Joint task force to tackle airport noise issues ready for takeoff
The runway is clear for representatives from several agencies to meet and discuss how to address noise issues stemming from Hollywood Burbank and Van Nuys airports, but some residents from Studio City think more immediate actions can be taken.
The first meeting of a joint task force created by Hollywood Burbank and Los Angeles World Airports, which operates the Van Nuys airfield, will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport, said Frank Miller, executive director of Hollywood Burbank, during a meeting of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday.
Miller said the task force is made up of members representing U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris and U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman and Tony Cardenas.
Additional members include Los Angeles City Council members Paul Krekorian, David Ryu, Paul Koretz, Nury Martinez; Burbank Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy and Vice Mayor Sharon Springer; and Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian and Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek, who is also a commissioner on the Burbank airport authority.
“The make-up of this task force was done specifically to ensure representation for all communities in the L.A. basin,” Miller said. “Because, as we all know, we are not eliminating noise. We’re trying to determine how best to mitigate noise impacts in the region.”
Although there are many members on the task force, Miller said the Federal Aviation Administration has committed to have representatives attend the meetings, but not as participants in the discussions.
The airport authority also directed Miller to ask the airlines operating at the airport to send representatives to the meetings to at least hear what the public has to say about the noise issue.
Some residents from Studio City and the south San Fernando Valley have been regularly reminding Burbank airport officials that they think the noise coming from departing flights out of Hollywood Burbank that fly over their neighborhoods has not gotten any better and that an immediate fix is needed.
Planes leaving Hollywood Burbank have been traveling farther south toward Studio City and making their northbound turns above the L.A. neighborhood, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Landrum & Brown last October and recently confirmed by the FAA.
Suellen Wagner and Kimberly Turner, founders of a group called Studio Cities for Quiet Skies, pleaded with authority members to listen to Dan Feger, the airport’s former executive director, who sent a letter to the commission recently asking the airport to put a moratorium on air-service development and use financial incentives to get the airlines to make northbound turns around the 101 Freeway.
Wagner, Turner and many of their fellow residents have said they do not think the task force will be successful.
“This task force was formed because there is a substantial community problem, yet no community members are allowed to sit on this committee,” Turner said.
