Signs Of Optimism In Beverly Airport Noise, Pollution Oversight

DANVERS, MA — Officials expressed some optimism on Tuesday that the voices of Danvers residents exasperated from the increased noise and potential air pollution coming out of Beverly Airport in recent years may get some relief through legislation and a more responsive new Beverly Airport manager.

The Danvers Select Board held a public hearing on the airport noise Tuesday in a follow-up to a discussion in October when residents pleaded for something to be done about what they call incessant noise, safety fears and the threat of pollution from leaded gasoline being used by planes performing touch-and-go flight school training on the increasingly trafficked runway nearest to town.

"How can the airport be a better neighbor?" State Sen. Joan Lovely, who grew up in Beverly, asked. "Especially on the Danvers side, which seems to have had the most impact, even though the Beverly residents and Wenham residents are impacted as well.

"We have engaged with the Airport Commission and I do think that they want to be part of re-instilling the good neighbor policy to lessen the impact of the airport surrounded mostly by residential neighborhoods."

Danvers Director of Land Use and Community Services Aaron Henry, who is also Danvers representative on the Airport Commission, said since the fall meeting the Commission has acted to support retiring leaded fuel and has begun to actively review the noise abatement and good neighbor policies and other concerns of Danvers neighbors as Beverly fills the airport manager vacancy.

"Those were largely focused around making sure the Commission establishes clear priorities around what we expect our users on the field to be doing," Henry said. "We think that will set the tone for the next manager and make sure that the manager will understand that this is really the wish of the Commission that we focus on being a better neighbor than we have been the last several years."

State Rep. Sally Kerans (D-Danvers) said she had a "very, very good conversation" with Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill about the airport issues and that she feels "very hopeful that the mayor is paying attention and sees the change in manager as a huge opportunity."

"We're all kind of at the mercy of some of these regulations but I do believe that we're making progress and getting the attention of the Airport Commission," Kerans said.

Norm Abbott, who is regional director for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, said Moulton is a member of the Quiet Skies Caucus that is pushing federal legislation to bar flights before 7 a.m. and after 10 p.m. at airports like Beverly. He also said the Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the leaded fuel implications and that a report due in early 2023 may allow further action to hasten the changeover to unleaded fuel sources.

"The plan is to phase out leaded fuel eventually (by 2035)," he said. "But this is a plan to expedite that process."

Kerans said she plans to refile state legislation that would require the state to collect and publish data on noise and air pollution levels near airports.

"(The airports) will hate this idea," she allowed. "But I think it's worth pursuing. We'll see. Maybe if we could depend on good data it might make things a lot clearer and perhaps then we would have another lever to pull.

"It's been very hard to find the right levers to pull (to get action)."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)