Airport should be responsive to community

I share the concerns of increased noise from airplanes flying over Sisters expressed in Bruce Mason's Letter to the Editor of The Nugget (June 15, 2016). I read the letter the day after attending a meeting among the airport manager, city manager, and members of the board of the Indian Ford Ranch HOA. The HOA had written a letter to the airport and to the City of Sisters concerning the increase in airplane noise from takeoffs/landings and circling for hours over Sisters.

The opening statements of the meeting were sobering and disheartening.

The pilots are not breaking any laws.

The airport expansion has been supported by consecutive city councils, by county commissioners, and by state officials and agencies (including $1 million in ODOT administered Oregon Connect funding).

Over 80% of Sisters residents voted for annexation of the airport. The Master Plan for development of the airport has been approved by a previous City Council.

And virtually every home and parcel in Sisters falls within an "Airport Safety Combining Zone," designated as "AS" on county property records, considered sufficient notice of potential noise from airport operations and potentially prohibiting lawsuits to mitigate the negative impact.

In the meeting the airport manager stated that he would consider any reasonable suggestion for mitigating the noise, but as yet had not heard any.

He was asked if the drop of skydivers could be moved away from inside the city limits and instead to uninhabited open space.

No, that would be inconvenient to the skydiving company.

And, in fact, the airport is planning to build a permanent skydiving landing site at the airport. He was asked if the planes could gain elevation away from Sisters before dropping skydivers above the airport. No, if the skydivers are to land at the airport, for safety reasons the FAA requires that planes circle inside a five-mile radius of the landing site, resulting in planes circling over Sisters.

He was asked if the airport would take action, such as prohibiting a pilot from use of the airport, if the pilot was repeatedly flying in a way that did not honor the airport's "Fly Neighborly" statement, in cases where the pilot was not breaking any laws.

No, he would not take such action if a pilot was not breaking a law.

One participant in the meeting described how her children couldn't fall asleep at night due to the drone of airplanes as late as 8 p.m.

She asked if the skydiving company could be limited to operating up to 5 p.m.

No, the airport manager would not attempt to limit the hours of operation of the skydiving company.

He suggested the woman ask the owners of the skydiving company directly if they might consider doing that.

The City planning commission has just issued a contract for the update of the Transportation System Plan. Regarding air transportation, the current plan, written prior to the proposed airport expansion, states "No additional facilities are considered necessary within Sisters." It is imperative that the City proceeds with careful scrutiny of its plans and of any applications from the airport to ensure that noise impacts are considered and mitigated in any updated and new plans and approvals.

And it is critical that Sisters residents express their concerns to the owners of the airport and to staff and City Council of the City of Sisters. If there is limited regulatory and legal recourse to address the current noise, then the main path for mitigating noise from planes flying over Sisters, current and future, is for residents in the community to speak up, as Mr. Mason did, and for the owners and management of the airport to choose to develop and operate the airport in a way that is responsive to the community and that minimizes the airport's negative impact on the community.