Council Puts Off Decision on Noise at Airport

Hundreds of people packed a council meeting Tuesday to hear some neighbors plead for relief from the roar of jets above their homes, while others testified that they feared loss of their Van Nuys Airport jobs.

Los Angeles City Council members, who trekked to the San Fernando Valley to tackle a proposal to limit noisy planes, faced a crowd of 300 people, far more than usually attend council meetings downtown.

But despite the big turnout, the lawmakers ended up showcasing the limits of their authority to regulate airport matters.

Alan Von Arx, who lives north of the airport, urged the council to adopt the new ordinance and then later pursue a more aggressive plan to phase out noisy older planes completely.

The current plan, two years in the making, would limit noisy planes, called Stage 2 jets, to about 50, the number now based at the airport. By 2010, all other jets operating at the airport would have to meet more stringent noise controls.

“When you have six to eight jets taking off in the course of an hour on a Sunday afternoon, your tolerance level is exceeded,” Arx told the council. Other residents complained about telephone calls disrupted by the drone of planes overhead.

“I think the rights of the people who live in the San Fernando Valley have to become predominant,” said Leonard Shapiro, a regular at council meetings. “We have a right to live a quiet life.”

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Aviation interests, however, tried to focus the council’s attention on the damage they said the new rule would deal to their business.

“If we pass this ordinance, we’re sending a message to businesses throughout the country: We’re saying don’t come to Los Angeles, don’t do business in Los Angeles,” said Mark Sullivan, who runs a firm at the airport catering to corporate travelers.

But Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) countered that failure to address the noise problem will also harm the economy, which he said depends on quality working environments in the Valley.

“This economy cannot develop in the mid-San Fernando Valley if we can’t hear ourselves think,” Sherman said.

He said any ordinance has to phase out the aging, noisy Stage 2 jets, not just cap their number. A voluntary “Fly Friendly” program adopted in 1994 has helped reduce the din at the airport, but a persistent group of well-heeled fliers has repeatedly violated the noise limits suggested for their planes. Frequent offenders include Barron Hilton, chairman of Hilton Hotels Corp., and television producer Steven Bochco, the co-creator of “NYPD Blue,” The Times has reported.

Van Nuys Airport is designated as a reliever port for Los Angeles International Airport. Van Nuys, however, is limited to general aviation and does not serve any commercial airlines, so it does not figure into the region’s broader cargo and passenger picture.

Wary of adopting a rule that could limit its ability to further tighten regulations later, the council decided to seek federal advice about how far it could go. After two hours of testimony and debate, the lawmakers agreed to delay a decision for at least three months.

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“Really, both sides are right,” Councilman Joel Wachs finally said. The proposed ordinance “doesn’t go far enough, from one standpoint, and it will cause economic damage, from the other standpoint.”

The council members repeatedly sought advice about the bounds of their authority from Assistant City Atty. Bret Lobner, who handles airport issues.

Under federal law, the city can prevent new Stage 2 planes from taking up residence at Van Nuys because such a plan was already being considered when a federal law governing airport noise was passed in 1990. But it remains unclear whether the city is permitted to phase out the noisiest planes altogether. “We need further information,” said Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. “If we adopt this, does it then close the book on the right to pass a phase-out rule?”

The city’s Board of Airport Commissioners adopted the current proposal in July. On Tuesday, the council faced the option of accepting or rejecting it--but not the choice of amending it without sending it back to the board.

“The best public policy is to pass a much stricter ordinance,” Sherman said after the meeting, “but government is the art of the possible.”