"Hollywood, Fla., to Hire Expert to Assess Noise from Expanded Airport"

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Hollywood, Fla., to Hire Expert to Assess Noise from Expanded Airport
South Florida Sun-Sentinel


HOLLYWOOD, Fla.--The Airport Advisory Committee voted unanimously
Tuesday night to hire a noise expert who can evaluate exactly how big an
effect airport expansion will have on area residents.

The committee is strongly against a proposal before the Broward County
Commission that would expand the south runway of Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, a plan that would most
affect residents in Hollywood, Dania Beach and Davie. But committee
members are still debating what the best alternatives may be.

"I think the noise expert should really give us a primer on what we
should expect the impact to be,"said Hollywood senior policy analyst
Lorie Mertens, a city liaison to the committee."Hopefully, people will
get more of a feeling of what this will mean to our community."

Mertens and committee members also proposed asking Dania Beach and Davie
to share the cost of an expert, who will be hired after a request for
proposal is developed in the next few weeks.

Broward County is proposing Vision 2020, a massive expansion of the
airport that includes a trade center and hotel. Local cities and
environmentalists have been rallying against the plan.

One of the biggest concerns is the effect airport expansion will have on
three public parks on the coast not far from the proposed runway. Dania
Beach is taking out a full-page ad in local newspapers to run on
Memorial Day to warn residents about what they call potential damage to
North Beach Park, West Lake and the 250-acre John U. Lloyd State
Recreation Area.

Hollywood's airport committee tentatively agreed to split the costs,
pending a review by Mertens today.

"If those parks are compromised, the damage will be irreversible,"said
Dania Beach Commissioner Bob Mikes, who attended the meeting.


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