After months of public outcry, the East Hampton town board convened today to discuss four restrictions on its airport aimed at easing the suffering of East End residents long plagued by helicopter noise.
A proposed new East Hampton local law would ban all helicopters on weekends, implement a mandatory night curfew from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., as well as an extended curfew for noisy aircraft, from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m., and limit operations of noisy aircraft to one trip, or one arrival and one departure, during the summer season.
East Hampton Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said she proposed the restrictions after years of analysis and studies, as well as public outreach and an outcry by residents who say helicopter noise has shattered their bucolic quality of life.
According to East Hampton Town, the proposed local law follows “several years of analyses, studies, public outreach and community meetings, technical outreach and discussions with stakeholders.”
The town also appointed several citizens committees to assist in the effort.
At Wednesday’s East Hampton town board work session, a latest technical analysis was given, indicating that the four proposed restrictions “are closely tailored to the town’s needs, are no more restrictive than absolutely necessary, and are based upon objective data that supports the restrictions. These restrictions could substantially reduce the number of aircraft noise complaints while having a modest effect on the use of the airport. Harris Miller Miller & Hanson reports that, combined, the four proposed rules would restrict types of aircraft at the times of the day, week, and year that are associated with the greatest number of complaints. HMMH estimates that the four proposed rules will affect only 31 percent of all operations, while addressing 74 percent of all complaints,” a release from East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell stated Wednesday.
“The town board recognizes the value of the East Hampton Airport to the community and does not want to impose any greater restriction than is necessary to achieve the town’s objectives,” Burke-Gonzalez said.
The next step, she said, is to have the town’s budget and financial advisory committee analyze the proposed legislation to ensure that the airport remains financially sustainable and is able to meet its capital needs.
Results are expected before the board votes to notice the legislation for public hearing, currently planned for Tuesday’s work session.
“The town board has a public policy responsibility to protect residents from the adverse effects of aircraft noise. We need to strike a balance that ensures the peace, quiet, tranquility and health of our community while preserving for the community the benefits of aviation. We know that some well-funded opponents will sue us — some of them have already done that — but we will not be intimidated. We will do whatever it takes to protect this community and our quality of life,” Burke-Gonzalez commented, in response to threats of litigation.
“People are entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of their homes and the quiet of the open space East Hampton has fought to protect. It is a fundamental reason why people want to live here and it is the basis of our local economy. The increasing footprint of noise and complaints threatens this balance,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said.
Cantwell encouraged residents and stakeholders to provide comments on the proposed local law and to attend the town board’s public hearing tentatively scheduled for March 5 at 4:30 p.m. “This is an important opportunity for us to hear from all those affected by the restrictions,” Cantwell said. “We need to hear from both supporters and opponents alike before we take final action.”
Final town board action is currently scheduled for mid-March.
Citizens from across the East End have galvanized in recent months to form an airport planning, noise subcommittee that worked to draft a report to submit to the East Hampton town board.
“It’s been a long haul and we have reason to feel optimistic. I hope that you will find a way to express your support to the East Hampton town board to act to follow through on their promise of meaningful aircraft noise mitigation for our communities in the 2015 season. We’ve come a long way, but we’re not there yet. Now, the board must act,” said Kathleen Cunningham of East Hampton’s Quiet Skies Coalition last week.
In Southold, a helicopter committee was convened last year after the public cried out for relief. After reading a report and data accumulated by the Airport Planning Committee and Noise Sub-committee to the East Hampton town board, Southold Town Councilman Bob Ghosio, liaison to the committee, said the findings substantiate, “in real numbers, what most residents of Southold and the other affected towns already knew — aircraft noise, especially helicopters, are detrimental to the East End’s traditional tranquil quality of life. The conclusions and subsequent recommendations the report makes for East Hampton to adopt rules limiting aircraft by noise classification and imposing curfews for the noisiest aircrafts, including a total ban on the noisiest helicopters, is reasonably thought out and justified. It is my hope and the hope of the Southold helicopter noise steering committee that East Hampton will seriously consider these recommendations and finally end this long battle over what should be a common right to all who live on the East End, the right to peace and quiet.”
Added Teresa McClaskie, a Mattituck resident and member of the Southold helicopter committee, “Change is in the air. We just may have a less stressful and quieter summer this year. It’s in the works. As a resident that has been subjected to commercial helicopter and seaplane noise for seven years now, I am hopeful, very hopeful, that the East Hampton town board will make the necessary changes at the airport to do what is best for their town and residents. At the same time, I am are also grateful that they are looking to be a good neighbor to thousands of residents on the North Fork.”
McClaskie thanked the many Southold residents who’ve traveled to East Hampton to speak out on the issue. “We have a common goal and it is to work together on a problem that has plagued thousands of residents on both forks. The East End is a beautiful place to live. We must all look to do what we can to preserve it. More work still needs to be done,” she said.
