Overview

SFO Airport/Community Roundtable

Meeting No. 287 Overview

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

 

1.  Calto Order / RolCall / Declaration of a Quorum Present

Roundtable Vice-chairperson Naomi Partridge called the Regular Meeting of the SFO Airport/Community Roundtable to order, at approximately 7:04 p.m., in the David Chetcuti Community Room at the Millbrae City Hall.  James A. Castañeda, AICP, Roundtable Coordinator, called the roll. A quorum (at least 12 Regular Members) was present as follows:

 

REGULAR MEMBERS PRESENT

John Martin – City and County of San Francisco Airport Commission

Dave Pine – County of San Mateo Board of Supervisors

Richard Newman – C/CAG Airport Land Use Committee (ALUC) Cliff Lentz – City of Brisbane

Michael Brownrigg – City of Burlingame

Steve Okamoto – City of Foster City

Naomi Patridge, Roundtable Vice-chairperson – City of Half Moon Bay

Alvin Royse – Town of Hillsborough

Sue Digre – City of Pacifica Ken Ibarra – City of San Bruno Maureen Freschet – City of San Mateo

Pradeep Gupta – City of South San Francisco

David Burow – Town of Woodside

 

REGULAR MEMBERS ABSENT

City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Vacant) City and County of San Francisco Mayor’s Office

Town of Atherton City of Belmont City of Daly City

City of Menlo Park

City of Millbrae

Town of Portola Valley City of Redwood City City of San Carlos

 

ADVISORY MEMBERS PRESENT

Don Kirby – Northern California TRACON

Dave Foyle – Federal Aviation Administration, Sierra-Pacific District

Glen Morse – United Airlines

ROUNDTABLE STAFF

James A. Castañeda, AICP – Roundtable Coordinator Cindy Gibbs – Roundtable Technical Support (Consultant) Harvey Hartmann – Roundtable Technical Support (Consultant)

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT STAFF

Bert Ganoung, Noise Abatement Manager

David Ong, Noise Abatement Systems Manager

John Hampel, Noise Abatement Specialist

 

2.  Public Comments on Items NOT on the Agenda

Foster City resident Derrick Chua discussed the impacts to his family from an arriving aircraft over his home in Foster City.  Mr. Chua pointed out fines and sanctions that exist for noise offending airlines and asked that this be looked into.

David Butler, a resident of San Bruno, expressed concern over increased vibration and noise as a result of aircraft over flight. With the upcoming closures of runways for the continuing safety improvements, it was requested that this matter be placed on the agenda to investigate mitigation measures related to noise, vibration and pollution prior to the next closures.

CONSENT AGENDA

 

3.  Review of Airport Directors Report foMay 2013, June 2013 and July 2013

 

4.  Review of Roundtable Regular Meeting Overview for June 5, 2013

DISCUSSION:  None

ACTION:  Rich Newman MOVED the approval of the Consent Agenda items.  The motion was seconded by Michael Brownrigg and CARRIED, unanimously.

REGULAR AGENDA – PRESENTATION ITEMS

 

5.  Review of SFO FlyQuiet Reporfor Q2 2013

Bert Ganoung, Noise Abatement Manager, provided an overview of the SFO FlyQuiet Report for the second quarter of 2013, which was included in the meeting packet.  Mr. Ganoung pointed

out the airlines who are showing improving scores, and those who the Noise Abatement Office is working with to achieve quieter profiles.

DISCUSSION:  Foster City representative Steve Okamoto asked what kind of penalty is given for airlines with poor ratings.  Mr. Ganoung responded by saying that the Noise Abatement Office work with the airlines to rectify the problems related to noise abatement procedures.  San Mateo representative Maureen Freschet inquired about repeat offenders and if airlines are

fined.  Mr. Ganoung indicated that SFO is a non-fining airport, but that the Noise Abatement

Office aggressively pursues offending airlines in order to work with them to address the problem. Woodside representative David Burow suggested having a future agenda item to

review the legal context and limits of existing federal regulations regarding noise.

ACTION:  Ken Ibarra MOVED the approval of the SFO FlyQuiet Report for Q2 2013.  The motion was seconded by Cliff Lentz and CARRIED, unanimously.

 

6.  Airport Directors Comments

Airport Director John Martin expressed thanks for all those involved in responding and aiding SFO during the Asiana Airlines flight 214 incident in July.  Mr. Martin indicated slow growth in airline traffic, approximately 1%, with the leveling off of domestic traffic.  It was reported that portable noise monitors were recently deployed in Belmont and San Carlos and preparations were being made to deploy additional portable monitors in Woodside.  It was indicated, also, that the Oakland Airport Noise Abatement Office would be participating in a joint deployment effort in Woodside.  Mr. Martin then presented a draft PSA video to provide an overview of the upcoming runway safety area work to start in the coming year.

DISCUSSION:  Brisbane representative Cliff Lentz asked about the impacts associated with the runway closures discussed in the video.  Mr. Martin responded that the airport during closure periods will operate with only Runways 28L and 28R, and areas commonly impacted by departures on those runways can expect increased traffic, with Brisbane possibly seeing a reduction with good execution of the Shoreline departure procedure.  Airport Noise Abatement Manager Bert Ganoung provided additional details on the expected departure profiles during the closures.  Mr. Lentz also inquired about the efforts SFO will be taking to notify and reach out regarding the construction and impacts.  Airport Public Information Officer, Doug Yakel, explained the airport will be reaching out to cities, and prepared to present the video at a variety of forums.

