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Neighborhood report

As airport grows, so does the noise

Some neighbors worry the early morning flights and general loudness will only get worse.

By JACKIE RIPLEY
Published November 4, 2005

TOWN 'N COUNTRY - Anyone who lives near an airport, or even in its flight path, knows what it's like when the roar of a jet engine stops conversation. They also know what it's like when that same roar rattles the windows at night.

Just ask Sandra Rousse, whose home is too close for comfort to Tampa International Airport.

The noise is worse when "planes go too early in the morning or off their flight path," said Rousse, who lives at the north end of George Road in Town 'N Country. "Planes should not take off before 6 in the morning and they should fly out over the bay."

Rousse frequently attends the airport's expansion and noise consortium meetings with her partner Ken Boyung. She said they are frustrated not only by jet engine noise but also by many of her northwest Hillsborough neighbors who either fail to come to the meetings, or "complain with each other about noise but not to the airport."

"They need to complain to the right people," she said. "It's the only way to make a change."

And the noise will only get worse, predicts Rousse, once TIA completes its new north terminal complex. The expansion, scheduled to be finished in about 10 years, will include a new north-south runway to be built along the western edge of the airport's property along Eisenhower Boulevard.

"It will certainly affect our pocketbooks when it comes time to sell our property," Rousse said. "Who wants to buy property that is outrageously noisy at times?"

The new runway also means the FAA tower will have to be moved to ensure controllers have sight of all aircraft. Plans call for moving the employee parking lot on the north side of the airport property to the south side where the post office now sits. The post office will move off site and cargo operations will move to Drew Park.

It will be 2017 before TIA's new runway is up and running. However, groundwork already is in place. In fact, when the section of the Veterans Expressway west of the airport was built, contractors installed shorter than normal light poles in accordance with flight clearances, said Louis Miller, airport executive director.

"We have 260,000 people landing and taking off per year," at TIA, Miller said. "We will need a new runway when the number is 340,000 to 350,000, which will be around 2016."

People on the ground complaining about aircraft noise prompted airport officials to adopt an FAA-approved noise-abatement program several years ago. It includes having pilots choose runways that put their planes over water or less populated areas.

The program, however, is voluntary.

"We do what we can," Miller said. But "we find airlines violating."

Miller said the reasons pilots ignore the noise abatement program vary, including attempting to avoid airport congestion.

Even so, noise abatement measures only "minimize the impact," Miller said. "It does not eliminate it."

The airport employs a noise specialist, Ken Reed, to monitor noise complaints and operations at the airport. And it holds quarterly community noise consortium meetings that are open to the public.

"We try to communicate to the public as much as we can," Miller said. "We speak at neighborhood meetings. We try to be good neighbors."

Anyone with airport noise concerns can contact Reed at 813 870-7843 or by e-mail at kreed@tampaairport.com

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 08:48:08]