Results from a study measuring how aircraft noise affects local residents are not yet available, New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro said Tuesday night.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has introduced a Web Trak system on the agency’s website that allows people to view air traffic patterns and monitor plane noise levels in their communities, said Lofaro, who attended a Nov. 3 Port Authority workshop on the study.
But Lofaro said he found it questionable that the agency is using a noise level of 60 decibels as the threshold for mitigation in the New York metropolitan area, while lower levels lead to remediation elsewhere in the U.S.
Officials who attended the workshop were told that the meters in the study cannot definitively measure aircraft sound because the decibel levels may rise from other sources, such as helicopter and vehicle traffic.
“So even though you see a plane on the monitor going over the meter and you see the meter go up accordingly, they can’t use that in their study,” he said. “They have to use computerized models to determine the sound, so in my opinion I think that it is relatively a flawed study to some degree.”
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is studying noise from the John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Teterboro airports in an effort to address noise concerns of residents of Queens, Brooklyn and Nassau County who live near the airports. Monitors at the airports and other locations measure sound levels.
Lofaro said two meters measure sound near New Hyde Park: one at the intersection of New Hyde Park Road between Baxter and Corwin Avenues, and one in South Floral Park.
They spike anywhere between 70 and 80 decibels when a plane flies overhead, “which is quite loud as we know living in this area,” Lofaro said.
The Port Authority contracted with Environmental Science Associates, a consulting firm, in March 2014 to develop noise exposure maps and compile data to help identify noise mitigation measures in accordance with federal rules and regulations.
The Nov. 3 workshops provided the latest developments in the Port Authority’s planned three-year study to gauge and abate aircraft noise in areas most affected by air traffic.
Lofaro said he hopes there will be a public hearing or some other opportunity for the Village Board and residents to voice more of their concerns.
A Port Authority spokeswoman said the Federal Aviation Administration uses an average sound level of 65 decibels as a threshold for acceptable air noise.
Draft noise exposure maps are sent to elected officials and stakeholders, reviewed at public workshops and are available online, the spokeswoman said.
