Airport neighbours brace for more flight noise
Reposted from OpenFile Toronto:
http://toronto.openfile.ca/toronto/file/2010/12/airport-neighbours-brace-more-flight-noise
In 2006, Nancy Wo bought a one-bedroom condo for herself and her 4-year-old son on Queens Quay. She loved her cozy 15th-floor apartment with the balcony overlooking the lake. That is, until Porter Airlines began to fly out of the island airport and her quiet, comfortable life was introduced to the sound of turboprop engines.*
“We had to shut the windows and the door of the balcony if we wanted to hear the TV or even just talk to each other without shouting,” Wo says. “Sometimes you could feel the building shake and almost feel your heart speed up and your blood pressure rise.” She says she remembers being jerked awake at 3:15 a.m. by what sounded like airplanes revving up.
Wo finally gave up on the neighbourhood and moved out last summer. “When we complained, we just got accused of being selfish. But I didn’t own a million-dollar home on the lakefront. It was just a small condo for me and my son. It was very frustrating.”
Residents of surrounding neighbourhoods have long complained about the noise produced by Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The Toronto Port Authority, which owns and operates the facility, allows 202 flights a day. But area residents are concerned that number will increase once Air Canada and Continental Airlines begin flying out of the airport early next year.
A curfew is in place at the airport; no takeoffs or landings are allowed before 6:45 a.m. or after 11 p.m. However, Max Moore of the Harbourfront Community Association, says there is no restriction on planes running their engines when sitting on the ground. “The loudest noise is the ground traffic from when they do engine run-ups by the terminal. That happens when they are gunning the engine to clear the air out and you can easily get 10 or 15 minutes of that blasted noise.”
Moore, who is a sound engineer, has measured the sound at more than 80 decibels near his home on Queens Quay. “It’s like having a seated lawnmower driving around your house all day long.”
Port authority spokeswoman Suzanne Birchwood says a comprehensive noise management study was done earlier this year in response to the growing number of complaints. Several recommendations were made, she says, including restrictions on engine run-up and idling noise and the creation of a community consultation committee. As well, the port authority and NAV Canada, the federal body that manages air traffic and navigation, plan to revise the current designations of “noise sensitive areas”.
The port authority is also investing $900,000 in new sound barriers that are to be built next summer. “We are hoping that residents enjoying the open windows and outdoor space in the summer will find that the noise has been mitigated,” Birchwood says.
However, Moore says these noise-abatement measures will have an effect only if they are enforced, which he says isn’t being done strictly enough now. Sound barriers will work only if the engine checks are done at the far end of the runway, he says, adding that from his observations, the run-ups are mostly done by the hangar buildings.
The airport traffic sound isn’t quite as disruptive during the day because the general background noise level in the city is higher, Moore says. But early in the morning and late at night, “you’re ready to throw a brick at them.”
His organization, which is an umbrella group for several neighbourhood associations in the area, is writing up a proposal asking the port authority to limit island airport flights to between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Even with the sound barriers, which won’t go up until well after Air Canada and Continental begin using the island airport, Moore admits it probably won’t “reduce the noise enough yet for the community.”
Kalyani Vittala
http://toronto.openfile.ca/
In 2006, Nancy Wo bought a one-bedroom condo for herself and her 4-year-old son on Queens Quay. She loved her cozy 15th-floor apartment with the balcony overlooking the lake. That is, until Porter Airlines began to fly out of the island airport and her quiet, comfortable life was introduced to the sound of turboprop engines.*
“We had to shut the windows and the door of the balcony if we wanted to hear the TV or even just talk to each other without shouting,” Wo says. “Sometimes you could feel the building shake and almost feel your heart speed up and your blood pressure rise.” She says she remembers being jerked awake at 3:15 a.m. by what sounded like airplanes revving up.
Wo finally gave up on the neighbourhood and moved out last summer. “When we complained, we just got accused of being selfish. But I didn’t own a million-dollar home on the lakefront. It was just a small condo for me and my son. It was very frustrating.”
Residents of surrounding neighbourhoods have long complained about the noise produced by Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The Toronto Port Authority, which owns and operates the facility, allows 202 flights a day. But area residents are concerned that number will increase once Air Canada and Continental Airlines begin flying out of the airport early next year.
A curfew is in place at the airport; no takeoffs or landings are allowed before 6:45 a.m. or after 11 p.m. However, Max Moore of the Harbourfront Community Association, says there is no restriction on planes running their engines when sitting on the ground. “The loudest noise is the ground traffic from when they do engine run-ups by the terminal. That happens when they are gunning the engine to clear the air out and you can easily get 10 or 15 minutes of that blasted noise.”
Moore, who is a sound engineer, has measured the sound at more than 80 decibels near his home on Queens Quay. “It’s like having a seated lawnmower driving around your house all day long.”
Port authority spokeswoman Suzanne Birchwood says a comprehensive noise management study was done earlier this year in response to the growing number of complaints. Several recommendations were made, she says, including restrictions on engine run-up and idling noise and the creation of a community consultation committee. As well, the port authority and NAV Canada, the federal body that manages air traffic and navigation, plan to revise the current designations of “noise sensitive areas”.
The port authority is also investing $900,000 in new sound barriers that are to be built next summer. “We are hoping that residents enjoying the open windows and outdoor space in the summer will find that the noise has been mitigated,” Birchwood says.
However, Moore says these noise-abatement measures will have an effect only if they are enforced, which he says isn’t being done strictly enough now. Sound barriers will work only if the engine checks are done at the far end of the runway, he says, adding that from his observations, the run-ups are mostly done by the hangar buildings.
The airport traffic sound isn’t quite as disruptive during the day because the general background noise level in the city is higher, Moore says. But early in the morning and late at night, “you’re ready to throw a brick at them.”
His organization, which is an umbrella group for several neighbourhood associations in the area, is writing up a proposal asking the port authority to limit island airport flights to between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Even with the sound barriers, which won’t go up until well after Air Canada and Continental begin using the island airport, Moore admits it probably won’t “reduce the noise enough yet for the community.”
Kalyani Vittala
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