Town-Village Aircraft Safety & Noise Abatement Committee

TOWN-VILLAGE AIRCRAFT SAFETY & NOISE ABATEMENT COMMITTEE One Washington Street, Hempstead, New York 11550 (516) 489-5000 x3296 – TVASNAC@tohmail.org Meeting Minutes Monday, November 28, 2022 In Attendance Carl Baessler, Village of Atlantic Beach Andrew Weiss, Village of Floral Park Laurence Quinn, Village of Garden City Akiva Lubin, Village of Lawrence Richard Pallisco, Village of New Hyde Park Sean Wright, Village of Valley Stream Shaynee Kessler, Village of Woodsburgh Brad Regenbogen, Town of Hempstead Deputy Town Attorney Executive Director James Vilardi called the meeting to order, and attendance was taken. Joining us for tonight’s meeting on behalf of Nassau County Legislature Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello was Meredith Hughes. James Vilardi asked if everyone had reviewed the September 19, 2022 minutes and if there were any changes. Hearing none, Carl Baessler moved to approve the minutes, and Andrew Weiss second the motion. James Vilardi is hopeful that with our newly elected Long Island representatives in Congress we have a real chance to make some changes in improving residents’ quality of life with respect to airplane noise pollution. In fact, during a recent conversation with Congressman-elect Anthony D’Esposito, the Congressman-elect expressed interest in attending a TVASNAC meeting in the near future. Growing up in Island Park, Congressman-elect D’Esposito is sympathetic to the airplane noise affecting neighborhoods near the airports, is open to listen to our suggestions and is willing to help. Carol Renta advised the Committee that Supervisor Don Clavin has agreed to sign the letter to our federally elected officials recently drafted by Committee members. We hope to get the letter out early in the new year. Hempstead Deputy Town Attorney Brad Regenbogen reported that while he has not yet received documents relative to the F.O.I.L. request he sent to the Port Authority for noise monitor raw data, he did receive a response requesting additional time to provide the requested documentation. The data is due to be received by the Town Attorney’s Office by January 25, 2023. • Laurence Quinn commented once again how important this data will be so we can hold individual airlines and airplane types accountable for waking us up at night and disturbing our peaceful quality of life with their high decibel levels; is Air India the offender? British Airways? DHL? Once we know this, along with the flight numbers, we can hold specific airlines/airplanes accountable. While guidelines suggest anything over 65 decibels would require remediation in the form of sound proofing to buildings in the area, if due to pilot error or airplane type, a plane 1  comes in at a noisy configuration of 120 decibels, there is no consequence or remediation required, because there currently exists no decibel limit. Andrew Weiss of Floral Park and Shaynee Kessler of Woodsburgh advised the Committee that their communities have been experiencing increased air traffic; roughly every 33 seconds during a 6-hour period in Woodsburgh on weekends. • Andrew Weiss suggested telling residents to call the Port Authority complaint line at 800-225-1071 since the Port Authority keeps track of the number of calls received by zip code. Residents most likely will not get a return call, but a paper trail will be created of when and where complaints are being made. o Laurence Quinn added that the Port Authority counts multiple calls from the same phone number as one call regardless of how many times a call is made in one month from the same number. o James Vilardi asked Andrew Weiss if he has any suggestions as to why air traffic has increased recently. ▪ Andrew Weiss responded that his guess would be a combination of the recent bad weather causing changes in flight schedules and the beginning of the holiday season. The Committee discussed holding some future meetings at various Village Halls in the Spring to encourage more community involvement. Members will report back to the Committee at the January meeting as to the availability of holding a meeting at their respective Village Hall, and a schedule will be formalized in the new year. James Vilardi asked committee members to log complaints they receive and problems/patterns they notice in their community into a database and to encourage their Mayor to address airplane noise at meetings requesting complaints be sent to their TVASNAC representative for inclusion into the database. The Committee will then have very specific data to share with our elected officials. James Vilardi asked if anyone had any items to add. Hearing none, Akiva Lubin called for the meeting to be adjourned and Carl Baessler second the motion. Prepared by: Carol Renta Secretary, TVASNAC 2