"JFK neighbors are 'plane' upset"

Thursday, August 12, 2004

JFK neighbors are 'plane' upset
Some town residents already angry over an increase of noise as runway
repair work at Kennedy forces planes into new routes
BY COLLIN NASH
Newsday (NY)


The pride Susan Jacobsen takes in her home showed in the way she
meticulously tended her front yard in Floral Park earlier this week.

The Plainfield Avenue neighborhood where she has lived for three years
is ideal, Jacobsen said, with the exception of the seemingly endless
procession of jetliners rumbling overhead as they approach nearby
Kennedy Airport.
 
"On cloudy days when they fly low, it sounds as if they're about to land
on my roof," said Jacobsen, an office manager in Garden City Park who
added that the traffic is worse during daytime hours. "I feel like we
are dumped on but where else are they going to go?"

Joe Doolan, on the other hand, has learned how to tune out the noise
from jets flying over his Long Beach community. "You hear them," said
Doolan, a marketing executive. "But in the six years I've been here,
I've never been bothered by it."

Starting in mid-September the contrasting experiences of Jacobsen and
Doolan could become even more polarized. That's when a major
construction project will divert night traffic from one runway to three
others at Kennedy Airport, creating more late-night air traffic in some
western Nassau County neighborhoods and less in others.

The first phase of the project -- scheduled to be completed in November
2005 -- involves replacing the center line lights on Runway 13L-31R,
said Tom Bock, general manager for airspace technology and operational
enhancements at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Other phases of the project include replacing approach light stanchions,
and repaving the 10,000-foot runway, Bock said. As a result, the runway
will not be used 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The communities of Island Park, Long Beach, Atlantic Beach, Woodmere and
Lawrence will benefit from the year-long, overnight lull in air traffic.
But Lynbrook, the Valley Streams, Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Garden
City Park, Elmont and Rockaway Beach will experience more air traffic --
everything from single-engine crafts to 747s -- than usual.

Bock said the three other runways at Kennedy Airport are to undergo a
less-extensive overhaul in the coming weeks as part of a maintenance
program.

"The increase in noise level, which will vary depending on which runway
is being used, can't be quantified," said Bock, who acknowledged there
would be more traffic over some communities because of the new flight
paths.

Excessive noise has been linked to stress-related disorders such as
hypertension and sleep disturbance, as well as poor work and academic
performance. And the potential for more aircraft noise over Floral Park
prompted Mayor Ann Corbett, a village trustee and members of the local
air traffic safety and noise abatement committee, to meet with Port
Authority and other aviation officials in the spring to express
concerns.

"They listened and assured us that, when they can, they would try to
evenly distribute flights," Corbett said.

Arlene Salac, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said
the agency works closely with Port Authority officials to follow
noise-abatement procedures, which dictate using routes affecting the
fewest number of people when possible. However, Salac said, "Operational
needs can supercede that."

Often, said Jeff Zubli, an importer from New Hyde Park, days can go by
without the relative quiet of the neighborhood being shattered by the
din of jets overhead. But other times it seems nonstop. "It's like an
18-wheeler driving on your roof," Zubli said.

For Carl Gambino, a resident of Atlantic Beach for almost 20 years, the
sound of jets flying overhead is most discernible Sunday evenings, when
he's in his backyard. "You get used to it," he said. In fact, Gambino
said he finds the sight of a jetliner preparing to land somewhat
mesmerizing. "Sometimes you just space out watching them."

Attached Photo:

A jet takes off from Kennedy Airport; a major nighttime construction
project at the airport will divert air traffic from one runway to three
others.

jfk_dept.jpg