CC SR 20160719 07 - Helicopter Noise IssuesRANCHO PALOS VERDES CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA REPORT
AGENDA DESCRIPTION:
MEETING DATE: 07/19/2016
AGENDA HEADING: Consent Calendar
Consideration and possible action to receive and file a report on Citywide helicopter
noise issues and submit a letter to the FAA and Congressman Ted Lieu.
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(1) Receive and file a report on Citywide helicopter noise issues; and,
(2) Authorize the Mayor to sign a letter for submittal to the FAA and Congressman
Ted Lieu.
FISCAL IMPACT: None
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: So Kim, Senior Planner -4'f"
REVIEWED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, Director of Community Development
APPROVED BY: Doug Willmore, City Manager',/10___
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A. City Council's letter supporting LAAHNC's petitions to the FAA (page A-1)
B. Long Beach Flight Standards District Office Service Areas (page B-1)
C. LAAHNC's letter requesting the FAA to rescind the new voluntary
helicopter routes (page C-1)
D. Draft letters supporting LAAHNC's request to rescind the new voluntary
helicopter routes (page D-1)
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
Currently, there are no specific minimum altitude requirements or distances from the
shoreline for helicopter flights. Low flights over the City and Los Angeles County as a
whole have been a problem for many years. While there are ways to submit complaints
about helicopter noise—and complaints have been submitted in the past—there has
been no action by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to mandate any regulations
on helicopter flights. As a result, in 2014, Federal legislation was enacted, directing the
FAA to work with the impacted communities and helicopter operators to take steps to
address noise impacts. Despite numerous meetings with affected and interested
parties and voluntary measures to promote best practices, the FAA has yet to create
any regulations to mitigate noise impacts from helicopter operations. As a result, on
June 17, 2016, the Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) submitted
1
petitions to the FAA to establish mandatory regulations for helicopter flights in Los
Angeles County to mitigate helicopter noise impacts and related safety issues, in hopes
that FAA will take this matter more seriously. The LAAHNC petitions requested that the
FAA create the following regulations:
1) Helicopters to fly at a minimum of 2,000' above ground level, with exceptions;
2) Media helicopters to hover/orbit in one location for 5 minutes or less in any one-
hour period, and tour helicopters 3 minutes or less, with exceptions;
3) Media helicopters to plan for pooling coverage during planned and unplanned
incidents; and,
4) Helicopters flying along the coastline to be at least'/2 mile offshore to reduce
onshore noise impacts.
On April 5, 2016, the City Council agreed to support the LAAHNC's petitions
(Attachment A). Other South Bay Cities have also submitted letters in support of
LAAHNC's effort. Despite the support of a number of cities, the FAA dismissed all four
of the LAAHNC's petitions to regulate helicopters in Los Angeles County. On June 17,
2016, LAAHNC appealed the FAA's dismissals. On June 22, 2016, the FAA then
announced its publication of an updated Los Angeles Helicopter Route that includes a
voluntary shoreline route, encouraging helicopter pilots to fly 750 feet from the
shoreline. Despite the FAA's statement that they consulted with local stakeholders,
many of the affected cities, including Rancho Palos Verdes, were not contacted before
this decision was made. While the adoption of the voluntary shoreline route is a start,
Staff agrees with LAAHNC that the lateral distance of 750 feet from the shoreline will do
little to reduce noise impacts. In response to FAA's action, LAAHNC submitted a letter
on July 5, 2016 (Attachment C) expressing disappointment with the manner in which the
voluntary shoreline route was adopted and requesting that the new voluntary helicopter
route be rescinded. Staff has drafted letters (Attachment D) for the Mayor's signature
for submittal to both the FAA Regional Administrator and Congressman Ted Lieu that
reiterate and support LAAHNC's request.
At the local level, there has been an increase in noise complaints in the City in the
recent months. Most of these complaints have been identified as Robinson helicopters
flying at low altitudes and too close to the shoreline. As most of these flights originate
from Torrance Airport (TOA), Staff informed TOA of these complaints and they indicated
that they will contact the respective operators to encourage the use of better flying
practices. It should be noted that, similar to our City, TOA does not have enforcement
authority. Also, while the TOA tower is controlled by the FAA, it can only provide
direction within their airspace boundary, which does not include the shoreline.
