Aviation Fact Sheet #2. A discussion of noise around O'Hare airport.
By Guest Author- April 1, 1996
Aircraft noise is an unavoidable byproduct affecting the areas surrounding a major airport. While technological advances in aircraft and ground soundproofing reduce noise levels, these improvements may not be sufficient to satisfy communities seeking immediate results. Such expectations can be the source of considerable friction between local residents and airport officials and frequently stymie efforts to expand or build new airports
Several major cities across the country are currently litigating or attempting to address noise issues as part of the strategy for developing more aviation capacity in their respective regions. In fact, the decision to proceed with the construction of a new Denver airport and to close Stapleton Airport was partially triggered by noise-related litigation filed in the early 1980s. A group of cities in southern King County, Washington is reportedly preparing to litigate a proposed third runway at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport after previous legislation and a lengthy assessment of the alternatives to runway construction has failed to stop the construction of the new runway. In Seattle, a panel of experts was appointed by the Governor to serve as an objective third party in evaluating noise issues. In the Los Angeles area, the parties that are pushing for the expansion of the airport in Burbank as a reliever to the Los Angeles airport are considering a professional mediation process to resolve noise and other airport issues.
Because local noise concern is a powerful detriment to the development of new aviation facilities, Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have been working over the past decade with the airlines to implement technological solutions (quieter airplanes) and operating strategies (such as changing flight paths over less-populated areas) to reduce airplane noise. Federal legislation, adopted in 1990, requires airlines to replace "Stage 2" aircraft with newer and quieter "Stage 3" planes by December 1999. The FAA recently reported that, as of 1994, 66% of all airplanes in operation were Stage 3 aircraft.[1]
Congress and the FAA have also made new federal funding available to airport operators for sound mitigation and authorized the use of passenger facility charges, federally-authorized user fees on airline passengers, for noise mitigation. For example, Massport, the regional authority that operates Boston's airport and port facilities, agreed in 1993 to fund a $100 million noise mitigation program which included noise, traffic and other mitigating strategies.[2] Airports around the country are undertaking a range of noise mitigating strategies.
The Debate about Airport Noise
Since the early 1980s, the City of Chicago has increasingly been the target of noise-related lawsuits filed by municipalities and school districts bordering O'Hare. In 1982, a court-ordered consent decree, resulting from litigation filed by suburban communities, banned the construction of new runways at O'Hare Airport for a period of thirteen years and required that the City implement a series of noise mitigation activities.
The City of Chicago, working with the FAA, is responsible for assessing noise impacts of airline traffic.[3] The City reports that the number of homes in the O'Hare area affected by aircraft noise declined by almost 50 percent (from 229,000 to less than 115,000 homes) between 1979 and 1993. The same study projects that the number of homes affected by aircraft noise would be reduced by another 50 percent by 1998 (see figure 1). The actual and projected noise "footprint" of O'Hare is summarized in figure 2.[4]
Until 1994, the primary strategies that the City has relied on to address noise problems were the technological solution of converting airline fleets to quieter standards and the soundproofing of public buildings. According to the City, about 73 percent of all aircraft using O'Hare airport are now equipped with quieter engines. During the past decade, almost 70 schools have received a total of about $180 million in mostly federally-funded soundproofing improvements.[5]
With the publication of its O'Hare "Part 150 Noise Compatibility Plan," the City indicated a willingness to commit to a more substantial noise-mitigating program. A stronger noise-mitigating program is made possible by the availability of a strong new revenue source -- the passenger facility charge (a passenger use tax authorized by Congress in the early 1990s). The Part 150 Noise Compatibility Plan is a noise mitigation program that includes the following:
- Conversion airline fleets from Stage 2 to Stage 3 level
- Soundproofing of homes and public institutions within the O'Hare noise footprint
- Increase of noise monitoring and reporting
- Alteration of flight paths during night hours where possible
- Purchase of noise absorption equipment for use during airplane maintenance procedures
- The purchase of some homes within the noise footprint
- Adoption of zoning and building code changes by municipalities that border O'Hare to limit residential development and to improve soundproof quality of new homes constructed
In May 1995, the City announced a $270 million, ten year noise abatement program consistent with and building on the published plan (see figure 3). Notably, the City is installing a $4 million permanent noise monitoring system around O'Hare and Midway Airports, which is expected to be operational by late 1996. The monitoring system will, for the first time, provide airport management and the general public with comprehensive data of actual noise in areas adjacent to the airport; to date, noise impacts have been assessed through computer modeling and "hotline" complaints.
