Airport noise limits to be adjusted
Jasmine Lee
Orange County officials promised that residents would not hear the
difference after the county Board of Supervisors this week approved
changes in noise limits at John Wayne Airport.
The changes were made because the airport is using new technology to
measure noise levels, county officials said.
A U.S. District judge last summer authorized the changes in noise levels.
The county is now in the process of putting an ordinance in place to make
the changes official policy, said Kim Koeppen, a staff member for
Supervisor Tom Wilson.
The supervisors on Monday unanimously approved the first steps of the
ordinance. They are expected to formally adopt the noise level changes at
their Feb. 1 meeting.
Koeppen said airport officials explained that the adjustments do not mean
more noise.
“They said that the noise levels haven’t increased -- it’s just being
measured differently,” Koeppen said.
The Newport Beach-based Airport Working Group, which in 1985 helped to
create legal limits on noise levels and the number of flights at John
Wayne, also gave the thumbs up to the new noise monitoring system, said
David Ellis, a spokesman for the organization.
“AWG has been working with the city and the county to make sure we
understand the new system,” Ellis said.
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