Options to muffle airport noise limited at MSP

Caught off guard by more airplane noise over south Minneapolis neighborhoods, city and state officials are looking to help homeowners seeking noise-abatement measures and to extract better information from airport authorities.

But they face major obstacles dealing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and with the semi-autonomous agency that runs Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"We don't have too many sticks," said Minneapolis City Council Member John Quincy, who has specialized in airport noise. "We don't even have too many carrots."

While some of the homeowners hope they'll qualify for government noise-proofing programs, one council member isn't optimistic. "I'm trying to figure out how to explain to folks [what the barriers are] to getting anything done," said Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy, chair of the city's transportation and public works committee and a veteran of airport noise issues.

An airport official in charge of noise management said the flights aren't loud enough to qualify more homes for its noise-proofing program.

Years after a battle over airplane noise ended in a court-approved truce, the new controversy illustrates how little control Twin Cities communities have over decisions made by the airport or the FAA, whose policy contributed to the increased noise.

Flights over the Keewaydin and Ericsson neighborhoods on the city's south side increased by about 25 percent from January through August from 2010 to 2011. Homeowners began noticing the extra noise in the spring, but didn't know the reason for it.

The FAA never told residents it was routing more departures over the neighborhoods as a safety measure after a near-collision between two planes in September 2010.

Colvin Roy and the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), the agency that runs the airport, said they were unaware of the change until they met with an FAA official a week ago.

"I was surprised ... that they made this change and didn't tell us," said MAC chairman Dan Boivin. "Unless there's some reason we haven't heard, we need to be more involved."

Before its disclosure, the FAA cited wind direction and airline schedules when asked about increased noise.

"There should be a reasonable answer instead of ... this runaround and deflection," Quincy said.

The change moved northbound departures from runway 30L to runway 30R, sending more planes over Keewaydin and Ericsson.

Asked why the FAA didn't inform local officials earlier, spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory wrote, "The tower personnel didn't think this represented a change of flight paths." The current takeoff arrangement, she added, had been specified as an FAA standard operating procedure and was used most of the time.

Can anything be done?

Minneapolis, Richfield and Eagan sued the MAC years ago, claiming it violated state law by not providing noise insulation for all the houses that needed it.

That fight ended in 2007 when the MAC agreed to provide noise-proofing to areas that weren't included in noise abatement programs that had helped thousands of homes.

The agreement said that air conditioning, wall and attic insulation and other help could be available to 433 additional Twin Cities homes experiencing noise at 63 to 64 decibels. Lesser noise abatement measures would be available for another 5,394 homes experiencing between 60 and 62 decibels. The MAC mapped out an area where the decibel levels were expected based on forecasted air traffic, and has completed work on 4,349 homes.

Portions of Keewaydin and Ericsson were among the areas that qualified for the new noise abatement. But about half the houses in those two neighborhoods remained outside the noise mitigation boundaries.

Now that noise levels have increased, homeowners and officials want to know whether the noise-proofing boundaries can be expanded.

"Redrawing the maps to current flight paths needs to be on the list," said state Rep. Jim Davnie, DFL-Minneapolis, whose district covers much of the neighborhoods. "I think there's going to be a very real conversation with the MAC about that."

Chad Leqve, in charge of the MAC's noise management, said the current boundaries based on noise forecasts are more favorable to the neighborhoods than the 2010 measurements of real noise. Those measurements showed an even smaller portion of the neighborhoods experiencing excessive noise.

"We're providing mitigation well beyond what the actual impact is right now," Leqve said.

He said he doesn't believe the 2011 noise measurements will show enough of an increase to meet the threshold for expanding the noise-proofing program.

"Not even a chance," he said, noting that flight traffic is lower than forecast before the recession.

Some officials challenge the method of measuring noise, which relies on FAA monitors scattered around the metro area and which deals with average sound.

Davnie said he has asked his staff to explore legislative options. While the Legislature can pass laws that affect the MAC, "it's very, very difficult," he said.

Said Quincy: "We may need to change the noise-monitoring system."

But the City Council, too, has limited leverage in dealing with the MAC. Most of its members are appointed by the governor, and the agency relies on airport user fees instead of state funds or property taxes to operate. It spent $360 million on noise abatement before agreeing to the 2007 settlement, and since then has spent another $71 million. The MAC notes that its noise abatement has been more generous than the federal standard for noise mitigation.

Colvin Roy holds out hope that a MAC appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton, a DFLer, will have a more receptive ear to complaints about noise than did the agency under former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican.

"We will be pushing for whatever we can do," Quincy said. "Our relationship is still going to be one of advocating for our residents."

Pat Doyle - 612-673-4504