However, for helicopters or fixed -wing aircraft flying at what appear to be low and
dangerous altitudes, the FAA's Long Beach Flight Standards District Office is the
enforcement agency for the area including the City's shoreline (Attachment B). Contact
information for the Flight Standards District Office will be posted on the City's Helicopter
Noise webpage (http://www.rpvca.gov/791/Reporting-Helicopter-Noise). However, it
should be emphasized that this agency enforces hazardous flying practices only, not
noise impacts.
2
CITUOF RANCHOPALOSVERDES
KEN DYDA, MAYOR
BRIAN CAMPBLLL, MAYOR PRO TEM
SUSAN BROOKS, COUNCILWOMAN
JERRY V. DUHOVIC, COUNCILMAN
AN I HONY M. MISETICH, COUNCILMAN
April 5, 2016
US Department of Transportation — Document Operations
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
West Building Ground Floor
Room W12-140
Washington, DC 20590
SUBJECT: COMMENTS IN SUPPORT OF DOCKET NOS. FAA -2015-5041, FAA -2015-5042,
FAA -2015-5043, AND FAA -2015-5044
To Whom It May Concern:
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes is home to over 40,000 residents, many of whom are affected by
the noise caused by helicopter operations. More specifically, helicopters operating too close to the
coastline and at low altitudes over residential neighborhoods cause noise impacts that threaten the
quality of life for our residents. The excessive and intrusive noise pollution from helicopters hovering
over residential areas is a result of media and news coverage rather than from law enforcement.
Currently, the FAA has no relevant noise standards for helicopters.
Recently, the City has been made aware of the following Los Angeles Helicopter Noise Coalition's
(LAAHNC) petitions to the FAA to establish Special Federal Aviation Regulations (SFARs) to
mitigate the helicopter and related safety issues:
FAA -2015-5041 Petition requiring helicopters to fly at minimum of 2,000' above ground level,
with exceptions.
FAA -2015-5042 Petition requiring media helicopters to hover/orbit in one location for 5
minutes or less in any one-hour period, and tour helicopters 3 minutes or
less, with exceptions made in specific or emergency situations.
FAA -2015-5043 Petition requiring the creation of a media pool share system to manage
media helicopter operations in Los Angeles County in cases of planned and
unplanned incidents.
FAA -2015-5044 Petition requiring helicopters that fly along the Los Angeles County shoreline
to fly at least one-half mile offshore.
Helicopter noise in the City has been a concern to residents for many years. Voluntary measures by
helicopter pilots to avoid noise sensitive areas have been ineffective. Therefore, the City Council on
30940 HAWTHORNE BOULEVARD / RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA 90275-5391 / (310) 544-5207 / FAX (310) 544-5291 / WWW.RPVCA.00V
PRINTED ON RECYCLFD PAPER A-1
City of Rancho Palos Verdes
Comments in Support of Docket Nos. FAA -2015-5041, 5042, 5043, 5044
April 5, 2016
Page 2 of 2
behalf of the residents of Rancho Palos Verdes support and request your consideration of the
LAAHNC's aforementioned petitions to regulate helicopter noise in Los Angeles County.
Sincerely,
r
en Dyda
Mayor, City of Rancho Palos Verdes
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Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition
Citizens seeking relief from helicopter noise - A problem for more than 40 years
LAHelicopterNoise.org
Vice President
Richard Root
Citizens for Quiet
Helicopters (Torrance)
Treasurer
Dave Gar inkle
Tarzana Property Owners
Association
George Abrahams
Beachwood Canyon
Neighborhood Association
Gerry Hans
Friends of Griffith Park
David Rankell
Van Nuys Airport
Citizens Advisory Council
Roy Meals
Co -Developer of
HeliTracker
Holmby Westwood
Property Owners Assoc.
