North Fork neighbors concerned about helicopter noise are urged by Mattituck resident Teresa McCaskie to turn out Thursday night for an East Hampton town board meeting and lend their voices to the discourse.
The meeting will include time for public comment, McCaskie said. “At present, there is a strong push to ban helicopters at East Hampton airport. This will surely provide much needed relief for the residents of the North Fork,” she said.
McCaskie has asked residents who would like to carpool to meet her; she said she will pick up any riders from the Mattituck Waldbaum’s shopping plaza at 5:00 p.m. for the 6:30 p.m. meeting at East Hampton Town Hall. “Grab a neighbor or a friend,” she said. “Together we can make change happen.”
As the clock ticks toward a December 31 deadline that could signal signficant changes in the North Fork’s helicopter noise situation, local residents are galvanizing and urging the East Hampton Town board not to accept any future funding from the Federal Aviation Administration — a move that would give East Hampton Town the jurisdiction to ban helicopter traffic altogether.
For months, McClaskie, a member of the Southold Heliciper and other North Fork residents have raised their voices against an escalating helicopter noise issue on the North Fork that they say has shattered their bucolic quality of life .
And as the deadline looms for East Hampton’s contractual obligations with the FAA to expire on December 31, residents are keeping up the push. East Hampton Town is currently not able to regulate its rights as proprietor and impose limitations on the times helicopters can fly and the number of flights allowed, because the town accepted Federal Aviation grant funding years ago, with a 20-year window, Russell said at a town board meeting in 2013.
A noise abatement group sued the FAA nine years ago, based on the fact that the town improvements funded with the FAA funding was based on a master plan that had not yet been formally adopted. The group won, and the statute of limitations for the time when East Hampton has had to give up its rights of proprietorship is set to expire on December 31. After that time, the town board will be able to dictate helicopter flight times and other restrictions.
At an East Hampton town board work session on Tuesday, the East Hampton Airport Phase II Noise Analysis was presented by Katie van Heuven of Kaplan, Kirsch, Rockwell and Ted Baldkwin of Harris, Miller, Miller & Hanson, Inc.
HMMH is an environmental consulting firm, with a focus on noise, that’s been working with East Hampton Town since 2003.
According to the study, from November 1, 2013, to October 31, 2014, there were 23,954 complaints received and recorded from 633 addresses.
In addition, according to the report, approximately 13,000 takeoffs and 13,000 landings were recorded during the same time period.
The study concluded that people “are far more likely to complain about helicopter operations than jet, seaplane or other propeller operations.” And, the report continued, “The rate at which helicopter complaints are submitted increases faster than the rate at which operations increases. On average, there is more than one complaint per helicopter operation in any given hour.”
The noise from aircraft operating at East Hampton Airport “disturbs many residents of the East End of Long Island,” the report noted, especially during evening and night hours and when operations are most frequent.
Alternatives were discussed, with some being deemed unreasonable, including taking no action, or fee-based restrictions, as a fee would have to be high enough to change behavior and such a high fee might not be reasonable under federal law.
Other possibilities included banning the noisiest and “most disturbing aircraft operations”, the report said.
The town board has considered the possibility of a “slot system” to limit concentrated operations for any given time or day, with operators possibly requiring advance permission during peak periods. Possible challenges include the fact that most operations are unscheduled and “allocation could be complicated.”
Another possibility discussed would be time limitations on when helicopters could fly in and out of the airport. The time of day, week, or year could be restricted, with operations prohibited during evenings or too early, with curfews at night and in the morning.
Meanwhile, a response to the recommendations offered by the town board was given by Loren Riegelhaupt, spokesman for the Friends of East Hampton Airport Coalition.
“These recommendations are just the latest example of the town board simply not understanding basic facts of what it is doing and the impacts banning flights will have to the local economy,” she wrote. “In their report they recommend creating a slot system where only three aircraft can land per hour, while all other aircraft — more than 150 per day during peak days — will simply fly to Southampton. This is complete and utter nonsense. Southampton simply doesn’t have the capacity to take on all of the flights diverted from East Hampton. They are already too busy and there isn’t enough space available. It is simply impossible.”
She added, “What’s most troubling about this plan is if the curfew and slots systems are put in place, the town will lose an estimated 500 visitors per day, or 1,500 visitors per weekend, or roughly 24,000 for the summer. Even a conservative estimate would show a loss of approximately $36 million for the local economy. And, even if you use the town’s numbers, which are laughably low, the town still ends up losing 12,000 people for the summer or $18 million in revenue. The town board needs to understand that it is playing with fire and while they think they can distort numbers to substantiate their claims, the outcome will not change. Implementing a slot system, or eliminating aircraft will have a devastating impact on the local economy. To paraphrase the late great former New York State Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the town is entitled to its opinion but not its facts. If this plan is enacted it will severely harm local businesses that rely on the summer season and undermine the local economy.”
Residents who cannot attend Thursday night’s meeting can send their thoughts to the East Hampton town board at HTOcomments@EHamptonNY.gov.
