Van Nuys Curfew Proposal : Study of Takeoff Ban Ordered

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday ordered a 6-month study of a proposed ban on all night takeoffs at Van Nuys Airport except for military and official emergency flights.

The 12-0 vote was a disappointment to neighbors living near the airport who sought an immediate end to aircraft noise.

“All we are asking for is the opportunity to get an uninterrupted night’s sleep,” Don Schultz, president of Ban Airport Noise, told the council.

Since 1981, the council has banned departures between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. at the city-owned airport by planes classified by the Federal Aviation Administration as producing more than 74 decibels of noise on takeoff. The ceiling forbids takeoffs by some business-class jet aircraft, but many propeller-driven planes and some newer small jets are classified as producing less than 74 decibels, and so are exempt.

The ban does not include police, Fire Department or other official emergency flights, and the city cannot regulate military flights. It does not apply to landings, which are less noisy than takeoffs.

Councilman Joel Wachs had proposed banning all takeoffs, regardless of the noise rating of the aircraft, except for emergency flights.

A report by the city attorney in July warned that closing the facility at night might “constitute an undue burden on interstate commerce,” violating the U.S. Constitution, and might violate provisions of the agreement under which the federal government gave the airport, a World War II military base, to the city.

“It is difficult for us to comprehend” how eliminating an average of only 10 takeoffs per night “would impose an undue burden on interstate commerce when this airport has averaged 470,000 operations a year,” Schultz told the council.

“The present nighttime curfew is not working for the residential communities surrounding the airport,” Schultz said. “A single jet taking off during the middle of the night will continue to disrupt the sleep of a number of surrounding communities.”

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who heads the council’s Industry and Economic Development Committee, recommended the study, saying it would be necessary to legally support a curfew should one be approved.

Wachs, who represents the area around the airport, supported the council action, calling it “very responsive.”

Airport officials and users who oppose more limits on airport traffic argue that anti-noise protest groups, such as BAN and homeowners societies, exaggerate the noise problem and that a few people generate most of the complaints.