Additionally, the City announced its intention to purchase a more sophisticated sound absorption mechanism, known as a "hush house," for use during maintenance procedures on the ground. More significantly, the City has agreed to form an O'Hare Noise Commission, a majority of whose members would be suburban officials, and is setting aside $180 million over the next ten years for the Commission to program for soundproofing and other noise reduction activities. A similar commission for Midway would be eligible to program $22 million over ten years for noise mitigation. The City represents that no other U.S. airport matches this level of expenditure or commitment on noise reduction.
While there are a number of parties that have challenged the City on the issue of O'Hare noise, the most vocal and visible critic continues to be an alliance of suburban officials known as the Suburban O'Hare Commission. Representing 11 of the suburban communities and portions of unincorporated DuPage county adjacent to O'Hare, the Commission has provided a unified voice on issues relating to O'Hare and continues to challenge the sincerity of the City in undertaking noise reduction actions. The Commission has recently announced its plans to design and install its own noise-monitoring system, though it's not clear that this can be funded and implemented.
Conclusions
Based on known methods of assessing noise levels, O'Hare noise is affecting fewer residences despite the fact that new housing has been built in the suburbs adjacent to O'Hare Airport.[6] The full deployment of Stage 3 jets by 1999, combined with the O'Hare noise mitigation program, can go a long way to reducing the noise impacts caused by O'Hare airplanes. Data from the new airport noise monitoring stations will be an important tool in shaping future noise mitigating strategies.
To prevent the repetition of noise conflicts in the future, experts advise that land use controls must be put in place in areas adjacent to airports. [7] Land use strategies include, for example, the designation of an environmental protection area or the enactment of more stringent land use controls in adjacent municipalities to prevent the development of uses that are not compatible with airport activity. Recently, the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport Board successfully litigated the right to rezone property in adjacent municipalities to prevent further encroachment of residential development in areas adjacent to the airport. In Denver, additional land was purchased as a buffer zone adjacent to the Denver airport. Non-compatible land uses in areas adjacent to airports has become such a concern that the FAA has even considered disqualifying facilities that have been recently constructed within the noise footprints of airports from receiving federal noise mitigation funds.
The new Denver International Airport, situated 20 miles northeast of downtown Denver, encompasses 48 square miles (twice the size of the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport – the last major airport built in the U.S. before Denver). To assure that future land use development will be compatible with the airport and its noise, the City of Denver controls nearly an additional 30 square miles of residential property extending two miles out from each runway. Compatible land uses include industrial, commercial, and less noise sensitive uses. Adams County government, where the new Denver airport is situated, has also taken additional steps to assure that land development is primarily commercial ands industrial rather than residential.[8] Despite these precautions, the new Denver airport is receiving significantly more noise complaints than did the previous airport.
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is currently studying the siting of a new airport in the area of Peotone, Illinois. The site plan for the facility proposes a 23,500-acre airport with the designation of 9,500 acres as a "development buffer zone." IDOT is currently working cooperatively with local governments to assure that land within this zone, where noise from the airport will be the harshest, is used for commercial purposes rather than residential use. Nearly 1,000 people reside in the area where the airport and buffer zone would be located.
1. Airports, August 29, 1995.
2. "$100 million for Logan area upheld...," The Boston Globe, June 9, 1995.
3. Historically, assessing the level of noise on area residents has been accomplished through computer modeling as approved by the FAA, not by actually measuring noise. This will change as the noise monitoring system that the City is developing is put in place over the course of this year.
4. Noise footprint refers to the cluster of residences surrounding the airport, which collectively experience an average annual noise level of 65 decibels over a 24-hour period. 65 decibels is considered to be the level of a commuter train and is the threshold set by the FAA.
5. "O'Hare noise suit to cost city $12.2 million," Chicago Tribune, February 12, 1996.
6. Housing permit data was analyzed by Strategy Planning Associates and reported in "The O'Hare International Airport Part 150 Noise Compatibility Plan Summary", July 1994.
7. Excerpted from the report of the Industry Task Force on Airport Capacity and Improvement and Delay Reduction, Transportation Research Board, as reported in "Regional Airports Needed to Solve Capacity Problems", American City and County, June 1990.
8. "Way Out Yonder. . . ," Planning, April 1990.