REGULAR AGENDA – WORK PROGRAM ITEMS

7.  SFO Construction Update and Departure/Arrival affects

Updates and discussion on this item occurred in the previous item.

 

8.  Update on FAAs PORTE Departure Analysis

Bert Ganoung, Airport Noise Abatement Manager, reported on airlines flying the PORTE departure and indicated the nighttime flights have been preforming well, but continue to work with airlines for isolated incidents to avoid significant noise impacts over Brisbane.

DISCUSSION:  Brisbane resident Peter Grace expressed that flights over Brisbane have become worse, and indicated that the FAA is running aircrafts in groups.  He has given up writing and filing complains as there has been no progress.  It was also expressed that the data provided be given earlier, and to be provided to include what next steps will be taken as the FAA continues to investigate.

 

9.  Work Program Subcommittee recommendations, Oceanic Arrivals Over the

Woodside VOR

Roundtable technical consultant Cindy Gibbs provided a brief overview of the June 25, 2013

Work Program subcommittee meeting. The subcommittee agreed to recommend having aircraft monitored on a quarterly basis with deployed semi-portable noise monitors, and establish a

noise decibel base level of 52 dB for daytime (7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.) and 42 dB for nighttime readings. The subcommittee also agreed to present to the Roundtable noise analysis of different arrival profiles over the Woodside VOR to compare and evaluate.

DISCUSSION: Woodside resident Jim Lyons wished to make three points regarding the memorandum included in the meeting packet.  First, it was unclear what flights are being monitored, and Mr. Lyons indicated that all flights should be included.  Secondly, there is a concern in the subcommittee utilizing the data collected last summer by the Airport Noise Abatement Office monitors, as this data is considered corrupted.  If CNEL will be utilized as part of the data analysis, a premium should be included for the time period between 7:00 p.m. to

10:00 p.m.  Finally, Mr. Lyons expressed that a portable noise monitor be deployed in Portola

Valley for ongoing reporting and analysis.

Portola Valley resident Patrick Schnabel expressed concern with increased traffic noise over the community, as well air pollution.  Tina Nguyen, also a Portola Valley resident, echoed Jim Lyons point regarding the deployment of a noise monitor in Portola Valley.  Concern was also expressed in regard to the Airport Director’s report in reference to the number of filed complaints in Portola Valley being not accurate. It was indicated that there is a significantly higher number of complaints than what is reflected in the report. Ms. Nguyen concluded by sharing comments from an online community forum and survey regarding noise impacts to residences.

Portola Valley resident Victor Schachter reiterated the concerns previously made by Mr. Lyons and Ms. Nguyen. It was expressed that the current efforts through the Roundtable have been too slow and too late, and that the community will be proceeding in a different direction by meeting directly with Congresswoman Eshoo and Spears in a meeting to be conducted on September 23, 2013.  Mr. Schachter voiced that he felt the FAA, through the Roundtable, inadvertently, is legitimizing that the communities are being heard. While understanding that it is not the intent of the Roundtable, he urged members to consider the use of their time serving on the Roundtable.  Jan Schachter, also a Portola Valley resident, reiterated the importance of this conversation with the Roundtable, as the noise this summer has been horrible and remains to be a major problem. She concluded by asking that if airlines decide how many flights to conduct, is there ever an end point to the amount of flights to add.

 

10. ReportOptimization of Airspace Procedures in the Metroplex (OAPMEnvironmental Review

Vice-chairperson Patridge pointed out a draft letter included in the meeting packet from Chairman Gee, expressing the Roundtable’s ongoing interest in discussions regarding the OAPM Environmental Review, and, with the Roundtable’s approval, will finalize the letter to be sent.

DISCUSSION:  None.

ACTION:  Sue Digre MOVED the approval of the draft letter.  The motion was seconded by Rich

Newman and CARRIED, unanimously.

 

11. Website Update

Roundtable technical consultant Cindy Gibbs and Roundtable Coordinator James Castañeda provided an overview of the forthcoming website update.  Ms. Gibbs indicated that the site will go live before the next Roundtable Regular Meeting, and will take any immediate feedback members may have.

DISCUSSION: Woodside representative David Burrow suggested to incorporate navigation through anticipated common inquires (i.e., “I want to…”).  Mr. Castañeda agreed it would be helpful, and would be looked into. Members suggested that staff reach out to a few Roundtable members to get feedback prior to the site going live.

 

12. Airport Noise Briefing

Roundtable technical consultant Cindy Gibbs reported on current and anticipated impacts of sequestration, aircraft delivery trends and benefits, the first ADSB gate-to-gate satellite navigation performed by JetBlue this summer, and ongoing monitoring of SB15 regarding UAV uses.

 

13. Member Communications / Announcements

Rich Newman learned of the passing of Herb Foreman who served on the Roundtable for many years.  It was requested that the meeting adjourn in memory of Mr. Foreman, and that his family be notified of such, expressing the Roundtable’s condolences.

Roundtable Coordinator James Castañeda reminded members of the upcoming joint TRACON

tour on September 19, 2013 with the Oakland Noise Forum.

Airport Noise Abatement Manager Bert Ganoung announced the upcoming annual SFO FOD (Foreign Object Debris) Walk on September 25, 2013.

Vice-chairperson Patridge invited people to attend the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin festival October

19 and 20, 2013.

 

14. Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned in memory of Herb Foreman at approximately 8:56 p.m.

Minutes approved at the January 29, 2014 Regular Meeting