Flawed Report Aims to Stifle Controls on Noise

The Los Angeles Department of World Airways has just released its economic report on the impact of a non-addition rule at Van Nuys Airport.

The rule under consideration by the Board of Airport Commissioners would ban any increase in noisy Stage 2 aircraft from being based at Van Nuys.

As expected, the self-serving, biased report supports major expansion at the airport. In addition, the study, prepared by Airport Corp. of America and paid for by the World Airways Department, is timed to stifle meaningful noise controls at the airport.

During the past several decades, Van Nuys Airport has changed from a small facility serving weekend hobby fliers into a international jet center. Today, some of the world’s noisiest corporate jets fly into the heart of a residential community. It has become popular because of a handful of globe-hopping jet-setters want to avoid the congestion at Los Angeles International Airport.

The economic study is grossly flawed and inaccurate. For example, the report shows that the number of noisy Stage 2 jets based at Van Nuys between 1994 and 1997 increased from 51 to 53--only a 4% change. The truth is that the Van Nuys operations manager officially reported an increase from 32 to 47 noisy jets, a 50% increase.

The study claims that the imposition of a non-addition rule banning more noisy Stage 2 aircraft from joining the fleet would have a severe economic impact on the airport tenants. It alleges that from $141 million to $424 million of revenue will be lost over three years by not allowing more Stage 2 jets.

The report concludes that noise and operational “limitations should not be implemented” at Van Nuys based on the perceived real and severe economic impacts to the airport and its users and tenants.

But if this is true, then why are so many other urban airports around the country banning Stage 2 jets?

A non-addition rule would not cause economic chaos, jobs would not be lost, companies would not close and jets wouldn’t stop coming to Van Nuys--only the noisiest would be excluded.

Van Nuys Airport has become the noise dumping ground for virtually every corporate jet and helicopter banned from other airports. The non-addition rule would bring real noise relief to tens of thousands of Valley residents.

The study collected most of its data from a subjective poll of fixed-based operators at Van Nuys. Airport Corp. of America simply asked tenants to give their unsubstantiated opinion of the impact of a non-addition rule. As expected, the tenants predicted that the sky would fall if they were stopped from bringing in more noisy jets.

In contrast, an FAA-funded study, conducted by Booz, Allen & Hamilton, reports that moderately priced homes near airports take a real beating because of noisy planes. The average appraised value of a residence dropped by $60,873, or 18.6% by virtue of being near a noisy airport.

If Airport Corp. of America had sought facts, it would have discovered that the devaluation of local residential property far outweighs the potential economic gains to a few fixed base operators. If only 7,000 residential properties surrounding the airport were devalued by $60,873 each, the loss would come to more than $420 million. This loss to property owners would also be reflected in millions of dollars of lost annual property taxes to the city.

This analysis does not include the additional losses due to interruption of home occupations, telephone calls, sleep, medical and health costs, etc.

Another distortion of the report is the claim that hundreds of jobs would be lost if the tenants were not allowed to expand their fleet of noisy jets. The unaudited tenant survey claims a potential loss of 123 to 566 jobs. These jobs are “potential” jobs; you cannot lose jobs you never had.

Airport Corp. of America did not consider the economic alternative of developing part of the airport’s acreage as non-aviation uses, such as a shopping center or industrial park. An environmentally sensitive, planned commercial / light industrial development would provide many more jobs, generate payroll taxes and bring in substantially more revenue to the airport and the city.

Residents must understand what is really at stake and make their voices heard at the next Airport Commission hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys. Residents should speak out not only for a non-addition rule, but insist on a phaseout of existing noisy Stage 2 jets and implementation of a badly needed helicopter curfew.

Residents must demand that the Board of Airport Commissioners disclaim the biased economic study and not use it as a justification for bringing in more Stage 2 jets.

If the Los Angeles Department of World Airway’s only measure of impacts are jobs and profits, then why not destroy more prime residential properties in communities such as Van Nuys, Encino, Tarzana and Sherman Oaks? Just plow up the driveways and replace them with heavy, polluting manufacturing industries, smoke stacks, heavy trucking, rail yards and the like. That will provide even more work at profits.

What is needed is balance. The Department of World Airways must not only preserve the economic viability of Van Nuys Airport but must protect the interests of the residents as well. The imposition of a non-addition rule and phasing out noisy jets would strike that balance.