Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
The Santa Barbara Airport has embarked on a comprehensive noise study plan and formed a working group in collaboration with the cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara. The initiative comes as a response to residents’ complaints about the disturbing noise caused by aircraft taking off and landing in the area.
The Santa Barbara Airport was annexed to the City of Santa Barbara in the 1950s through an agreement acknowledging a corridor under the Pacific Ocean. While the airport is now surrounded by the 20-year-old city of Goleta, concerns about noise pollution have been raised by residents to city councils.
Addressing these concerns, the Santa Barbara City Council recently voted unanimously to approve a letter expressing their willingness to work with Goleta on finding solutions for the noise issue.
Santa Barbara Airport Director Christopher Hastert commented that most of the points in Goleta’s letter were reasonable and only required minimal adjustments to align with the airport’s operations. Hastert expressed satisfaction with the collaborative approach, emphasizing the importance of resolving noise-related conflicts and striving for improvements collectively.
As part of this joint effort, an airport noise compatibility study will be conducted, along with the establishment of an airport noise working group. The study, projected to cost over $1 million and take approximately 12 to 18 months, may be funded by both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the airport itself.
While the study outcome may not lead to a change in the flight path due to the airport’s east-west runway, which facilitates landing into the wind, discussions surrounding noise mitigation strategies remain crucial. Altering any specific element within the flight path could significantly impact the National Airspace System, which operates based on carefully established routes during instrument conditions and adverse weather.
While many airport neighbors enjoyed the quiet during the COVID-19 pandemic, air travel has increased back to pre-pandemic levels leading to an increased number of complaints. A group of residents created a group titled “Clean and Quiet Santa Barbara Airport” and started an online petition.
” Flight schedules between the hours of 11:00PM and 6:00AM have made it difficult for ordinary residents to sleep at night. It appears that the community can only expect further increase as the airport completes its multimillion dollar expansion!” the petition states.
As the Santa Barbara Airport takes proactive steps to address noise concerns, the outcomes of the noise study and collaborative efforts with Goleta hold the potential to chart a path toward a more harmonious relationship between the airport and its surrounding communities.
No need to spend the $1M (really?) – here are the results of your study right here – aircraft flying at night bug people more than flying during the day – to mitigate the situation, aircraft will not fly between the hours of 11 PM and 630 AM.
build an airport in montecito for equity or something
There once was an airport (landing strip) in Montecito….I believe it was at the Hammond’s Estate (between Butterfly Beach and Miramar Beach). There was also one at the far end of Carpinteria. Such aviation history we have!
Also, in other gossip news…..there is talk about building a heliport for emergency choppers, but it also will double as a takeoff/landing spot for private helicopters. That would work out great and be supported by the private flyers like Ellen, Oprah, Pinch Harry and his wife/family, Marcus Lemonis, and those Montecito gazillionaires whose names we don’t even know. By the time it would take these folks to get onto private jets to fly out of SBA, they could be landing at Glendale/LAX/etc. So yeah, heliport for Montecito has a good chance of happening.
The first real one was in the Hitchcock area by Hoff Heights.
How many commercial flights are taking off/landing between 11pm and 6am?
This just in:
People move next door to an airport, then complain about noise from said airport.
Very sensible.
This just in:
People move next to a house, then complain when it is upzoned to become a 5 story condo.
Very sensible.
A million dollar ‘study’?! WTF?! Don’t need a study, just have them live in Goleta for a few weeks. Are the tax payers paying for this study?!
The intelligently managed cities surrounding the John Wayne Airport, have managed to curtail aircraft activity between 10PM and 7AM (8AM on Sundays). JWA also has 13 to 15 times more commercial flights and passengers on a daily basis over our charming Santa Barbara Airports activity. But let’s spend Million’s and conclude Airplanes are LOUD!