PASCACK VALLEY—The Pascack Valley Mayors Association, which represents eight Pascack Valley towns plus Oradell and Old Tappan, will continue to fight into 2023 for membership on the Teterboro Airport noise committee despite the committee’s October vote to deny the towns a single seat.
That’s according to PVMA president Keith Misciagna, mayor of Park Ridge, who tells Pascack Press that the Teterboro Aircraft Noise Abatement Advisory Committee’s Nov. 9 vote to deny PVMA membership a seat at the table “was very disappointing and we feel not in the spirit of inclusion to those towns impacted by their policies.”
The PVMA had been pressing for most of 2022 for more representation on TANAAC, which represents 15 municipalities within 5 miles of Teterboro on aircraft-related noise concerns. The advisory committee formed in 1987.
TANAAC’s website (aircraftnoise.panynj.gov) says in part, “Beginning in 1959, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates John F. Kennedy International (JFK), Newark Liberty International (EWR), LaGuardia (LGA), Stewart International (SWF), and Teterboro (TEB) airports, implemented a series of aircraft noise abatement programs and numerous noise mitigation programs.”
It says “Abatement programs are defined as those that address a reduction in the noise source. Mitigation programs are designed to reduce the impact of existing noise on people living near the airports.”
It says the main purpose of TANAAC “was to establish a meaningful dialogue between the airport community and the residential communities. The primary goal of the committee is to work collaboratively with the airport management and Federal Aviation Administration in an effort to enhance the quality of life of the residents of local communities while ensuring the continued efficient operation of the airport.”
TANAAC is comprised of the locally elected officials or their duly appointed alternates, and members of the aviation community.
Tempers are rising
Over the past few years, Pascack Valley towns have been experiencing a rise in complaints about low-flying jets traversing suburban airspace, adding a steady drone of jet engine noise to what were mostly quiet suburban airspace and landscapes.
Misciagna told Pascack Press, “We are in agreement that we will continue to fight for representation on TANAAC on behalf of the approximately 100,000 residents (in PVMA’s 10 towns) that are directly impacted by the current flight patterns.”
He said, “While anyone can attend and comment at TANAAC meetings, we feel it is a reasonable request to have just a single seat/membership for all 10 towns. Their choice to deny representation to approximately 100,000 Bergen County residents is alarming, disappointing and we feel unfair. We will continue to attend meetings and express our constituents’ concerns going forward,” he said.
TANAAC’s next quarterly meeting is Jan. 25, 2023, then April 26, July 27, and Oct. 26.
Misciagna urged TANAAC to rethink its rejection of PVMA and allow a PVMA representative. “We hope that TANAAC will reconsider their position in the future but regardless of their choice we will make our concerns public and hope to shine a light on these policies and how they are implemented and enforced.”
He said, “We understand that there is not an easy quick solution to these issues and most are complicated and far reaching but having membership would be a good start in having the voices of the Pascack Valley residents heard.”
Hillsdale Mayor John Ruocco said PVMA officials discussed a number of actions at their Nov. 9 meeting that could be taken, but no decisions were made.
Following TANAAC’s decision to deny the PVMA a seat on its committee, Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo said the PVMA would likely consider a variety of responses, from hiring its own aviation expert, and possibly hiring an attorney, to demonstrations and being vocal at upcoming meetings.
So far, at least, it appears PVMA will remain vocal over the next meetings.
“We’re at the mercy of the information they’re giving us. Not to let us have a voice when our residents, over 100,000 residents here, are complaining … We’re getting the brunt of it here in Woodcliff Lake,” Rendo told Pascack Press.
He said most private jets are lower than 2,000 feet as they maneuver for a landing turning south over the borough. Rendo said weekends are especially busy in borough airspace, including Sundays at night as business flyers return from trips before the start of the work week.
In early 2022, Woodcliff Lake councilwoman Jacqueline Gadaleta reported some progress on cutting jet noise. She had been attending TANAAC meetings in 2021 and she said then that the committee hoped:
- To encourage more pilots with the properly outfitted aircraft to use a new, alternate approach along Route 17 and advertise this option more to pilots on night routes, to get them accustomed to it for day flights;
- Possibly to redirect some larger aircraft to Newark Airport, taking pressure off Teterboro; and
- To raise pilots’ altitude of approach, when feasible, and have certain routes approach Teterboro over the industrialized Meadowlands rather than the suburban Pascack Valley.
Based on TANAAC’s October 2022 quarterly meeting, and local mayors’ feedback, it does not appear that pilots are choosing to use the new approach over Route 17, and neither the Teterboro tower nor the FAA are encouraging more regular use.
Private jet pilots are allowed to choose their landing route when flying into Teterboro, FAA officials have emphasized.
On the TANAAC webpage, visitors are told “The routing of aircraft over non-residential areas is always preferred, but many factors determine arrival and departure paths (e.g., weather, runway availability, pilot preference, airspace constraints, other safety concerns, and the like). Safety is the No. 1 priority of the Port Authority, the FAA, and aircraft pilots. FAA air traffic controllers manage aircraft operations to keep aircraft at safe distances from one another, maintain safe flying altitudes, and maintain safe horizontal separation between aircraft, while maintaining prescribed routes that have been researched to be the most effective for noise abatement and safety. FAA’s air traffic controllers will also rotate usage of runways whenever feasible to lower impacts to any given area.