East Hampton Town Board Decides Not to Issue Ban on Helicopters on Weekends

The East Hampton Town Board decided at the Town Board meeting on Tuesday that they will not be issuing a ban on all helicopters on weekends during the summer months at East Hampton Airport.

The ban was one of four restrictions proposed by Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez back in February.

The other three restrictions: a mandatory nighttime curfew from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.; an extended curfew on noisy aircraft from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m.; and a limit on operations by noisy aircraft of one trip (one arrival and one departure) per week during the summer season, will be voted on by the Town Board later this month.

At the public hearing last month and in written comments to the Town Board, both residents and elected officials expressed that the four laws proposed “may not have struck the right balance” and Burke-Gonzalez believes that she the board should modify their approach.

“I believe that there is a strong consensus that the first two rules which impose curfews on nighttime, evening and early morning operations are an essential part of any package,” she said in the press release. “In addition, the one-trip-per-week proposal, which limits the volume and frequency of airport use by noisy aircraft types during the summer season, is also an essential component -- as it limits the number of disruptions from the noisiest aircraft.”

However, Loren Riegelhaupt, spokesman for Friends of East Hampton Airport, released a statement on Tuesday stating that she believes that the “changes won’t change anything at all”.

“The proposal would close off the airport to the vast majority of traffic resulting in a dramatic loss in revenue for the airport and economic activity for our community and will do nothing to mitigate the obvious impact on neighboring communities across the East End,” she said in a statement. “We remain committed to finding real solutions to addressing aircraft noise and welcome the Town’s statement that they want to continue to partner with the aviation community.”

Harris Miller Miller and Hanson (HMMH); a noise consultant group reported that combined, the four proposed rules would restrict types of aircraft at the times of the day, week, and year that are associated with the greatest number of complaints.

Previously, HMMH estimated that the four proposed rules will affect only 31% of all operations, while addressing 74% of all complaints.

Burke-Gonzalez said that the other three restrictions will still affect “75 percent of helicopter operations and 73 percent of associated complaints on weekends and holidays during the summer season.”

She also states that while East Hampton residents deserve relief from “loud and disturbing helicopter noise”, the Town Board needs to be sensitive to the potential that the helicopter noise problem could move from one part of town to another or from one part of the East End to another.

According to Burke-Golzonaz after preliminary conversations with experts on traffic diversion, it was discovered that the ban on helicopters on the weekend could shift the problem to Montauk as well as neighboring communities, however the other three restrictions will be “well tailored” to addressing the problem without creating diverting it, according to the press release.

“Shifting the problem is not the answer, and has never been the answer, as we learned when the FAA’s revised helicopter routes simply moved noise and complaints from one neighborhood to another,” she said.

Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley expressed concern that eliminating helicopter activity on the weekends and holidays at East Hampton Airport could have a negative impact on the Village if operations were to shift to the Southampton Heliport – which is unmanned and lacks emergency services.

“If we received 10% of your overflow, operations would double leaving us with a serious safety issue,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Town Board.

Town of Riverhead Councilwoman Jodi Giglio also asked the Town Board to consider the effects that the proposed legislation would have on all East End Towns not just East Hampton.

She said that a number of civic organizations representing Calverton, Wading River, and Jamesport shared her concern that “an unintended consequence of the proposed legislation will be an increase in helicopter noise over their communities from helicopters going from the Long Island Sound to Gabreski Airport.”

At the public hearing held in March, the Town Board also heard Supervisor Anna ThroneHolst, and Councilwomen Christine Scalera and Bridget Fleming from the Town of Southampton raise similar concerns regarding helicopters diverting to Southampton and Westhampton and the impact that would have on those communities.

In addition, the Concerned Citizens of Montauk sent a letter back in February expressing their concern that if the proposed legislation is adopted, it could impact Montauk’s “economy, environment or residents’ quality of life” and stating that they believe the Town Board has “a responsibility to demonstrate whether alternatives to the proposed legislation could achieve similar results for East Hampton while minimizing or eliminating impacts for Montauk.”

In order to help prevent this problem, Burke-Gonzalez said that during the Town Board meeting scheduled for April 16, she will propose an eight-point plant to enact restrictions to the airport which will included: enacting the three laws, appointing an Airport Management Advisory Committee, working with the FAA on flight tracks, partnering with Eastern Region Helicopter Council, coordinating with Congressional Delegation, installating an Airport Noise and Operations Monitoring System, studying the effectiveness of the new law, and maintain the airport safe and efficient.

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