PASCACK VALLEY—Emerson Mayor Danielle DiPaola and Westwood Mayor Ray Arroyo — like many of their peers in the Pascack Valley — urge their residents affected by airplane noise or noise pollution from small jets heading to Teterboro Airport to call a special Federal Aviation Agency phone number to make their complaints heard.
Emerson Borough Administrator Robert Hermansen, speaking at the meeting of the governing body on Feb. 15, said that the FAA set up a hotline for resident complaints at (800) 225-1071 and (201) 288-8828 to field noise complaints. Residents will be asked to report their location, and date and time of the noise complaint.
Hermansen said an email was also provided for complaints and will be posted on the borough website.
“If the noise pollution from airplanes flying over Emerson is burdensome to you or your family, we will be posting a phone number on the website. They (FAA) want you to call them direct so that you can tell them the times the planes are flying over and what your location is so that, hopefully, they can reroute planes when they get enough complaints,” said DiPaola.
She said if the FAA gets enough phone calls from different locations, “they will probably change … the traffic patterns,” She added, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
Hermansen and Arroyo were among those from the Pascack Valley attending a Feb. 8 Zoom conference with FAA and TANAAC (Teterboro Aircraft Noise Abatement Advisory Committee) officials and noted jet landing traffic patterns at Teterboro had changed over the last few years due to complaints from Hackensack Meridian Health Medical Center, whose large medical complex lies close to Teterboro.
DiPaola noted that the Pascack Valley Mayors Association, which represents 10 Pascack Valley towns, including Old Tappan and Oradell, are seeking a seat on TANAAC to have a voice in landing pattern and noise pollution discussions.
Hermansen noted recent complaints from residents on Soldier Hill Road.
Meanwhile, Arroyo updated his council on the Feb. 8 Zoom meeting, hosted by representatives of the Port Authority of NY/NJ and Teterboro Airport. State Sen. Holly Schepisi, Assemblyman Robert Auth, and Pascack Valley Mayors Peter Calamari of Washington Township, Dianne Didio of Oradell, Carlos Rendo of Woodcliff Lake, John Ruocco of Hillsdale, and Woodcliff Lake Councilwoman Jacqueline Galdatta, among others, were on the call.
(For background, see, “Progress Seen on Teterboro Airport Noise Pollution; Residents Urged to Complain,” Pascack Press, Feb. 7, 2022.)
Arroyo said, “We elected officials listened as the various speakers described the airport’s operations, which service 170,000 flights per year.”
He said, “Runways, like roadways, require periodic milling and paving every 7–10 years. Their unavailability during replacement rejiggers the flight paths for departures and arrivals. And because Teterboro exists in an invisible ecosystem of metro area flight paths, similar work conducted at Newark and LaGuardia may also impact patterns at Teterboro.”
Arroyo said, “This was in play last summer when Newark was under construction and flights into Teterboro and over the Pascack Valley seemed to increase exponentially. The standard flight path for instrument approach (following land beacons) passes over the western part of Westwood.”
Arroyo noted that in June 2021 an alternate approach, centered further west above Route 17, was won FAA approval. “This was intended to provide some relief in response to the many noise complaints arising from summer’s increased traffic.”
That approach, he said, must be requested by the approaching pilot and so far only a small fraction of incoming flights have requested that approach.
Arroyo said, “The Pascack Valley Mayors Association has formally requested that the airport’s advisory panel, TANAAC, open its membership to a representative of our association.”
He, like DiPaola, urges residents to call Teterboro’s hotline to register excessive noise complaints. “These calls are used as a basis for investigating breeches in noise mitigation protocols that are currently in place and binding on the companies that utilize the Airport.”
Arroyo said the mayors association also is considering “directly approaching the private carriers with respect to the low utilization of the alternative route put in place in June to better understand their pilots’ reluctance and to see how their concerns might be addressed.”
The PVMA represents 10 towns with approximately 100,000 residents, “many of whom are in the path of these low-flying planes and some number of whom are passengers patronizing these flights,” said Arroyo.
— With John Snyder