Accept Non-Addition Rule

For the past 10 years, city officials, airport operators and homeowner groups have been squabbling over whether to cap the number of noisy older jets that are based at Van Nuys Airport. A new cap proposal will come before the City Council this month. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing--and far better than putting the issue off yet again. The proposal deserves council support.

The so-called non-addition rule would cap the number of older, Stage 2 aircraft--which are far noisier than the newer Stage 3 planes--at the number based at Van Nuys now, about 50. Until 2005, a Stage 2 aircraft that is retired or relocated could be replaced by another Stage 2 aircraft.

Homeowners, weary of the constant thunder of jets overhead, argue that the cap is too weak in that it would allow at least 50 Stage 2 jets to remain at Van Nuys. But that’s not likely to happen. Replacement planes would not be given a permanent exemption and would have to be removed by 2011. And according to a report by the Los Angeles Department of World Airports, there is quite a lot of turnover.

Between 1995 and 1997, 34 of 51 Stage 2 jets left their base at Van Nuys and were replaced by 36 other Stage 2 jets. If the non-addition rule had been in effect, only 34 replacement jets would have been brought in and only until the 10th year, leaving just 17 permanently based Stage 2 aircraft after that. Assuming, that is, all 17 were still there.

Is 10 years too long for homeowners to wait for relief? The numbers could be reduced before then if aircraft operators decide it’s not worth their while to bring in replacement Stage 2 planes for such a relatively short time. Besides, not approving the cap could delay relief even longer. Imagine how few noisy, older planes might be based at Van Nuys Airport today had a cap first proposed in 1989 been approved.

Critics who represent aviation interests say the cap goes too far and would drive out business, costing the San Fernando Valley millions.

But capping the number of Stage 2 jets is a reasonable restriction that is unlikely to affect the Van Nuys Airport’s biggest asset: its location as a convenient and cheaper alternative to Los Angeles International Airport. The proposal’s 10-year time frame is fair warning for operators to plan ahead and budget for replacing aging jets.

In addition, “itinerants,” or Stage 2 jets that are not actually based at Van Nuys, could continue to use the airport, although their use would be curtailed to no more than 30 days a year. Stage 2 jets would be allowed beyond the 30-day limit for major repairs or refurbishment--a big business at Van Nuys--if they received a permit in advance.

Anti-noise activists, of course, don’t like these provisions because itinerant and repair traffic make up a large part of the airport’s activity--and noise. They want the City Council to hold out for a more stringent rule, including one that would phase out all Stage 2 jets.

But the City Council can’t simply amend the proposal. The council would have to send it back to the Board of Airport Commissioners. The last time the council turned down a cap proposal was more than two years ago--the amount of time it’s taken the board to come back with a new proposal. To send it back again would mean yet another delay.

Even the Board of Airport Commissioners could not, on its own, approve phasing out Stage 2 jets completely. To do so, it would have to comply with a lengthy and costly Federal Aviation Administration study mandated by the Airport Noise and Control Act, passed by Congress in 1990. However, because the city first considered caps before the noise act was passed, the FAA will allow a non-addition rule without a study. It could be imposed now, with no more delays.

The City Council can revisit the issue later, if need be, to see if noise levels have been reduced as promised or if more needs to be done. But it can--and should--impose a cap now.