A riled crowd of about 1,000 concerned citizens turned out at a special meeting Oct. 4 in Liberty Station to give the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) an earful about proposed flight path changes at San Diego International Airport.
A formal, technical slideshow presentation by the FAA detailing proposed flight path changes was cut short by crowd hecklers.
Opponents questioned the federal department’s integrity, accusing it outright of being dishonest. They claimed proposed flight changes outlined in a draft environmental document recently released for public review are a fait accompli.
In response, the FAA discontinued the presentation, opening up the rest of the meeting for public comment. The meeting, however, was not apparently being recorded, a fact mentioned repeatedly by attendees who insisted it was a clear sign the FAA wasn’t taking their concerns seriously and had already begun implementing flight changes. Those changes, many fear, will cause more noise and other pollution and declining property values over the Peninsula.
Many Peninsulans want the FAA to consider retaining the LOWMA Waypoint latitude-longitude navigational guide, which, for more than 20 years has limited aircraft flying over Point Loma. They argue that deviating from that Waypoint will bring more flights, more noise and more pollution over more areas heretofore unaffected.
Addressing the FAA, Casey Schnoor, a Point Loman who’s launched an online petition drive against proposed FAA flight changes that topped 3,000 signatures in less than three weeks, said “this wasn’t on anybody’s radar. We’re disappointed with the (review) process.”
Schnoor pointed out the immense turnout was a clear indication that the public’s comments on proposed FAA flight changes were “falling on reasonably deaf ears.”
Schnoor noted the FAA’s draft environmental document on the SoCal Metroplex Project is 135 pages and covers 180,000 square miles and 21 airports, including Los Angeles.
“This will impact millions of people, with San Diego and 10 other cities fighting you (FAA) vehemently over this issue,” Schnoor said, adding, “That’s bogus.”
Julia Quinn, chair of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, noted Metroplex “is a very complex project.” She pointed out the draft environmental document for proposed airport flight changes is presently not available for public review at the Point Loma Hervey Library, as it should be.
“The bottom line is we’re opposed to the proposed elimination of the LOWMA Waypoint and concerned about the possibility of additional noise,” Quinn said.
Numerous Peninsulans paraded to the microphone, complaining of hearing airplane noise recently when they hadn’t before while expressing fear that proposed FAA flight changes, if implemented, will cause a decline in their property values while disrupting activities at Point Loma Nazarene University and other local schools as well as increasing pollution from soot and other residue filtering from the sky from jet airplane exhaust.
For more information, or to comment on propose air flight changes, visit the website noplanenoise.com as well as a corresponding Facebook page titled Point Loma Air Route Forum.
The FAA said the SoCal Metroplex project would improve the efficiency of airspace in Southern California by optimizing aircraft arrival and departure procedures at more than 20 regional airports, including San Diego’s. The project may involve changes in aircraft flight paths and altitudes in certain areas. But the FAA claims it would not result in any ground disturbance or increase the number of aircraft operations within Southern California airspace.
The draft EA for the SoCal Metroplex project with proposed flight changes for regional airports was released June 10. The public comment period on it, unless it was extended, was scheduled to end Oct. 8. The full text of the Airport Authority’s FAA letter on the Metroplex can be viewed at san.org/metroplex.
