Town-Village Aircraft Safety & Noise Abatement Committee

TOWN-VILLAGE AIRCRAFT SAFETY & NOISE ABATEMENT COMMITTEE TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD ONE WASHINGTON STREET • HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK 11550-4923 516-812-3296 • TVASNAC@TOHMAIL.ORG Meeting Minutes Monday, November 25, 2019 Nathan L. Bennett Pavilion Hempstead Town Hall In Attendance: Carl Baessler, Village of Atlantic Beach Yehuda Daphna, Village of Woodsburgh Larry Hopenhauer, Executive Director Kurt Langjahr, Village of New Hyde Park Akiva Lubin, Village of Lawrence Andrew Weiss, Village of Floral Park The meeting was called to order and all recited the Pledge of Allegiance.  The minutes of the meeting for October 28, 2019 were presented for approval. Motion was made to approve by Carl Baessler and seconded by Kurt Lang. Motion passed unanimously.  Report from Guest Speaker Bill Huisman, Executive Director of the Aviation Development Council regarding the following: o On November 18, 2019 the reopening of runway 13L/31R took place. o The Airport Noise Report, a weekly newsletter on litigation, regulations and technological developments, reflects the latest changes in flight patterns since the reopening of the runways previously under construction. o The November 1st, the Report featured an article noting that legal action has been taken against the FAA by the Town of North Hempstead with respect to low flying planes and the noise that accompanies that altitude. This was agravated by the above mentioned construction. o Comment by Aiden Hughes, Community Liaison for Congresswomen Judy Griffin: Most other towns do not wish to follow suit because it seems to be a fruitless effort to get the FAA to make changes based on the Towns’ findings. Other towns have sued the FAA around the country with no success.  The Congressional Quiet Skies Caucus sent a letter to Steven Dixon, FAA Administrator with 30 questions. A few are as follows: o Are there better ways to improve communication with residents/communities regarding major impacting matters such as construction? When asked to hold more community based meetings, the response is still to continue to use the Round Table as the means of receiving information. The Caucus as well as Representative Kathleen Rice take exception to the apparent lack of more accessible and direct communication. o There are many Community Provisions of FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 that need to be addressed. 1  o Veda Simmons was appointed the FAA’s Ombudsman for the northern region. It’s unknown when she starts. She will serves as a public liaison for issues about aircraft noise questions or complaints o The Noise Annoyance Survey was supposed to be complete as of January 2019. The Caucus is asking when this will be released. o The LaGuardia Air Train Project: The latest meeting was on November 13, 2019. They are in the environmental impact study stage and are discussing the alternatives to the routing of the Air Train.  Criteria for the Project: Time, Supplemental Access, Reduce trips to and from LaGuardia, Replacement Parking that was lost during Terminal B construction.  Out of 47 options put forth, the PA’s option is the only one that is viable. The beginning point will be LIRR Willets Point and the Number 7 Train. There are oppositional positions because it may block the water view for some residents and will be in operation 24/7. Additionally, the Number 7 Train is typically already at full capacity.  At Larry Hoppenhauer’s request, the following was reported from the Villages regarding any changes in noise and patterns since the reopening of runway 31R o Per Carl Baessler: He will advise on Lido, Long Beach, Island Park, Woodsburgh, Cedarhurst and Lawrence o Per Andrew Weiss (Floral Park): It has calmed down quite a bit o Per Aiden Hughes: Regarding Woodsburgh, he has been advised from a resident that there is an increase in lower flying planes with a lot more frequency.  Larry Hoppenhauer as mentioned at last month’s meeting drafted a template for a letter to be sent to the mayors of committee member villages. He sent this letter to committee members. Committee members were to ask mayors to send this letters on Village stationary and send them to their Washington representatives. The letter expressed disappointment in the lack of actions taken on regarding Community Provisions of FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. It asked our Washington elected officials to hold the FAA accountable. Larry is looking to get some feedback from the Board Members as to how the letter was received by them and who will be sending it out. This will be discussed at the next TVASNAC meeting.  With regard to the newly established Facebook group for TVASNAC, it was encouraged to keep getting the word out to groups that would benefit from the shared information in an effort to build up the members.  Leo Meyers, Staff Assistant for Senator Kaminsky followed up on a topic that came up last month. He stated Senator Anna Kaplan has put forth a bill (S-6676) suggesting New York adopt CNEL (Community Noise Equivalent Level) over DNL (Day-Night Sound Level). CNEL is currently being used in California which was adopted before the FAA mandated DNL, therefore, they were grandfathered in. The suggestion at this time is that this might best be handled at the federal level for legislation because state cannot override federal. o The basic difference in the two methods of calculation is that CNEL takes into consideration community background noise other than aircraft noise. Additionally, CNEL gives more weight to night time noise which can be more of a disturbance for individuals. On the surface, this seems to be a more accurate representation of the impact on individual residents. o Aiden Huges, Special Assistant to Congresswoman Judy Griffin, would like to explore the facts and opinions with a Representative in California. He will share his findings once he makes contact. Larry Hoppenhauer advised the Board to email any questions that may come up to Aiden. 2   A motion was made and seconded to eliminate the December 23, 2019 regularly scheduled TVASNAC meeting due to the upcoming holiday week. Motion passed unanimously.  Larry Hoppenhauer informed the committee members that as it looks now, this will be the last meeting with Gail Rosenbaum as Secretary and himself as Executive Director. That as appointees of the current Supervisor they were asked to submit letters of resignation effective December 31, 2019. One of the many things the new Supervisor will need to do is appoint an Executive Director for TVASNAC. There will be a notice sent to members when the next meeting will be.  A motion to adjourn was made by Carl Baessler and seconded by Kurt Langjahr. Motion passed unanimously. Prepared By: Gail Rosenbaum Secretary, TVASNAC ___________________________________________________________________________________ 3