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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1998-07-28 Mayor Eugene R. Mullin Council: James L. Datzman Joseph A. Fernekes ~(aryl Matsumoto 'ohn R. Penna S_PECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO JULY 28, 1998 MINUTES City Council Municipal Services Building Community Room July 28, 1998 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Section 54956 of the Government Code of the State of California, that the City Council of the City of South San Francisco will hold a Special Meeting on Tuesday, the 28th day of July 1998, at 6:00 p.m. in the Municipal Services Building, Community Room, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco, California. Purpose of the meeting is a study session for discussion: Aircraft Noise Dated: July 21, 1998 City Clerk City of South San Francisco CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: Aircraft Noise AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) ACTION TAKEN 6:04 p.m. Mayor Mullin presiding. Council Present: Council Absent: Datzman, Matsumoto, Penna and Mullin. Fernekes. City Clerk Battaya stated Councilman Fernekes is on vacation. Mayor Mullin stated this is a study session to look at the noise from a variety of different items. David Valkenaar will give preliminary remarks, and then we will introduce Dr. Sanford Fidell, who works as a consultant for the City, and is looking at some goals we identified as a work program for short and long term. The nature of the study session is infor- mal where the consultant and the Director will share their information and strategy. He is very pleased by the number attending tonight's meeting, who 7/28/98 Page 1 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ,, Aircraft Noise - Continued. 7/28/98 Page 2 have homes already insulated (ha, ha). As we prog- ress he will invite comments at the conclusion of each of the segments to get the audiences comments relative to the presentation, etc. He stated the Council has brought on board an expert to work with us individually with the Airport to bring more viable solutions. He stated that he is the representative of the community Roundtable and will be writing down your comments. Program Manager Valkenaar related: short term goals - obtain enough additional funding to complete the homes currently covered by the 1983 NEM 65 CNEL footprint, obtain funding and approval for expanding the ANIP to include all dwellings in SSF between El Camino on the east, Skyline Blvd. on the west, and the northerly city limits; intermediate term - minimize the noise from and the number of current aircraft overflights; long term - minimize the noise from and the number of future aircraft over- flights. He introduced Dr. Fidell as the consultant hired by the City, and proceeded to describe his background and expertise. Dr. Fidell related: there is a basis in the City about noise impacts and potential future impacts from a new runway; the Airport is putting together a cam- paign and there are other cities that could benefit from the noise exposure and they may try to say this City is in favor of a new runway; several months ago he recommended a variety of initiatives to the City to persuade the Airport that it is in their inter- est to negotiate with the City and the guidance he received back from the technical noise committee was they wanted to focus on this and conduct a social survey in the City to demonstrate that the local government is concerned; those concerns pre- date any further measure to persuade the Airport it is in their benefit to obtain the City's goals; given some of the other issues and the concern of the government and City residents predates the other measures and he wanted to establish base line data on how the neighborhoods may change; the preva- lence of annoyance to indicate that the concern of the City predates this; that we want to establish base line, how it is improving, to show the AirPort that the measures are effective; people who live outside of the noise exposure, 65 CNEL, are more annoyed than those who live in it and that may or may not change. AGENDA ACTION TAKEN --~.ircraft Noise - Continued. 7/28/98 Page 3 Program Manager Valkenaar went through the sum- mary of the recommended tasks: SFO flight track analysis will generate overflight statistics in num- bers, altitudes, times of day, operation types, run- ways and aircraft types for S.S.F.; a social survey of City residents for empirical documentation of the prevalence of aircraft noise annoyance in S.S.F need for interpretation of complaint data; City managed aircraft noise complaint hot line to analyze, consoli- date, and forward aircraft noise complaints, mediate and follow up on responses from SFO; updated noise contour analysis to compute independent set of CNEL, DNL, Time Above and A-Max contours for SFO; noise monitoring verification to audit noise event to flight track matching performance, end-to- end check on