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News
LB Airport Main Runway 30/12 Will Be Closed Mar 19-21 from 10:00 pm-6:15 am, Possibly Diverting Flights Onto Neighborhood Runway 25R/7L
Last summer's temporary closure resulted in neighborhood flights with roughly twice perceived loudness allowed for main runway. No court prosecutions but city pursued alternative enforcement (including a meeting with City Prosecutor's office) that has produced compliance...so far
(March 18, 2002) -- LB Airport has announced that its main diagonal runway (30/12) will be closed from 10:00 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, March 19 through Thursday, March 21 because personnel and equipment will be working adjacent to the runway.
That means larger planes could be diverted onto Runway 25R/7L, a shorter, neighborhood runway (aligned roughly with Monlaco Rd. to the east and 36st St. to the west) usually used by smaller private planes and commuter flights.
Runway 25R usually doesn't operate from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (meaning it should produce 0 dB noise in those hours) but can be used as an alternative (directed by the FAA) when the Airport closes its longer, main diagonal Runway 30/12.
When that happened last summer, two incoming flights at roughly 10:40 p.m. produced noise on LB Airport's monitors at levels perceivable as roughly twice as loud as allowed for that hour on the main diagonal runway 30/12.
When main runway 30/12 was temporarily closed June 26-29, 2001 from 10 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. for adjacent construction, two landings resulted on runway 25R, sending jets over rooftops in the South of Conant area at roughly 10:40 p.m. (June 28 event in photo below).
| June 28, 2001, 10:40 p.m. Sequential exposure photos (viewed right to left) show Boeing 757 jet charter descending ELB homes on approach to neighborhood Runway 25R when main runway 30/12 was closed. |
LB Airport staff told LBReport.com that LB's noise ordinance permits an exemption from usual violation standards when flights are diverted onto 25R/7L when runway 30/12 is unavailable.
But what about the fact that LB Airport's own monitors recorded noise levels for 25R/7L even higher than allowed for 30/12 at those hours (see below)?
LB Airport noise monitoring staffer Dennis Rambo told LBReport.com that monitoring sites for longer runway 30/12 and shorter runway 25R/7L are at different distances from their respective runways, which means direct comparison of their noise readings may be problematic.
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[LBReport.com comment: The different length of the two runways also means landings and takeoffs on shorter runway 25R/7L are closer to homes than with longer runway 30/12. That arguably should make enforcement of 25R/7L's noise limits more stringent, not less.]
Mr. Rambo indicated that because readings from the two runways' monitoring sites are not identical distance measurements, City Hall is more inclined to pursue corrective action when the case involves an clearly egregious noise violation (so clear that it will overcome claims that the two readings are no comparable) or a repetitive violation (or both).
The two 25R landings registered 98.1 and 100.4 dB SENEL (details below) on 25R's noise monitor at roughly 10:40 p.m. The maximum allowable level under LB's Airport noise ordinance as measured on 30/12's noise monitor at that hour is 90 dB SENEL.
A memo by LB Airport's acoustical consultant (attached to an airport staff report opposing PacifiCenter's new residential component) described noise levels as follows:
"Each 10 dB increase is doubling of perceived loudness...At the 85 SENEL the maximum noise level is twice as loud as normal speech and would require raised voice level to communicate. At 95 SENEL the loudness would be perceived as twice as loud again and would be comparable to shouting voice level."
The Airport's acoustical consultant's memo added that 85 dB SENEL was the maximum residential exposure considered acceptable by Newport Beach city officials during their litigation over John Wayne Airport. The memo noted, "While individuals response to noise varies widely, one would expect a certain portion of the population to be highly annoyed at these noise levels."
LB's noise ordinance allows Airport management to pursue "alternative enforcement" procedures when appropriate in noise cases -- and it did so in two of June, 2001 cases. In one case, Airport management referred the matter (which involved an early morning takeoff) to the City Prosecutor's office.
That case escalated to a formal meeting in the City Prosecutor's office that produced de facto "office probation; if further violations occur, formal criminal charges could result. (There have been no further violations from that operator. LB Airport staff told us).
