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Berkeley City Council

CONSENT CALENDAR September 27, 2016 To:

Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

From:

Councilmembers Jesse Arreguín and Susan Wengraf

Subject: Addressing Increased Aircraft Noise RECOMMENDATION Adopt a Resolution urging the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to immediately address and mitigate increased noise from aircraft in Berkeley as a result of the implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Copies of the resolution are to be distributed to the offices of the members of the Bay Area Congressional Delegation, the Oakland Airport Community Noise Management Forum, and the offices of United States Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. BACKGROUND The Federal Aviation Administration is in the process of implementing the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). More specifically, changes to flight patterns at airports in the Bay Area is part of a program known as the Northern California Optimization of Airspace and Procedures in the Metroplex (NorCal OAPM). This is diverting many flights along the East Bay Hills and other populated areas in Berkeley and the region. As a result, there has been a spike in the number of complaints of noise caused by aircraft. On February 23, 2016, the Berkeley City Council unanimously voted to send a letter to the FAA to address the proposed flight changes. On July 26, 2016, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution requesting the FAA to address the increase in aircraft noise. Oakland’s resolution calls on the FAA and Congress to immediately address and mitigate the issues caused by the new flight plans. The attached resolution is derived from the Oakland resolution. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS None ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY The current Metroplex plan to the flight patterns arriving and departing from OAK and SFO has increased noise pollution in the city, especially over the Berkeley Hills. This has created a negative impact on environmental health.

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7140 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7144 E-Mail: [email protected]

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Addressing Increased Aircraft Noise

CONTACT PERSON Jesse Arreguin, Councilmember, District 4 Susan Wengraf, Councilmember, District 6

510-981-7140 510-981-7160

Attachments: 1: Resolution 2: February 23, 2016 Item on Letter to the FAA

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RESOLUTION NO. ##,###-N.S. REQUESTING THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION TO ADDRESS INCREASED AIRCRAFT NOISE IN BERKELEY WHEREAS, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is implementing a planned transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) to standardize arrival and departure routes through the use of GPSbased technologies in 21 identified metroplexes, which are regions with multiple airports serving major metropolitan areas where heavy airport activity and environmental constraints combine to hinder the efficient movement of air traffic; and WHEREAS, the Northern California Metroplex is comprised of four commercial airports, San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Oakland International Airport (OAK), Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), and Sacramento International Airport (SMF); and WHEREAS, as part of the transition to NextGen, the FAA recently changed the flight paths followed by commercial aircraft flying into and out of SFO, OAK, and SJC, as well as other airports in the Northern California Metroplex under a project the FAA calls the Northern California Optimization of Airspace and Procedures in the Metroplex (NorCal OAPM); and WHEREAS, according to the FAA, the NorCal OAPM consists of new procedures and technologies to establish more direct flight routes intended to improve safety, efficiency, and reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions; and WHEREAS, modernizing air space using a sophisticated satellite controlled system and precision flying can embrace FAA goals alongside minimizing and equitably distributing noise impacts experienced on the ground; and WHEREAS, on July 31, 2014, the FAA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact that NorCal OAPM would not have any significant noise impact on communities and surrounding areas based on sound metrics which did not reflect the true disturbance to the communities on the ground; and WHEREAS, rather than acting to take advantage of geography and equitably distributing and minimizing the cumulative noise impacts over neighborhoods, the FAA has created great disturbance of certain areas in failing to consider noise and environmental impacts on a per flight basis; and, instead, developing the flawed Net Noise Reduction Method; and WHEREAS, the new flight paths out of SFO, entitled TRUKN, GRTFL, DEDHD, HYPEE, and COSMO, the new flight path into OAK, entitled WNDSR, and increasing vectored OAK departures are impacting residents of the City of Berkeley, especially along

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the Berkeley hills due to the considerable increase in the number of flights overhead each day from narrowed flight corridors, lower flight altitudes, and powered descent procedures resulting in a significant increase in the amount of aircraft noise experienced on the ground; and WHEREAS, significant environmental impacts created by the new flight paths adversely impact the enjoyment, preservation, and protection of natural, cultural, and scenic resources of the East Bay Regional Park District parklands, trails, and open spaces; and WHEREAS, as evidenced by the increasing number of complaints received by the City of Berkeley City Council and staff, as well as the complaints received by the SFO and OAK Noise Abatement Offices, the new routes have created noise impacts that appear to be far more adverse than those of the former routes for our residents. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Berkeley that it hereby requests the FAA immediately mitigate the increased aircraft noise at ground level in Berkeley caused by the NorCal OAPM project by expeditiously identifying all short and long-term solutions and the expected timetable for their implementation. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Berkeley City Council requests the FAA, as part of the above analysis of aircraft noise mitigation measures, consider the immediate solutions of raising altitudes on the SFO departure flight paths from TRUKN, vector a portion of SFO departures from TRUKN to disperse flights more equitably, vector a portion of OAK arrivals along WNDSR to echo previous dispersed flight paths, reduce OAK departures over the East Bay hills, work to reduce cargo flights over the East Bay hills as these operations use noisier aircraft, and, as part of the longer-term solutions, consider a redesign of the flight paths within the Northern California Metroplex to disperse flights equitably, minimize single event overflight noise, use continuous descent approaches, and take advantage of the Bay as a flight corridor provided, however, that such efforts shall not include "noise shifting," i.e., simply moving the noise from one community to another; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Berkeley City Council requests that the Congress of the United States amend the FAA Modernization and Reform Act to eliminate the availability of a categorical exclusion and bar the presumption of no significant impact on the quality of the human environment that currently applies to navigation performance and performance based navigation (PBN) procedures; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Berkeley City Council requests that the Congress of the United States implement statutory changes to the FAA that require more robust and substantive community engagement before flight paths are changed, more accurate measures using updated metrics and full spectrum acoustic impacts of aviation noise experienced on the ground and independent research on the health and environmental