contouring assumptions; runway need/orientation analysis to develop recommendation for a City position on preferred orientation of poten- tial additional runways(s) at SFO. Mayor Mullin stated the Subcommittee who has dealt with Dr. Fidell has included Councilwoman Matsumoto, Councilman Penna and himself, and currently the Subcommittee consists of he and Coun- cilman Penna. He stated there have been many meetings to analyze and come up with the work plan, so this is a result of a series of meetings we have been holding, culminating tonight with the study session. Dr. Fidel related: the standard analysis to airport noise is how many people are annoyed, not casually, but highly by the aircraft noise, and agencies that deal with noise mitigation such as the FAA that assist the Airport in dealing with the issues; the Airport looks at a summary and plots how much noise and how many people are annoyed and there is a standard noise response relationship that the Feder- al Government has put together all over the country, and he feels it is important that we be put on that curve; the City should do this request before you find out the percentages of those closest to the Air- port for many will be annoyed rather than those living farther away; that needs to be done to give the City a means to work from and monitor the Airport noise. Councilman Penna questioned: how is substantially annoyed measure when it relates to others in other communities and those close to the flight path; if you have the same amount of people from Hillsbor- AGENDA ACTION TAKEN _ Aircraft Noise - Continued. 7/28/98 Page 4 ough complaining of backdraft noise vs. the S.S.F.'s noise of aircraft overhead - who has the most say. Dr. Fidel stated Councilman Penna was talking about politics. He continued: the Federal Govern- ment uses CNEL measurements; he reiterated the importance of the social survey of City residents and taking the temperature of the community, put your- self on the map and monitor a complaint line; the Airport updates their own complaint service; op- tional capabilities for aircraft noise complaint ser- vice, for the Airport takes complaint messages, and they come back later with postcards. Discussion followed: Councilwoman Matsumoto asked how the City can get answers sooner when it takes a month and a half to get an answer; Airport data exists for six months, however, if residents don't get a response they stop calling; Dr. Fidell stated, if it is worked out with the Airport the City can get it from the FAA Tracon and the second way is from the Airport within 72 hours; Chicago found $300 million because the issue became intolerable, so it can be done if the City has the time and stami- na; Mayor Mullin stated the Council's concerns are the areas outside the 1983 footprint and the larger aspects of the expansion and design of the new run- way; he is concerned as how our children will be impacted in the future; is there a preferred direction of runway, for the air traffic controllers their first obligation is safety; Mayor Mullin invited people to speak and stated there were 140 people in attendance and asked that speakers take no longer than two minutes each. Mr. Robert Lorenzini, 327 Camaritas, stated he has never complained, even though when cargo planes go over he has to open the doors to let them through, for the feeling is that their complaints go down the drain. Mr. Kiu-on Chu, 143 Crown Circle, stated he was here with his howowners group who are in a void because of the 1983 footprint, for at that time there were no houses and no measurement. S.S.F. is growing just like the Airport where flights will double. In bad weather they have to use earphones and the TV feathers out, yet 20' from his property the neighbors windows are insulated. Ms. Leona Gee, 102 Crown Circle, stated she is AGENDA ACTION TAKEN Aircraft Noise - Continued. 7/28/98 Page 5 very near sighted and she can read the airplane marking flying overhead. She urged the Council to get the windows fixed and they will not bother the Council anymore. Mr. A1 Waters, 2266 Shannon Dr., stated he is from the Westborough Homeowners Improvement Assn. which has 887 homes between Shannon, Gellert to Oakmont that are not covered in the insulation pro- gram. Yet, they have the planes at 6:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., and 15 years ago a Tiger plane crashed on Sweeny Ridge. He has been told what noise will do to the psyche and the 65 CNEL mode is outdated and new standards should be set. Ms. Hilda Barradas, 779 Camaritas, stated she has been going to Roundtable meetings because of a monitor behind her house that was torn down. In March the Council told us we were to ask to be included in the Subcommittee. She asked where Monitor 17 was placed after it was torn down. Project Manager Valkenaar stated it was temporarily placed, however, they plan to put it near the original site. Ms. Mary Ramsport, stated she lives in Westborough and was told that in 1983 there was