Editor,
Planes from John Wayne continue to fly a concentrated path over south Laguna, Dana Point, Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano. It is a concern not just for us, but for communities all over the country—from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Washington D.C to New York. In fact the problems seem to be getting worse, as this week I read an article about the problems from the FAA’s new NextGen system in Huntington Beach.
The City of Laguna Beach has closed their lawsuit with the FAA, so the recourse we have now is with the Board of Supervisors. They have the power to regulate the airport noise. This is not an anti-plane travel issue, it is about the routing and altitude of the planes. In my opinion, this NextGen system is a “failure of imagination” by the FAA that prioritizes cutting costs for airlines at the expense of communities all over the country.
We are only asking that the FAA consider the communities they are flying over, not simply the bottom line for airlines. There is a petition to the Board of Supervisors at Citizensfornoplanenoise.com
Joyce Weatherford, Laguna Beach
Yep. I am woken nearly EVERY morning at 7:04am to the first of SEVERAL flights that cross over Arch Beach Heights. With balconies and windows closed for the winter and colder nights, the morning, noon and night noise will be even more apparent during the hot summers.
I attended the Corona Mel Mar showboating by the FAA and the Laguna Niguel showboating by Dana Rohrabacker who put commerce before his constituents.
Neither meeting did anything to quell or diminish the noise.
Our city did NOTHING as well. My initial contact with the city told me “we don’t regulate the air space above the city”. From the start the city didn’t seem too concerned. Laguna Beach “closed” the lawsuit. I understand the settlement included the FAA being in charge of monitoring the noise levels….yeah…like a coyote watching the chicken shack…
So on to the Orange County Board of Supervisors-not much faith there-they couldn’t help the homeless so how could they help the homeowners?
Dear Mr. Schraff,
I appreciate and agree with many of your assessments. Nonetheless, there are groups still fighting the effects of the FAA’s NextGen system. Citizens for No Plane Noise is one.
The only elected official fighting the FAA bureaucracy with five amendments to the FAA reauthorization bill(H.R 2997), is Dana Rohrabacher. I do not agree with many of his political views, but he is the only one of our elected officials doing something about the noise that daily plagues Laguna Beach and other south county residents who purchased their homes specifically because they WERE NOT under a flight path. The bill will be taken up next week by House of Representatives, a legislative body full of colleagues across the country whose constituents are adversely impact by the FAA’s constant prioritization of airline profits instead of the citizens over which they fly. You can view the Congressman’s five amendments here, and see how they will genuinely help the noise besieging our community now, and will protect us in the future as the John Wayne passenger caps continue to increase over the next several decades: https://youtu.be/ePrNAnp6bUA
Regarding the Orange County Supervisors: The responsibility of monitoring and mitigating aircraft noise falls to airport proprietors(John Wayne is owned by the County of Orange, which profits from the number of flights it accomodates). The proprietors control the times, types, and numbers of arrivals and departures at their facilities. Local governments(the supervisors), who are most familiar with the needs of their communities, have the ultimate responsibility of determining what types of uses are appropriate for the land under flight paths and near airports.
Our County Board of Supervisors is, at the same time, the landlord for the John Wayne Airport, responsible for setting the policy for management and operation of the airport, and responsible for determining land use in areas affected by airport noise. Local municipalities and government can say “we don’t regulate the airspace above our city”, or “Once the plane is in the air, we have no authority over it”. But these local governments can influence and/or impose reasonable restrictions on the times, types, and numbers of aircraft that land and take off at their airport. That is their duty to their constituents – to invite use of the airport that has net positive benefit to all of its residents. We all should insist they do their duty to their constituents on the airport noise issue.
The County’s position with airlines should be “Welcome to Orange County. We’re sure it will be a pleasure doing business with us. But we’re sensitive to our residents’ needs, and if you are going to operate out of our airport then you will need to do so without undue negative impact to the quality of life of our taxpayers. Here’s how we can make that happen together…”
The ordinance that backs up the Supervisors authority to regulate Noise is Ordinance 2-1-30. The authority of proprietors of airports to regulate flights is also backed up by case law.
I would like to follow up on the results of Congressman Rohrabacher’s amendments to the FAA’s reauthorization bill. They were voted down 375-37 by the Republican controlled House of Representatives.