Carlsbad wants to form a roundtable with residents, pilots, and county and federal officials to discuss noise at McClellan-Palomar Airport.
Residents have long complained that pilots fail to follow the airport’s voluntary noise abatement procedures, but there’s not much the city can do about it. San Diego County owns the airport, and the Federal Aviation Administration controls flights into and out of it.
The Carlsbad City Council previously asked city staffers Dec. 7 to look into the possibility of sending letters to pilots who deviate from the recommended noise abatement procedures. Intergovernmental Affairs Director Jason Haber said Tuesday that city staffers have determined that would not be practical.
The airport on Palomar Airport Road, near the geographic center of Carlsbad, has between 10,000 and 12,000 take-offs and landings per month, Haber said. Also, the agencies that monitor those flights don’t keep enough data on them to accurately identify possible violators.
Part of the problem is that the county’s voluntary noise abatement procedures differ from the FAA’s flight practices, he said.
The county’s recommended procedures advise pilots leaving the airport to fly a mile out over the ocean before turning. However, the FAA-controlled flight tower instructs the pilots to turn earlier, closer to Palomar Airport Road, taking the planes closer to noise-sensitive residential areas.
Haber recommended Carlsbad work with the county to request a community roundtable, which the FAA has established as a procedure to meet with stakeholders and try to resolve conflicts.
“In this case that would include pilots, tenants at the airport, as well as residents and other airport users,” Haber said.
Vickey Syage, a resident and president of the local group Citizens for a Friendly Airport, commended the city for working toward a solution.
“No one is asking the airport to be unsafe,” Syage said. “There are simple, cost-effective, easy solutions, but all parties have to want to cooperate.”
The council voted 5-0 to support the request for a roundtable.
In another airport issue, the City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to send a letter the the San Diego County Board of Supervisors expressing concerns about the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee.
The nine-member committee of volunteers meets every two months. Members are appointed by the Board of Supervisors to advise the county on matters related to the airport. The members include residents of Carlsbad, Vista, San Marcos and Oceanside, and five from the general public who live within the Board of Supervisors’ Fifth District.
As a result of the board’s recent redistricting, it is considering several changes including allowing some committee members to be appointed from the Third District. The city’s letter supports the change and asks that the District 3 supervisor nominate Carlsbad’s representative on the committee.
Carlsbad council members agreed with residents who said the letter also should ask the county to consider enforcing term limits and conflict of interest standards for members of the committee. Members of county committees typically serve two four-year terms.
One committee member has served for 20 years and a previous member served 28 years, Syage said.
Also, members who have businesses at the airport should be required to abstain from decisions on issues that could benefit them financially, she said.
