Residents Discuss Noise Document

Considering it was a discussion on excessive noise, it was awfully quiet as only about 15 Valley residents attended a Friday public hearing in Sherman Oaks on the revised Los Angeles noise plan.

Although the new Los Angeles Noise Element covers everything from barking dogs to construction, the main topic for those in attendance was airports.

“The number of planes, the size of them and the noise have increased dramatically over the past years,” Reseda resident Karen Sullivan said. “We’ve lived here 10 years and the number of planes has just increased amazingly.”

Friday’s hearing was the first time the noise document had been before the public since the original Noise Plan was adopted in 1975. The new element includes noise sources, mitigation strategies and regulations created after 1975.

The report explains regulations that relate to Los Angeles, as well as differentiating what falls under federal, state and city jurisdictions.

A few at the meeting wondered if a new noise plan would make a difference.

“In 1975 we went through this and things have gotten worse, not better,” said Gerald Silver, president of the Homeowners of Encino. “We put in policies and those policies are ignored, especially by Van Nuys Airport.”

Hearing Examiner Anne V. Howell often had to remind people that the hearing was on the planning document and not finding new solutions.

“I appreciate your frustration,” Howell said. “If you have questions on individual flights you have to go to the individual airport. I can’t answer the solution questions that have been raised here.”

Howell will next conduct a hearing at Loyola Marymount University near Los Angeles International Airport in Westchester on Tuesday. Then she will present the element and a synopsis of the testimony to the Planning Commission.