Residents ask FAA for more information

By Jason Kotowski
Staff Reporter

Many Delaware residents were upset with the lack of information at a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) meeting held August 18 to discuss the possible expansion or addition of runways at Philadelphia International Airport.

During a four-hour meeting, attended by about 200 people at the Candlelight Music Theater in Arden, residents told FAA officials and consultants that they weren't providing sufficient information on how the expansion would affect airplane noise in Delaware.

FAA consultant Jon Feinstein said they would have answers at a later meeting.

There were boos during the question-and-answer portion of the meeting when the FAA panel failed to provide adequate answers.

Gail Van Gilder, of Delaware Greenways, said the FAA already has their minds made up to approve the expansion. She said they need to answer questions from an air noise study conducted in December 2001.

Panel member Mo Keane said the results of the study and possible changes to reduce noise would be released in May.

Gilder said Delawareans need to hire their own consultant to attend meetings about the expansion. That way, they'll have an unbiased expert who can refute or confirm the FAA's findings, she said.

"They should tell us up front what they're planning because they know exactly where they're heading," said Gilder.

Arden resident Beth Holloway and Dartmouth Woods resident Dan Cubik, along with other residents who spoke to the panel, said they're tired of the airplane noise.

"This problem has to be taken care of," said Cubik.

Councilman Robert S. Weiner (R-2nd District) said the FAA has a duty to seek community input before expanding runways. "The clear impression that audience members formed was that the meeting was not so much geared towards seeking community input as it was to giving the appearance of seeking community input so the project can be approved."

Weiner asked why flights couldn't be rerouted to fly along the Delaware River, but he wasn't given an answer. He said he frequently hears from constituents complaining about airplane noise.

"At times, the planes seem to fly over Brandywine Hundred houses every minute," said Weiner. "This is a quality of life issue."

Dan Bockover, president of the Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred, said the presentation was poor. "What's the point of having a bunch of consultants with no authority who cannot or will not answer our questions? They had so little specific information to present."

Bockover said the consultants seemed to be without a leader, and they didn't listen to the concerns of the community. He also thought it was strange that questions asked from the microphone were not recorded.

Feinstein had told the audience that questions asked to the panel would not be recorded, and people who wanted their comments recorded were to speak to a stenographer or fill out a comment sheet.

During the meeting, FAA officials talked about an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) that will address a range of alternatives that would reduce existing and future delays at Philadelphia International Airport. In 2002, it was the 12th busiest airport in the U.S. in terms of annual number of departures and arrivals, but ranked fifth on the list of most delayed airports.

The EIS will analyze air quality, construction impacts, cultural resources, energy, ground transportation, hazardous materials, land use compatibility, light emissions, natural resources, noise, parks, refuges and open space, relocations, social and economic factors, visual factors, water quality and wetlands.

The FAA has identified the airport as a "pacing" airport - an airport that contributes to delays throughout the national airports system.

The City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation began preparation of a Master Plan Update in 1999 to address the cause of delays at the airport. An airfield modeling and capacity/delay analysis determined that the airport's average annual delay in 2000 was almost 10 minutes per landing or takeoff.

Without improvements, the Master Plan Update says this average annual delay would increase to almost 20 minutes by 2010. An airport is considered congested when average delay exceeds five minutes per operation.

The Master Plan Update also said that the configuration of the airfield is one of the major causes of the delays.

Alternatives being considered for the airport's capacity enhancement program are the No Build Alternative, the Parallel Concept and the Diagonal Concept.

The No Build Alternative says that only periodic maintenance and minor enhancements are needed to maintain safe operations at the airport. It serves as the basis for assessing the impacts of the other alternatives being considered.

An expansion of the existing runway configuration that would be completed in two phases, the Parallel Concept involves extending two of the four existing runways and constructing a new runway. It also involves making minor changes to gate facilities in and around the existing terminal complex.

The first phase would extend a runway to the east by 2,000 feet, for a total length of 7,000 feet. Another runway would be extended to the east by 1,500 feet for a total length of 12,000 feet.

In the second phase, a 10,000 feet by 500 feet runway would be constructed on the south side.

Commuter facilities would be relocated to the east side business area to accommodate all other aircraft in the central terminal area.

The Diagonal Concept would provide four parallel runways in a northwest-southeast configuration. This runway configuration is similar to those in operation at the major airports in Atlanta, Ga. and Los Angeles, Calif.

The plan would be implemented in three phases.

Phase 1 would: Extend a runway to the east by 1,500 feet for a total length of 12,000 feet; take a runway out of service to construct a new 8,900 feet by 150 feet runway; construct a new 12,000 feet by 150 feet runway.

Phase 2 involves taking a runway out of service to construct a new 8,000 feet by 150 feet runway to the south.

In Phase 3, another runway would be taken out of service to construct a new 10,000 feet by 150 feet runway. Also, Terminals B through F would be replaced with Centerfield Terminals 1 through 6.

The Parallel and Diagonal Concepts may require the relocation of the UPS facility, the Sun Oil tanks, piers and pipelines, and a small manufacturing business on the east side of the airport property. They may require the acquisition of International Plaza and the Henderson property for potential relocations.

The concepts may also require repositioning some of the facilities at the City of Philadelphia Water Treatment Plant and acquiring a portion of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge disposal site.

Airfield support facilities that may require relocating include general aviation facilities, parking facilities, the Air Traffic Control Tower, corporate hangars, the fuel farm, Cargo City facilities, a deicing facility and the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting facility. Roadway modifications may have to be made to Hog Island Road and Tinicum Island Road.

The second round of meetings is scheduled for Fall 2003 and is expected to showcase the data and analysis that demonstrate the purpose and need for the project, and the process for identifying alternatives that achieve the purpose and need for the project. The meetings will include opportunities to discuss issues with the EIS team, and opportunities to comment on the information presented.

Additional public meetings are expected to be held, if necessary, to discuss issues of particular concern to the community.

An EIS information Web site will be maintained for the project throughout the development of the EIS. The address is www.phl-cep-eis.com.

Information that will be displayed on the site includes meeting locations, dates and times; EIS status reports and schedules; newsletters; study report highlights; and alternative concepts.