Rattled Residents Grill Port Authority Official on Plane Noise

The fight over the amount of noisy planes flying over Nassau County communities came to Malverne Monday night, where residents expressed their frustration to the man in charge of monitoring the racket.

Edward Knoesel, manager of environmental services for the aviation department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates nearby JFK Airport, was the guest speaker at the May 22 meeting of the Town-Village Aircraft Safety and Noise Abatement Committee. (The coalition of 14 villages in the Town of Hempstead has been meeting monthly to press the Port Authority and Federal Aviation Administration to address residents’ noise complaints and safety concerns.) FAA officials did not attend.

Knoesel delivered a report on operations at JFK during the past 12 months and what noise monitors in the area recorded.

His figures showed that between May 2011 and April 2012, JFK’s four runways — 4L/R, 13L/R, 22 L/R and 31L/R — dealt with a total of 414,859 arrivals and departures. July 2011 saw the most traffic — 39,429 flights. In that month, 22L, which has been a major concern for residents in Garden City, New Hyde Park, Floral Park, East Williston and Stewart Manor, whose homes are under the flight path for planes landing on that runway, handled by far the most arrivals, 7,538. That’s 76 percent more than Runway 31R, the next busiest with 4,291 arrivals, and 142 percent more than 13L, which had 3,119. (Combined 4 L and R had only 2,201.)

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The figures supported what many residents in these communities have been saying for months.

“We’re getting more than our fair share,” said Ray Gaudio, the TVASNAC representative for East Williston. According to his calculations, 22L had about a third of all arrivals at JFK last year.

Knoesel responded, “We actively work with the FAA to try to ensure that they are moving the traffic around to best of their ability … but we don't dictate what they do.”

He explained that on several occasions, , the FAA has publicly stated that it uses four criteria when selecting runways, starting with availability, wind and weather conditions, operational efficiency and then lastly, noise consideration.

Knoesel also talked about the measurements from the nine portable monitors that are located in Inwood, Woodmere, Arverne, Springfield Gardens, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, Cedarhust, Atlantic Beach and Floral Park.

If noise levels exceed 65 dBA, efforts must be taken by the parties responsible to either lower it or sound-proof schools in those communities. For July 2011, the average noise levels recorded by the monitor in Cedarhurst was 75.1; for Woodmere it was 74.7.

Even if a community is right on the cusp of the 65 dBA level though, such as Floral Park, which recorded average noise levels in the low 60s for 11 out of the 12 months, Knoesel said, the FAA and Port Authority are not required to do anything to alleviate the noise impact in these areas.

“It’s based on FAA regulations,” Knoesal said, adding that anything below 65 is not considered to have a “significant impact.”

TVASNAC’s next meeting will be back in Lawrence Village Hall, its primary location, on June 25 at 7:30 p.m.