The Naples Municipal Airport has hired a communications specialist to help address community concerns over noise.
The airport hopes the new addition will open a dialogue between the airport, pilots and the community. But, some local residents are not convinced it will bring down the noise.
Sheila Dugan is looking west from her office window at the Naples Municipal Airport.
In the distance, beyond the concrete and runways, stands a large mixed-use building. Dugan said it was built about 20 years ago, and other developments are on the way.
“At the very end of our runway, less than - I believe it’s like 2,000 feet - past... we’re going to have a Hyatt hotel. They're doing very extensive noise extenuation, noise insulation on this building,” she said.
Dugan is the Naples Airport Authority’s deputy executive director. She’s been here for more than 24 years. In that time, she’s watched development grow up around the airport.
Because the airport sits in the heart of the city, it has created tension between those who live near the airport and those use it. It’s an issue the airport has grappled with for years.
In late October, the airport hired Diane Terrill as its communications specialist for the noise abatement program.
“Everybody’s idea of perfection and utopia is different. If you are a pilot, you want to be able to utilize your aircraft in any manner whatsoever. If you are a resident who doesn’t particularly like airplanes, you don’t ever want to hear an airplane,” she said.
Terrill has a history with aviation. She came to Naples from acting as airport manager at New Hampshire’s Laconia Municipal Airport.
Airport noise, she said, is a nationwide issue.
“This is a hotbed issue anywhere you go and it doesn’t matter the size of the community, the size of the airport, the traffic count, airports are admittedly noisy,” she said.
With the pilots, her job is to explain the noise abatement program and look for suggestions. A main part of the program is the voluntary flight curfew.
The airport asks pilots not to fly between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. And Terrill said most customers observe it.
“Nothing’s perfect, but I think if you achieve 98 and a half to 99 percent compliance with anything that's voluntary, I think you're doing a wonderful, wonderful job,” she said.
Her job also means interacting with the public, fielding comments and ideas. In a busy month such as December, Terrill said she received fewer than 30 complaints or comments.
“Everybody’s idea of perfection and utopia is different. If you are a pilot, you want to be able to utilize your aircraft in any manner whatsoever. If you are a resident who doesn’t particularly like airplanes, you don’t ever want to hear an airplane.” - Diane Terrill
That’s in response to the 8,000 some-odd take-offs and landings that month.
And she works with the airport’s Noise Compatibility Committee, which will meet again later this month.
But, some community members are not confident this will actually help reduce airport noise.
“A communication specialist is not what this airport needs. In my opinion, what we need here is to stop the PR. It’s not a community discussion issue, it’s what’s behind it,” he said.
Alan Parker and another Naples resident named Larry Schultz co-manage Naples Airport Watch.
Both live about a mile to a mile and a half from the airport.
Schultz said traffic is increasing at the airport, which is the main cause of the noise. And that the jets can and do break the voluntary curfew.
He wants the airport to conduct a noise study.
Deputy Executive Director Sheila Dugan said the airport has done several noise studies in the past. She said the airport authority’s board is discussing the possibility of a new study.
Diane Terrill said when customers do violate the voluntary curfew – the airport sends them a letter asking for their cooperation. She calls it a slap on the hand.
“The slap the hand is to get that letter so again it doesn’t matter if it’s 10:05 [p.m.], it doesn’t matter if it was 6:55 [a.m.] that they took off. We’re so committed to this that we risk offending or alienating our best customers,” she said.
Terrill said the airport does this because it is sensitive to the community’s concerns about noise.
