HERE IS YOUR SCANA UPDATE
Scottsdale Coalition for Airplane Noise Abatement
DECEMBER 2018
FAA ANNOUNCES PUBLIC WORKSHOP MEETINGS
The FAA announced that it will hold three public workshops regarding its NextGen flight path changes it implemented at Sky Harbor Airport at the end of 2014. Per the Court Memorandum from the law suit that the FAA lost with the City of Phoenix and the historic districts, the FAA was directed to hold a series of meetings relating to the Step One and Step Two processes. Step One reverted nine westbound departing flight paths back to their original locations but eastbound departing flight paths were not part of that relocation directive. Consequently, Scottsdale communities are still suffering from highways in the sky that are continuously battering residents and ruining outdoor activities. Safety has also been seriously compromised by the FAA since these flight paths previously flew over unpopulated terrain but now overfly populated residential areas. Any aviation mishap would now occur over homes, schools and recreational areas.
The announced meetings will be to satisfy the Step Two requirements. The Court Memorandum states that "The purpose of the meetings will be to inform the public regarding alternatives being considered under Step Two and to solicit public comments regarding those alternatives." However, the FAA announcement makes no mention of any alternatives being presented and only states that it will "discuss" previous comments received, provide information about Step One implementation and receive additional comments. It appears the FAA is ignoring Scottsdale's residents demands for restoration of their safety and for the quiet skies they purposely sought when purchasing their homes.
SCANA is requesting concerned residents do the following:
1. PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR to attend one of all of the FAA meetings at the
differing locations.
2. TALK with the FAA representatives at the meetings and respectfully tell them of the
impacts these east departing flight paths (ZEPER, QUAKY AND MRBIL) have had
on your safety and lifestyle.
3. SUBMIT written comments on the forms available at the meetings objecting to the
three flight paths placed over Scottsdale.
4. SUBMIT comments on the on-line form the FAA will hopefully make available.
5. GET INVOLVED. The more residents that work to cause the FAA to recognize that
change must be made the more likely change will happen.
6. CONTACT Mayor Lane at jlane@scottsdaleazgov.com and let him know that you
support the City's actions to demand the FAA return the flight paths to
unpopulated terrain (see the article below).
HERE IS THE ACTUAL FAA ANNOUNCEMENT:
FAA STEP TWO
MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
PHOENIX (PHX)
As part of the community involvement process and in partnership and collaboration with the City of Phoenix, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), is planning to hold public workshops in mid-February. These workshops will be in accordance with Step Two of the agreement the agency entered into with the City of Phoenix and certain historic neighborhood associations following the decision in City of Phoenix, Arizona v. Huerta, 869 F.3d 963 (D.C. Circuit 2017). The purpose of the workshops will be to discuss comments previously received during Step One,provide information about the recent implementation of Step One, and to accept any additional comments for FAA to consider in Step Two. The FAA recognizes the importance and value of public input and will give meaningful consideration to comments received in conjunction with the upcoming workshops. There will be three workshops in the greater Phoenix Area as scheduled below:
•
February 12, 2019: Desert Vista High School; 16640 S. 32nd
Street, Phoenix, AZ 85048
•
February 13, 2019: Cesar Chavez High School; 3927 W. Baseline Road,
Laveen Village, AZ 85339
•
February 14, 2019: Paradise Valley High School; 3950 E. Bell Road,
Phoenix, AZ 85032
The workshops will be held in an open-house format. People can arrive any time between 5p.m. and 8 p.m. to view project display boards and talk to FAA subject matter experts.
------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT IS THE CITY OF SCOTTSDALE DOING ABOUT THE SKY HARBOR NEXTGEN FLIGHT PATHS?
SCANA, Home Owners Associations, residents and others are working to mediate the Sky Harbor flight paths the FAA placed down the middle of Scottsdale at the end of 2014. One question SCANA is often asked, “what is the City of Scottsdale doing to help us?”.
The City started receiving complaints about NextGen flight paths that were moved over Scottsdale as soon as the FAA implemented them. At that time, many individuals submitted complaints to Sky Harbor Airport, the FAA and the City of Scottsdale. As a result of complaints voiced to the City, Mayor Lane sent a letter to the FAA expressing concern over the paths on December 9, 2014. Since then, the Mayor and/or City staff have sent numerous letters, had conference calls and hosted or participated in meetings with Congressional representatives, local governmental agencies, HOA’s, SCANA and others. It has assigned staff to work on this issue. SCANA is in touch with the Mayor’s office frequently to review and share information and to discuss activities and options. We value this cooperation and look forward to continuing to work with the City until a resolution is achieved. To see a complete timeline of the Cities activities go the City’s webpage at https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/airport/airport-noise/faa-flight-path-updates.
With the FAA ignoring all efforts to date to mediate the flight paths, the Scottsdale City Council approved the hiring of the legal firm of Covington Burling, L.L.P. based in Washington D.C. The task given to Covington was to determine if legislation, regulation or litigation could provide avenues to cause the FAA to move the flight routes away from Scottsdale communities. While SCANA is not privy to Covington’s analysis, the firm is still engaged with the City on these tasks (the Mayor has said that while they want to know litigation options, the City is not pursuing them at this time). Additionally, the City Council just approved another contract with the firm JDA Aviation Technology Solutions. JDA’s task is to develop alternative flight paths that will be technically correct and that can be presented to the FAA as qualified replacement paths that will comply with and complement NextGen. The City hopes to present these alternatives to the FAA no later than the Step Two public meetings the FAA just announced (above).
With these actions, the City of Scottsdale has responded to and is supporting its residents by pursuing various avenues to try to find a way to have the FAA move the highways in the sky that it imposed. As we know, it’s not an easy task. Phoenix and the Historic Districts had to sue the FAA to obtain relief for westbound departures. Hopefully, with the City, SCANA, HOA’s, elected officials and all of you, the FAA will realize that it made an error that it is obligated to fix. Your attendance and written comments at the Step Two meeting next February are critical.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
FILE A NOISE COMPLAINT AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN!
While it may feel mundane to continue to file noise complaints with Sky Harbor, it is important that complaint statistics show continued resident opposition to the NextGen flight paths. Just go to https://www.planenoise.com/copad/q3qH4u/ to fill in a form to log a complaint. No log in is required and it only takes a minute!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please take a few moments to do the following:
1. If you haven't already, please go to the SCANA website at airplanenoise.org and vote YES to support SCANA's efforts to restore Scottsdale's quiet skies.
2. Go to the SCANA Facebook page at Scottsdale Coalition for Airport Noise Abatement
https://www.facebook.com/airplanenoise and "Like" the page and "Follow" it.
3. Spread the word about SCANA and our website to neighbors and friends who are also concerned about the loss of their safety and the loss of the enjoyment of their outdoor activities. Ask them to sign up on our website to receive our updates.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE EFFORTS TO RESTORE THE QUIET AND SAFE SKIES SCOTTSDALE ENJOYED BEFORE THEY WERE STOLEN BY THE FAA
WE DID NOT MOVE TO THE FAA, THE FAA MOVED TO US!
