Commentary: FAA’s `NextGen’ plan is bad for Newport Beach

The city of Newport Beach was grateful to join the County of Orange and our community partners just about a year ago in announcing the extension and amendment of the John Wayne Airport (JWA) settlement agreement.

The agreement addresses limits on activities on the ground at JWA for 15 to 20 more years, including annual passenger limits. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has complete jurisdiction over the nation’s airspace and has authority once an airplane leaves the ground.

Our agreement is acknowledged by the FAA, and we are one of very few communities to have an agreement like we do. That agreement is essential to protecting the quality of life for thousands of Newport Beach residents.

We now have a new and different JWA noise-related issue to try to wrangle, one somewhat outside of the settlement agreement. It’s the result of something called NextGen. This is an FAA endeavor nationwide — not just in Orange County — to improve the safety and efficiency of airspace by optimizing flight paths.

The FAA proposes to do so by containing flights in more narrow “tracks.” The FAA’s goal is to implement the departure tracks from November 2016 to March 2017. I respect the FAA’s mission and, in terms of airspace control, can understand why the FAA thinks NextGen is a good idea.

It’s a bad idea, however, for those that live or work under the narrowed flight path.

As proposed, flights departing from JWA would follow a regular and repeatable path along the Upper Bay and across to the ocean. The path would be nearly identical to a path that about half of the departing flights follow today, called the STREL.

As we understand it, new areas of town should not be affected by NextGen. Instead, current flight paths (there are generally three that are used today) would be narrowed onto one. As a result, certain Newport Beach neighborhoods are likely to see an increase in the number of flights that go overhead. It would be similar to closing a number of side streets around town and directing all traffic onto one major street.

I know many of our residents are deeply concerned about this. So are we.

If the city of Newport Beach had its druthers, the FAA would not be doing any of this. We had our attorneys send a 23-page letter to the FAA detailing concerns about inadequate environmental review of these proposed changes. We also reached out to Phoenix and other cities and counties that have concerns.

We’ve worked with the County of Orange, as operators of the airport, and have met with the FAA in person. Our colleagues at the County — the JWA staff and Supervisor Michelle Steel — hear your concerns and are standing with us on the NextGen issue.

Protecting Newport Beach from the impacts of JWA’s commercial aircraft operations is the City Council’s priority and we will once again lead efforts to bring our citizens’ concerns to the attention of the FAA. I will be working with my City Council colleagues on a way to get the FAA’s attention and not add to our community’s current burden of noise and pollution.

We know many of you want to take action too. First, make sure you comment on the FAA’s Draft Environmental Assessment of the Southern California Metroplex project, the local plan for NextGen.

You can find the document at www.metroplexenvironmental.com/socal_metroplex/socal_docs.html and can provide your comments by emailing [email protected] no later than midnight Oct. 8, 2015. Noise impacts are an important element of that assessment.

Next, if you would like to read our letter to the FAA or learn more about the city’s JWA-related work, please visit www.newportbeachca.gov/jwa.

Finally, let us know who you are and that you want to stay informed. Please email [email protected] to be added to our email list. I will communicate with those that sign up and help mobilize our efforts for the maximum effect.

I understand the skeptics that say one community just can’t have an impact on a nationwide project. I, however, see an opportunity to have our collective voice heard by the FAA and I say we take it.

TONY PETROS is a Newport Beach councilman.