March 07--Complaints about O'Hare jet noise climbed to a new monthly high of more than 6,300 in January, even while the number of households filing gripes with the city dipped, data released Friday show.
A remarkably large number of the total complaints -- about two-thirds -- came from a relatively small but extremely vocal pool of residents.
City aviation officials interpreted the findings as well as new noise monitor readings to indicate that while some communities are indeed receiving the brunt of new jet noise from a new runway configuration, noise levels have diminished in other surrounding areas.
City officials said they traced almost 4,000 complaints to only eight addresses in January.
Just five households in Chicago accounted for 1,948 of the 3,405 noise complaints filed by city residents, according to the data released by the Chicago Department of Aviation. It averaged 390 complaints for each of the five households.
One resident in Itasca kept extremely busy making almost all of the noise complaints in the northwest suburb, 1,363 out of 1,369, the records show.
And 419 of the 696 complaints filed in Norridge in January also came from one address, the noise report noted.
One Wood Dale resident was the source of 261 of the 562 complaints filed in the western suburb.
City officials declined to identify the households, citing both privacy issues and their stated policy not to try to tamp down negative feedback surrounding the runway expansion project at O'Hare International Airport.
Yet the officials strongly highlighted the small but prolific army of complainants, in the face of growing calls for more O'Hare noise abatement by some Chicago aldermen, suburban mayors and members of Illinois' congressional delegation who represent the Chicago region.
"Our extensive outreach campaign during the 12 months leading up to the opening of the runway (on Oct. 17) has raised awareness of the (noise) issue among those affected. Residents are taking advantage of the noise complaint hotline and online submission form," said Gregg Cunningham, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Aviation.
A record 6,321 complaints were made during the month by residents of Chicago and suburbs, according to the tally of calls to the hotline and filings online.
It was up from 4,646 complaints in December and 4,763 in November, which was the first full month after a new runway opened and flight patterns changed at O'Hare to predominantly eastbound and westbound flows.
Some 462 residents filed complaints in January, down from 642 complainants in December, the data indicate.
The January noise report said that 19 of the 32 noise monitors deployed showed lower readings than in January 2013.
Five locations -- in Bensenville, Melrose Park, Mount Prospect, Park Ridge and Wood Dale -- showed higher average noise levels, compared to a year ago.
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