Teterboro Airport Noise A Big Problem For Mahwah, Mayor Says

MAHWAH, NJ — The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is seeking comments on recent flight pattern adjustments at the Teterboro Airport. What they'll be hearing out of Mahwah isn't positive.

Mahwah Mayor Jim Wysocki has sent a letter to the Port Authority, criticizing the decision and the impacts that it's had on the township, and the people who live there.

"As many of you are aware, the recent changes to the flight pattern into Teterboro Airport has created an incredible amount of low flying aircraft over residential neighborhoods in Mahwah. This is completely unacceptable," he said.

Within the letter, Wysocki said the increase in jet noise is "destroying our residents' quality of life," and that noise pollution is especially bad between 5 and 8 p.m. most days, and heightened further on Friday and Saturday.

According to the City of Hackensack, Federal Aviation Administration officials informed the city that flight patterns at the airport were changed as of July 1.

The reason for the change was the same as what Mahwah residents and officials are complaining about currently: jet noise.

Hackensack, as well as the Teterboro Airport Noise Abatement Advisory Committee, had fought for years to have the flight pattern changed, but it hasn't rid all county residents of the nuisance.

According to the city, the new flight pattern directs Teterboro Airport flight traffic over Route 17, rather than over Prospect Avenue and other residential areas in Hackensack.

Mahwah officials say that's a huge portion of the problem.

In the letter to the Port Authority, Wysocki stated that a Final Environmental Assessment conducted by the FAA was "flawed" because it "excludes communities, like Mahwah, along the Route 17 corridor that are less than 20 miles away from the airport."

This, according to Wysocki, allowed the flight pattern adjustment to happen, affecting the more than 25,000 residents of Mahwah.

Wysocki has called for additional memberships to the Teterboro Airport Noise Abatement Advisory Committee, which would allow Mahwah and other Bergen to have a say in airport decisions that could impact local residents.

However, the letter has also pitted current members of that committee, Hackensack specifically, against the township.

"Hackensack appears to have benefited from this partnership by successfully moving waypoints to the west away from its residents," the letter reads.

"However, Hackensack's win has now become Mahwah's burden."

Read the two-page letter below:

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