In January, the new year brought what Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell called “a baby step” toward a solution regarding egregious helicopter noise that has had local residents crying out for relief.
On December 31, the town of East Hampton let expire four Federal Aviation Administration grant assurances, taking back the reins in terms of overseeing its airport. For years, East Hampton had its hands tied and could not regulate hours of operation and number of flights after accepting funding from the FAA.
“The expiration of four important FAA grant assurances puts the town in a much better position to locally control the East Hampton Airport,” Cantwell told SoutholdLOCAL
“We have maintained that East Hampton should take control of its own airport and refusing FAA dollars is the first step in that process,” Russell said.
The supervisor said he has been working to address the issue, which has plagued scores of North Fork residents, for years; he has worked with the East End Noise Abatement Committee.
Russell said that he had dedicated “several years of work, to only be told by the East Hampton representative, at the time, that there was nothing that town could do because of FAA commitments. I am cautiously optimistic because this is the first board there that seems to understand the impacts on other towns. There is a long way to go and we have no reason to celebrate. But, if East Hampton does not take FAA money then at least the first step is taken, albeit, a baby step.”
Local residents, incensed with the noise that they said has compromised their quality of life, galvanized in previous months to persuade the East Hampton Town board not to accept any future funding from the FAA — a move that would give East Hampton Town the jurisdiction to ban helicopter traffic altogether.
“Our goal is to ban choppers at the East Hampton airport,” McClaskie. “Thousands of residents from Riverhead, Southampton, Shelter Island and Southold wish to enjoy their backyards, beaches and parks without the disruption of helicopters buzzing overhead.”
Before December 31, East Hampton Town was unable 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 expired December 31. After that time, the town board will be able to dictate helicopter flight times and other restrictions.
Those speaking out against the helicopter noise have said it disturbs residents’ right to peacefully enjoy their homes and property, with an ever-increasing frequency of aircraft operations, especially during heavily trafficked times.
According to the Quiet Skies Coalition of East Hampton, helicopter noise can also disrupt sleep patterns and cause other health impacts, and cause windows to rattle and china to vibrate in cupboards.
The noise, members of the QSC say, can impact children’s ability to learn, and cause “unbearable situations” for those who live under certain helicopter routes.
The group has suggested potential alternatives, including banning all helicopter and seaplane landings at East Hampton airport; applying a community compatible noise emissions standard on all aircraft utilizing the airport; and ensuring East Hampton Town retains its rights as proprietor of the airport — maintaining financial sustainability independent of FAA funding.
Other ideas include limiting hours of operation at the airport, limiting the number and concentration of flights, and possibly creating a slot system for landing aircraft that could be sold by auction, to help bolster financial sustainability of the airport without FAA funding.
McClaskie and Russell have long maintained that for North Fork residents, the problem lies in that pilots, at point of entry on the North Shore routes, have permission to drop altitude based on their own discretion.
McClaskie has also long questioned the safety of helicopters flying over residential neighborhoods, school and fire departments.
In addition, McClaskie believes that helicopter companies with wealthy clientele headed to the Hamptons will fly lower to provide a more scenic ride for their customers.
Helicopter noise, she said, is also damaging to local real estate values. “I work hard for what I own,” she said, adding that the problem has grown tremendously over the past 30 years since she bought her home. “I live in Mattituck. Who would have thought I’d have helicopters whipping by overhead on their way to East Hampton? Some people say you can’t change anything. I’m going to prove them wrong. I’m in this to win it.”
Other efforts in recent months to put the brakes on helicopte noise include a new Southold helicopter committee formed in October with an eye toward urging Southold residents to get involved and make their voices heard.
Bob Mellafonte, chair of the Sag Harbor Citizen Advisory Committee, attended the kick-off meeting, as did other elected officials.
Russell expressed frustration in June, when the federal rule requiring Hamptons-bound helicopters to fly over the L.I. Sound along the north shore was extended for two years. But, while the FAA and the federal transportation department agreed to extend the rule, according Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Tim Bishop, federal authorities did not agree to make the rule permanent or to require helicopters to stay off-shore and fly around Orient Point and Shelter Island on their way to South Fork airports, which Schumer and Bishop had requested. The lawmakers said in a press release they will continue to push for those changes.
Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter sought the “total water route” in 2010, when the FAA was first soliciting comments on a proposed north shore route.
Meanwhile, in August, over 100 incensed Southold Town residents showed up at a helicopter forum held at the recreation center on Peconic Lane, armed with questions and ready to fight.
One by one, residents spoke passionately at the two podiums, describing years of failed attempts to be heard on the federal level and imploring elected officials for help.
