal agency is attempting to gradually phase out the noisier jets--the so-called Stage 2 aircraft--and replace them with quieter Stage 3 aircraft.

Van Nuys Airport administrators for years have pleaded with residents to be patient in waiting for the new technology. But the FAA rules apply only to aircraft weighing more than 75,000 pounds and would not affect many of the noisy, but smaller, private jets at Van Nuys.

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A variety of changes also have been made in flight patterns, and other steps have been taken to minimize the airport’s noise impact. A giant sign at one end of the Van Nuys runway reminds pilots to “Fly Quietly.”

In what some critics call a political maneuver, Mayor Richard Riordan last week wrote to the Airport Commission, asking it to take steps to reduce noise at Van Nuys Airport. In fact, his suggested rules, proposed less than a month before the April 8 election in which the mayor is seeking a second term, have been discussed by the commission and community activists for years.

They include a ban on allowing the noisiest class of jets from being based at the airport; a one-hour increase in the curfew, beginning it at 10 p.m. instead of 11; and extending the curfew to nonemergency helicopter operations.

All the changes would require FAA approval, lengthy hearings and City Council approval.

Residents have attempted to fight noise generated at Van Nuys Airport by pushing for restrictive city policies--such as rules that prohibit all scheduled commercial flights--and monitoring development of airport land. Consequently, they view the proposed master plan as the key element of the battleground.

But aviation and business interests, too, are gearing for a mighty battle. Economically, the airport is a significant contributor to the financial health of the Valley in terms of employment and earnings.

According to a draft environmental impact study on the proposed master plan, the Van Nuys Airport in 1995 had an economic impact of more than $1.29 billion in the region and created 7,983 jobs throughout Los Angeles County.

The economic impact is derived by combining direct benefits at the airport, such as salaries to aviation employees and their companies’ earnings, with indirect benefits, such as expenditures by visitors and flight crews, and then increasing the sum by a standard FAA “multiplier” factor to account for the money being spent and re-spent locally by the recipients.

Robert L. Rodine, a Van Nuys management and business planning consultant, calls the airport crucial to the area’s economy. He said it plays a major role in supporting the entertainment industry--movie stars and executives like private jets--as well as national businesses, such as Budweiser, which is based in St. Louis but has a brewery in Van Nuys.

“My concern is for the entire San Fernando Valley,” Rodine said. “If Van Nuys Airport is not capable of supporting business, those companies will look for sites that can.”

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Kennard, of the Department of Airports, said the debate over the master plan and noise has largely ignored the concerns of the aviation community, which worries that the aged airport lags behind the needs of modern business travelers.

“Van Nuys Airport is a very important aviation facility that affects the lives of hundreds of people, if not thousands of people, within the parameters of the local system. I would not like to neglect the importance of the airport as an aviation facility,” Kennard said.

But she called the proposed master plan “a moving target” being hit from all sides with “a lot of semantic complexities.”

In their latest attack, homeowners resurrected a 1969 airport policy that limits air taxis at Van Nuys to 12,500 pounds. Aviation experts agree that at least half of the jets now being used for air taxi services exceed the limit and, under the airport’s policy, should be banned.

Gerald A. Silver of Encino, a leading anti-noise advocate and head of Homeowners of Encino, recently posed the embarrassing question: How come all those illegal planes are now based at Van Nuys?

Bret Lobner, deputy city attorney assigned to the city Airport Commission, said he has no answer. “The resolution of the board is still valid,” Lobner said. “I have not found anything to rescind it.”

The Airport Commission is responsible for carrying out its policies, but so far has not replied to Silver’s question. The weight issue “is currently under review by our department,” said commission spokeswoman Nancy Niles.

Silver said the issue illustrates the reasons homeowners distrust the Airport Commission.

“I keep asking for enforcement, but the whole thing is swept under the carpet,” Silver said. “How many times can I bang my head against a stone wall?”

“If they’re not going to follow the basic rules, then how do we know that Van Nuys Airport is not going to become another LAX tomorrow?”

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Airport Net Income

Van Nuys Airport has been operating in the red since 1992, with net losses shown in thousands.

‘96: $1,159.

Source: City of Los Angeles, Department of Airports -- Financial Statements.