Earlier this year, discussions surfaced about the potential for building a federal inspection services (FIS) facility for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enable international travel at Long Beach Airport. However, residents are concerned that the change has the potential to challenge the airport’s noise ordinance. Pictured is a jet landing at the airport.
Staff Writer
Residents who fought to keep airlines from expanding at Long Beach Airport in order to protect homes underneath flight paths are preparing for what may become a new battle.
The Long Beach City Council at its meeting on Nov. 11 at the Houghton Park Community Center voted unanimously (8-0) to conduct a study session on the airport’s noise ordinance mid-January after recent discussions about the potential for bringing international flights to the airport.
“I do expect to have a very robust conversation and study session regarding our airport noise ordinance, and hopefully we can walk away better educated and informed about this very important issue,” said 8th District Councilmember Al Austin, who spearheaded the request with the support of 4th District Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell, who will leave the Council after winning a race for State Assembly, and 7th District Councilmember Roberto Uranga.
Earlier this year, it was revealed in a city memo that airport management had been studying the possibility of building a federal inspection services (FIS) facility for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enable international travel. Airport staff, however, have indicated that the potential development is only in “preliminary” stages and would require a three-year-plus process.
The memo, which was obtained by the Signal Tribune, was sent to City Manager Pat West in 2013 from then Long Beach Airport Director Mario Rodriguez, who has since left to become director of Indianapolis Airport. Bryant Francis, who previously served as director for the Shreveport Airport Authority in Louisiana, has since replaced Rodriguez.
Executives with the airport’s primary commercial airline, JetBlue Airways, have expressed interest in having international flights from Long Beach Airport, possibly to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Fixed-based operators (FBOs), which service corporate jets and private general-aviation planes, have also expressed interest in an FIS facility.
The city memo included a feasibility study that notes that building a 31,000-square-foot FIS facility could cost from $9.3 million to $15.9 million.
However, the memo cites a number of “disincentives” of having international flights at Long Beach Airport, adding that the change could result in “not only increasing the airport’s financial exposure but also increasing the exposure to international threats.”
Regarding financial concerns, the study notes that, based upon a consultant’s review, “the proposed FIS project could be financially feasible, depending upon JetBlue’s strategic plans and willingness to participate in the funding of the project,” but it may also entail “risks for the airport.”
In a guest column printed in the Press-Telegram, Austin expressed dissatisfaction with the City’s job posting for a new airport director, pointing out that the listing stated that the new airport director should “influence discussion and garner community support for a federal customs facility.”
The councilmember stated that it’s “premature” to hire a new airport director with the prospect of gaining support for a federal U.S. Customs facility.
“The City Council has not had any discussion nor provided any direction about the possibility of building a federal Customs facility at the Long Beach Airport, and it is certainly premature to be hiring an airport director with the expectation that he or she should garner community support for such a facility,” Austin stated. “Unfortunately, the expectation raised in the job posting is the opposite of what we should be asking of our airport director, and certainly not what the residents of Long Beach expect of their city.”
Furthermore, he said the city manager should task the new airport director with embarking on a “listening tour with residents of the many airport-impacted communities,” adding that the Council and the airport director should have “a solid understanding and appreciation for the impacts that airport operations have on our neighborhoods.”
Additionally, residents have expressed concerns that building a U.S. Customs facility would open up the potential for challenges to the airport’s noise ordinance.
The airport noise ordinance, which was officially passed in 1995 after years of litigation between the City and airlines involving input from affected homeowners, allows airlines and regional commuter jets to fly only during specific time slots that are allocated in a lottery.
The ordinance permits airlines to fly between the hours of 7am and 10pm or face fines that range from $100 to $300 per violation, according to the airport’s website.
Residents involved in drafting the airport noise ordinance assert that more commercial airline and general-aviation noise and emissions negatively impact neighborhoods and reduce property values.
The noise ordinance was also instrumental in guiding the airport’s terminal modernization to a project that would be acceptable to airlines and residents alike.
Airport spokesperson Kerry Gerot sent an email to the Signal Tribune this week stating that the City is not proposing any changes to the noise ordinance regardless of the potential for a U.S. Customs facility.
“The issue of a Customs facility is something that the City Council will discuss with public input and an open process,” she said. “Protection of the noise ordinance is important to the airport and the City of Long Beach, and something that will be discussed in detail with the understanding that the noise ordinance remains in force regardless of the route structures of the airlines serving the airport.”