Mike Savidan
Councilman, City of Lomita
Donna Sievers
Bluff Heights (Long Beach)
Neighborhood Association
Gerald A. Silver
Homeowners of Encino
Rudy Whitcomb
Rolling Hills Estates
Wayne Williams
Van Nuys Airport
Citizens Advisory Council
July 5, 2016
Glen Martin
Regional Administrator
Western -Pacific Region
Federal Aviation Administration
SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY
Subject: New FAA Helicopter Routes on Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura County Shorelines
Dear Mr. Martin:
The Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) is extremely troubled by the FAA's
actions in developing new offshore helicopter routes and implementing them on June 22, 2016 along
the Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura County shorelines without any advance notice or consultation.
The new routes are to be flown 750 feet from the coastline as follows:
Palisades - From Pt. Mugu to the northern end of the SMO Class D Airspace (near Palisades Park)
South Bay - From Manhattan Beach to the Los Angeles Harbor breakwater
Coast - From Long Beach to Camp Pendleton
As you know, Public Law No. 113-76 (Division L, Title I, SEC. 119D), enacted in January 2014,
directed the FAA to "continue to participate in collaborative engagement between community
representatives and helicopter operators" in an effort to reduce helicopter noise in Los Angeles
County. For the last several years we have represented the community as stakeholders in that
"collaborative" process.
Early on it looked like a good faith effort was being made to consider the views of all stakeholders.
However, no agreements were reached. At our last meeting, over a year ago on June 11, 2015, the
FAA was considering routes at one-quarter mile offshore and it appeared stakeholders might be
nearing an agreement. However, after that meeting, apparently the FAA and helicopter pilots
continued to meet without us and routes were developed at only 750 feet offshore with no minimum
altitude. If pilots follow these routes, it will put many of them closer to shore than they were already
flying before the change. Thus, instead of reducing overall noise on the shoreline, it is more likely to
increase it.
The FAA implemented the new shoreline routes without informing us of the route descriptions or
giving us any opportunity to comment on them prior to implementation. Almost a month before the
routes were implemented we read in a helicopter industry publication that the FAA had completed a
"safety analysis" and an "environmental review" and was about to "publish" new routes. On May 27,
2016 we e-mailed your staff to verify this story and also asked whether the routes would be made
available for public comment prior to implementation. We also requested copies of the FAA's "safety
analysis" and "environmental review." However, we never received a response. We do not think
these actions by the FAA were consistent with the intent of Public Law No. 113-76.
More importantly, the FAA never gave Los Angeles County, or any of the eleven cities along its
shoreline, or the impacted general public, any advance notice of these routes. There was no
opportunity for them to consider the issue at all prior to implementation.
LAAHNC, Post Office Box 571448, Tarzana, CA 91357-1448 page 1 of 2
C-1
The FAA implemented these routes while our formal request for regulations to establish helicopter routes at
one-half mile and one mile offshore in Los Angeles County is still pending. More specifically, it comes only
days after we filed our formal appeal (June 17, 2016) to the FAA for reconsideration of the FAA's dismissal of
our original request "based on the current priorities for the FAA" and without a satisfactory response on the
merits of our request.
We believe the FAA's actions in this matter were not only inconsistent with Public Law No. 113-76, they were
also contrary to the basic tenets of due process and generally accepted principles of good government, including
openness and transparency. Additionally, they seem inconsistent with the spirit (if not the letter) of
longstanding laws such as the National Environmental Protection Act, California Environmental Quality Act,
and California Coastal Act.
Strangely, the new routes also cover the entire Orange County coastline and part of the Ventura County
coastline. Public Law No. 113-76 only mentioned Los Angeles County. Neither Orange County nor Ventura
County has ever been discussed at any time during our "collaborative" process.
Accordingly, we call on the FAA to immediately rescind the new routes and restore the status quo ante until the
LAAHNC, the general public, and each of the impacted cities and counties have at least been provided with the
FAA's rationale for the new routes; copies of the FAA's "safety analysis" and "environmental review"
documents; and an opportunity to consider the issue and make comments.
We look forward to receiving your response.
