Hope Airport Noise-Impact Zone to Shrink

Hope Airport noise-impact zone to shrink
LA Times: 11.25.2012 by Mark Kellam

The clock is ticking for residents living around Bob Hope Airport to tap a federally funded program to soundproof their houses before a shrinking noise-impact zone renders them ineligible, officials warned last week.

With fewer flights coming in and out of the airfield, and quieter aircraft taking to the skies, the noise-impact zone is expected to shrink significantly at the north and south ends of the runway, meaning homeowners who currently qualify for grant-funded soundproofing may soon find themselves outside the boundaries for the program.

Dan Feger, the airport's executive director, said homeowners who qualify should act quickly.

“It absolutely screams that the people who have the opportunity right now should take advantage of it because in all likelihood funding for that will go away,” Feger said at a meeting of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority last week.

A draft of the so-called noise-impact forecast now goes to the Federal Aviation Administration, which has six months to review it.

Since the launch of the soundproofing program, 2,356 single- and multi-family dwellings have undergone improvements, and the owners of 357 residential units have expressed interest, airport officials said last month.

Those homes have gotten soundproofing improvements, such as double-paned windows, new doors and insulation.

But the owners of 1,926 eligible dwellings have either not participated or expressed interest, despite mailings and personal visits, officials said.  READ MORE !

Sound Insulation Program

Bob Hope Airport, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, has implemented a Residential Acoustical Treatment Program (RATP) that will insulate qualfied residential units in Burbank and Los Angeles.

The Residential Acoustical Treatment Program is the result of the Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 150 Study, originally completed in 1989 and subsequently updated in 2000, that determined which neighborhoods, noise-sensitive public buildings, and local jurisdictional boundaries lie within the noise-impacted area surrounding the Airport. Facilities identified by the study are eligible to receive noise mitigation treatments funded by federal grants and local matching funds supplied by the Airport Authority.

The Authority has implemented two primary mitigation measures approved by the Part 150 Study: insulation of homes within the 65 CNEL impact area (the area where aircraft noise exceeds an average of 65 decibels over a 24 hour period); acquiring avigation easements for homes in the 65 CNEL impact area (easements allowing aircraft to fly over the home without the threat of a future lawsuit by the property owner against the Airport Authority).

Under the insulation program, consultants for the Authority design a specific treatment for each home to ensure that interior noise levels will always remain quiet enough to enjoy normal use of the home, no matter how much aircraft activity there might be. The acoustical treatment may include door and window replacement, attic insulation, weather stripping, ventilation and air conditioning. Once designed, the treatment is installed by licensed, bonded contractors selected by the Authority.

This program is free of cost to the property owner, provided he or she grants the authority an aviation easement.

Program Guidance Letter (PGL) 12-09—Summary

To find out more about this program, contact Hilda Landaverde at (818) 842-1732, or Maggie Martinez at (818) 840-8840 ext. 2226.