a lot of noise in the patio and was told to contact the Airport, Mr. Marvin Ellis, she made complaints and received many nice letters and postcards saying her complaints were duly noted. Ms. Judy Corte stated S.S.F. consistently has the highest noise complaints to the Airport. She wrote a letter a month ago about the Station 17 Monitor, and disagrees with the figures they are giving out on the noise monitoring, which they say is less. Discussion followed: Dr. Fidell's impartial analysis may be more helpful; price could be from $25,000 to $75,000; Asia bound planes only use the Gap as the runway; would the survey show the number of take-offs and landings now vs. five years from now; people living in a 64 CNEL area, living next door to a house of 65 CNEL that has been insulated is quite annoying; the FAA forces the City to use 65 CNEL if we are to get their money; Minnesota after the same considerations lowered the CNEL to 60; May- or Mullin stated the concern is for areas outside the 1983 footprint and the larger aspects of Airport AGENDA ACTION TAKEN .__Aircraft Noise- Continued. 7/28/98 Page 6 expansion and design of a new runway; he ques- tioned, being outside the 1983 footprint - how are our children going to be impacted; Vice Mayor Datzman stated the Airport may consider it a re- gional issue, and questioned how you can access each cities impact; Councilmember Matsumoto said Airport Director Martin stated S.S.F. is heavily impacted; Dr. Fidell could do that, but it is not in the scope of work; the new planes are heavier and require a long runway; rumors about the Alameda and Oakland Airports; estimated cost for various levels of aircraft noise complaint service, then the Airport would be aware someone else is getting the complaints, has a log and the Airport will know we are concerned and for six months that can be a secretarial duty; the present cost is $12,000 to $14,000 per house; the estimated cost of the social survey of City residents is on the order of $53,000 for the initial preparation, conducting inter- views, reducing and analyzing data and producing a report; Councilmember Matsumoto does not really believe the Airport cares if one side of the street is insulated and the other is not and are only interested in the footprint; the negotiations go back and forth and comes down to communications; Dr. Fidell stated the City must first play on their agenda not the Airport's, and is a process that will take time; the Airport does long range planning, knew they would need the runway but talked about the terminal but they are looking a decade into the future and most cities don't have long term planning; it is important to negotiate on the City's terms; the agreement entered into with the Airport is that they will provide $120 million to provide noise insulation in the 1983 footprint, which is why the 1983 foot- print is important and that is 65 CNEL; 90% of the single family homes have singed up for the noise insulation, plus condos and duplexes and a some what lower percentage on the multi-family units who signed up; City Manager Wilson stated the Subcom- mittee had a meeting with the Airport Director and Mr. Costa, and at that time David Valkenaar pro- posed how to utilize the available funds and the Director seemed to embrace the concept, and the Director has directed his staff to investigate whether or not we can accomplish all of the homes in that footprint; the City had a block of homes that we didn't think we could achieve, but once we are assured we can get the funds and do the 1983 foot- print; what is the amount to complete that; $4.5 million and they would be completed sometime in AGENDA ACTION TAKEN Aircraft Noise - Continued. 7/28/98 Page 7 the year 2000; what is the cost tbr all dwellings between El Camino on the east, Skyline Blvd. on the west, and the northerly City limits whether 65 CNEL or not; about $15 million to $16 million, and that is in addition to the $4 million; so, $20 million to accomplished goal 1, and that would be an agree- ment with the Airport; probably two agreements, first the initial $4 million and the second is the expanded agreement to go beyond the $4.5 million to meet the needs of the homeowners - quality of life, health and safety; City Manager suggested proceed with this immediately - the social study first, establish the hot line, then meet again with the Airport; an unidentified woman named Vickey Lew- is asked, what is the baseline, it takes how long and what is the shelf life; it varies with the program for we are trying to get the Airport's attention for we are better off doing nothing than stating and not completing the program; it is a five year process to build the runway. Mr. Herman Lopez, Clay Ave., stated he is not a complainer, wants to congratulate the Mayor and members of Council because it use to be only Coun- cilman Yee who was cognizant. He thanked Dr. Fidell for an excellent presentation and approved of the hotline. Mr. Ken Wall, 218 Bryce, commended