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impacts of aviation noise, and requirements that the FAA take such research into account when making decisions regarding airspace design; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Berkeley City Council requests that the FAA continue to meet in good faith with community representatives and impacted residents from Berkeley to further discuss and address these matters; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be distributed to the offices of the members of the Bay Area Congressional Delegation, the Oakland Airport Community Noise Management Forum, and the offices of United States Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

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Attachment 2

25 Berkeley City Council

CONSENT CALENDAR February 23, 2016 To:

Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

From:

Councilmembers Jesse Arreguín and Susan Wengraf

Subject: Letter to Federal Aviation Administration Concerning the Metroplex Flight Plan RECOMMENDATION Send a Letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Requesting Changes to the Northern California Metroplex, Regarding Flight Patterns over Berkeley. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS None. BACKGROUND The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began implementing new flight patterns for landings and departures as a result of the implementation of the Northern California Metroplex plan in November 2014. These changes have moved various flight patterns over residential areas that either previously had no issues or increased flights over residential areas that had previous noise complaints. This is especially true along the Berkeley and Oakland Hills, which has experienced a significant rise in the number of flyovers as a result of these changes. Since October 2015, the number of complaints from East Bay residents has skyrocketed from dozens to hundreds. As a result of the negative public reaction to these changes, the FAA plans to revisit the flight patterns under the Metroplex plan. The majority of the complaints have come from the Montclair neighborhood in the Oakland Hills, which has been most impacted by the changes. A concern raised is that revisiting the Metroplex plan could result in additional flights flying over the Berkeley area, despite alternative flight routes available that are less impactful to residential areas, such as over the Bay or along the coast. To prevent increased flights over Berkeley and mitigate current noise pollution issues, we request that the Berkeley City Council send a letter to the FAA urging them to take the following actions: Rescind the Northern California Metroplex plan Sstudy and monitor how to reduce noise levels from overflight noise. 1) No further flight plans be determined without an Environmental Impact Study analyzing the noise impacts of any proposal, with full public participation. 2) No discretionary SFO or OAK airport project be undertaken without the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report, with full public participation.

Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Building ● 2180 Milvia Street, 5 th Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7140 Fax: (510) 981-7144 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● E-Mail: [email protected] ● Web: www.jessearreguin.com

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Letter to Federal Aviation Administration Concerning the Metroplex Flight Plan

CONSENT CALENDAR February 23, 2016

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY The current Metroplex plan to the flight patterns arriving and departing from OAK and SFO has increased noise pollution in the city, especially over the Berkeley Hills. This has created a negative impact on environmental health. CONTACT PERSON Jesse Arreguin, Councilmember, District 4 Susan Wengraf, Councilmember, District 6 Attachments: 1: Letter to the FAA

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510-981-7140 510-981-7160

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Attachment 1

February 9, 2016 Mr. Glen A. Martin Regional Administrator Federal Aviation Administration Western-Pacific Region P.O. Box 92007 Los Angeles, CA 90009 Dear Administrator Martin, As a result of increased air travel to and from SFO and OAK, recent flight plans have led to an increase in the number of flights flying over East Bay cities and neighborhoods, including the City of Berkeley. While we understand the need to change routes to alleviate the impact of air traffic, we believe that there are better solutions that do not impact the environmental health of our residents. The level of complaints since the FAA changed flight patterns under the Northern California Metroplex Plan has led the FAA to revisit the flight plans that were implemented in November 2014. While we are pleased to hear that the FAA is looking into ways to reduce the noise impacts in several locations, we are concerned that this could lead to an increase in air traffic, and therefore noise pollution, over the Berkeley area, especially along the Berkeley Hills. We request that the FAA look into minimizing flights over residential areas, and instead maximizing routes over the Bay and coastal areas. We believe that such flight plans will improve the environmental health of our residents and improve safety in the event of an in-flight emergency. Therefore, we request the FAA take the following actions: 1) The current Northern California Metroplex plan be rescinded, and prior flight plan protocols be restored. 2) The FAA study and monitor how to reduce noise levels from overflight noise, with full public participation. 3) No further flight plans be determined without an Environmental Impact Study analyzing the noise impacts of any proposal, with full public participation. 4) No discretionary SFO or OAK airport project be undertaken without the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report, with full public participation. We appreciate your consideration and cooperation on these matters. Sincerely, The Berkeley City Council