One of the 25R landings (June 26/01, 98.1 dB SENEL) triggered the sending of an "alternative enforcement" letter.
Two days later, another 25R landing (photo above) by another operator (June 28/01, 100.2 dB SENEL) did not produce an alternative enforcement letter, but there have been no subsequent violations by either operator, LB Airport staff told LBReport.com.
The LB noise ordinance enacted by the City Council specifies runway usage as follows:
| Time | Runway | Approach
dB SENEL | Takeoff
dB SENEL |
|---|
| 6-7 a.m. | 30/12 | 90.0 | 90.0 |
| 7 a.m.-10 p.m. | 30/12 | 101.5 | 102.5 |
| 7 a.m.-10 p.m. | 25L | 93.0 | 95.0 |
| 7 a.m.-10 p.m. | 7R | 92.0 | 95.0 |
| 7 a.m.-10 p.m. | 25R | 88.0 | 92.0 |
| 7 a.m.-10 p.m. | 7L | 92.0 | 88.0 |
| 10-11 p.m. | 30/12 | 90.0 | 90.0 |
| 11 p.m.-6 a.m. | 30/12 | 79.0 | 79.0 |
Noise levels further explained
SENEL is a sound measurement in which the magnitude (decibel level) and the duration of the noise are factored together logarithmically.
A memo by the Airport's acoustical consultant (attached to an airport staff report opposing the residential component for PacifiCenter at the Boeing site) described noise levels as follows:
"Each 10 dB increase is doubling of perceived loudness...At the 85 SENEL the maximum noise level is twice as loud as normal speech and would require raised voice level to communicate. At 95 SENEL the loudness would be perceived as twice as loud again and would be comparable to shouting voice level."
The Airport's acoustical consultant's memo added that 85 dB SENEL was the maximum residential exposure considered acceptable by Newport Beach city officials during their litigation over John Wayne Airport. The memo noted, "While individuals response to noise varies widely, one would expect a certain portion of the population to be highly annoyed at these noise levels."
Runway 25R's approach aligns with Monlaco Rd. (between Wardlow Rd. and Conant Street) with single family homes stretching for miles from Clark Avenue to the San Gabriel River. Runway 25R's take off aligns roughly with 36th St. west of the airport over the Los Cerritos neighborhood adjacent to Bixby Knolls.
Although nighttime and early a.m. operations are not common on runway 25R, they do occasionally occur in response to weather conditions, safety factors and the like, which are directed by the FAA.
Enforcement proceedings that can be taken
LB's noise ordinance gives City Hall two avenues to protect LB residents: one is a civil administrative mechanism; the other is an alternative enforcement procedure that carries potential criminal penalties.
However, monitored noise levels alone are not determinative. Airport Manager Chris Kunze has previously told LBReport.com he will review the histories and facts of each of the noise events and will pursue the alternative enforcement if he believes it is warranted under the circumstances of each flight.
The alternative enforcement procedure, enacted by the City Council as section 16.43.100 of the LB Municipal Code, provides:
It is a misdemeanor, subject to the penalties applicable to misdemeanors, for the Owner/Operator of an aircraft to exceed any established SENEL limit without a reasonable basis for believing that the aircraft employed would comply with the applicable SENEL limit. Owner/Operators of scheduled Flights utilizing aircraft which comply with the standards of FAR Part 36 Stage 3 shall be presumed, for the purposes of this Section, to possess a reasonable basis for believing that such aircraft can be operated in compliance with applicable SENEL limits.
Last fall, Mr. Kunze told LBReport.com that depending on the circumstances and history of the specific flight, correspondence might precede prosecution.
If the Airport Manager refers a matter for possible prosecution, the decision on whether to proceed with a criminal filing is made by the City Prosecutor's office. An attorney in the City Prosecutor's office familiar with such litigation told LBReport.com that while the office's goal is compliance, it is fully prepared to file criminal charges when that's believed indicated under the circumstances.
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