the Council for establishing a Subcommittee and hiring Dr. Fidell. He stated staff has become very conversant on this subject and he has received the windows. He stated he does not always agree with Councilman Penna, but on health and safety issues he does. When the life style is compromised then the Airport is in violation including the 1992 MOU. He stated there is very little assurance they would concur in the future. He feels everyone should consider them- selves as political activists, and he is happy this Council is much more active on this subject than others. He feels they should challenge the Airport's EIR even into Court. He feels it is important that those affected by the topics should come to the meetings. Mr. Rick Dimitroff thanked the Council for helping the citizens and feels that without the TV more people would come to meetings. He was impressed with Dr. Fidell, and is concerned that all that money the Airport is spending will result in bringing in more and bigger planes. AGENDA Aircraft Noise - Continued. 7/28/98 Page 8 Mr. J. B. Martin feels the Council is going in the right direction, and Dr. Fidell's analysis is a better objective than the windows. Mr. Richard Korte, 755 Camaritas, stated the Roundtable saying there is no noise shifting is a policy, it should be of no note to Council. Discussion followed: Council should get assump- tions, create predictions, for noise measurements are imperfect and you cannot parallel a truck backfire to an airplane. Mr. Gus Romeros, 841 Kipling Ave., feels the Council should concentrate on getting planes to fly away from here. Discussion followed: pilots prefer taking off into the prevailing winds; it is important to measure the aircraft noise; we need standard information re- quired by aircraft noise exposure modeling software and a runway layout; radar flight tracking; Dr. Fidell will work with the City through the Airport's EIR; the runway needs orientation analysis; let the Airport spend the money and get our consultant to monitor the scope of work, review it with the City and see that it is valid; we are not sending Dr. Fidell to attack the Airport, but to supply us with analysis; we hope the Airport is true to its word; is there high priority to look at goals 1 and 2, and whether 3 and 4 could adversely impact that; the idea is not to make one exclusively to the other; staff is trying to get the Airport Director to expand it to all neighborhoods impacted and we will put our full platform forward and try to achieve all of the City's goals; Councilman Penna was elected in 1989 and watched the Airport growing, for they have a ten year plan, they swore then they were never to be going for a new landing field; he is coming from health and safety and is looking at the new landing field, and where it is laid out, and if it is laid out properly and can take the large jets that are coming over the City which is going to be part of the EIR for the Airport expansion with a 40% in- crease of flights; if that field can be realigned so it takes off over the bay, we can reduce the flights and he thinks we need to look not only of the complaints and the people in the community, but the other view point is totally relieving the health and safety that is existing today in the event of a crash and it is a mechanical failure to bring it down; and some day AGENDA ACTION TAKEN Aircraft Noise - Continued. ADJOURNMENT: the chance of that happening is there; everything he has read to date - that the pilots would like to see an over water takeoff for the flights to the east; from what he read, if runway 1 expanded, lengthened, they would prefer that, but that would have an im- pact on other cities; but, if the new airfield is con- figured a few degrees further north and takes off over Serra Point and it is long enough - can we do the kind of analysis to help make an agreement; the short answer is yes; then our priorities should be in trying to get a new landing field that takes off over the bay and alleviate flights over the City; that is one likelihood in the Airport study, and Dr. Fidell does not think the City should be the lead agency conducting that, but you could have meaningful input on that; Dr. Fidell would like to see where they plan the runway; Councilman Penna stated he would like to see that explored; Dr. Fidell stated, you are asking how high is up and the piece of string required; if the work takes a few hours in looking over a contract, that is not much but, who knows what is involved; Mayor Mullin directed the Subcommittee to come back to Council with a report. M/S Penna/Datzman - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 8:33 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara A. Battaya, City City of South San Francisco APPROVED. The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica- tions, arguments and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the Office of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 7/28/98 Page 9