Sincerely,
Richard Root, Vice President
Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition
rroot94227kaol.com (310) 617-5439
cc: Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Barbara Boxer
Congressman Ted Lieu
Congresswoman Maxine Waters
Congresswoman Janice Hahn
Congressman Alan Lowenthal
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher
Congressman Darrell Issa
Congresswoman Julia Brownley
Congressman Adam Schiff
LAAHNC
County of Los Angeles
City of Malibu
City of Santa Monica
City of El Segundo
City of Manhattan Beach
City of Hermosa Beach
City of Redondo Beach
City of Torrance
City of Palos Verdes Estates
City of Rancho Palos Verdes
City of Los Angeles
City of Long Beach
Orange County
City of Seal Beach
City of Huntington Beach
City of Newport Beach
City of Laguna Beach
City of Dana Point
City of San Clemente
Ventura County
paC :, 2
1iCITY OF L& RANCHO PALOS VFRDES
July 19, 2016
Glen A. Martin, Regional Administrator
Federal Aviation Administration, Western -Pacific Region
15000 Aviation Blvd.
Lawndale, CA 90261
SUBJECT: Opposition to New Voluntary FAA Helicopter F
Dear Mr. Martin:
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes is home to over 40,000 residents, many of whom are affected by
the noise caused by helicopter operations along our coastline. The City is recently in receipt of your
email informing the public that the FAA published an updated Los Angeles Helicopter Route Chart
that included notations for "Offshore Routes" to fly 750' from the shoreline. Your email stated that
the Offshore Routes were developed in consultation with local stakeholders to address the
helicopter noise impacts. We, along with other local cities, were not consulted during the
development process for this new route. Should our City have been consulted at the time this route
was being developed, it would have been clear that a lateral distance of 750' from the shoreline is
inadequate to address noise impacts. You may or may not be aware that our City submitted a letter
in support of Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition's (LAAHNC's) petitions, one of which was
for helicopters to fly at least one-half mile offshore. The FAA's minimum distance of 750' is less
than one-third of what we requested.
While we appreciate the FAA's intent to help address noise impacts to the coastline, we are
extremely disappointed with the manner by which the Offshore Route was implemented without any
outreach to our City or other neighboring cities. Therefore, the City Council, on behalf of the
residents of Rancho Palos Verdes, supports and requests your consideration of the LAAHNC's
request to rescind the new routes, and to go through a proper process of implementing a new
offshore route, starting with adequate outreach to affected cities.
Sincerely,
411111111111111111L #1
Ken Dyda, Mayor
City of Rancho Palos Verdes
cc: Rancho Palos Verdes City Council
Richard Root, LAAHNC
Doug Willmore, City Manager
Ara Mihranian, Community Development Director
So Kim, Senior Planner
D-1
1iCITY OF L& RANCHO PALOS VFRDES
July 19, 2016
The Honorable Ted Lieu
33rd Congressional District
5055 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 310
Los Angeles, CA 90036
SUBJECT: Opposition to New Voluntary FAA Helicopter F
Dear Representative Lieu:
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes is home to over 40,000 residents, many of whom are affected by
the noise caused by helicopter operations along our coastline. The City is recently in receipt of an
email from the FAA, informing us that an updated Los Angeles Helicopter Route Chart was
published that included notations for "Offshore Routes" to fly 750' from the shoreline. The FAA
stated that the Offshore Routes were developed in consultation with local stakeholders to address
the helicopter noise impacts. We, along with other local cities, were not consulted during the
development process of the new route. Should our City have been consulted at the time this route
was being developed, it would have been clear that a lateral distance of 750' from the shoreline is
inadequate to address noise impacts. In the recent months, our City submitted a letter in support of
Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition's (LAAHNC's) petitions, one of which was for
helicopters to fly at least one-half mile offshore. The FAA's minimum distance of 750' is less than
one-third of what we requested.
While we appreciate the FAA's intent to help address noise impacts to the coastline, we are
extremely disappointed with the manner by which the Offshore Route was implemented without any
outreach to our City or other neighboring cities. Therefore, the City Council, on behalf of the
residents of Rancho Palos Verdes, supports and requests your assistance in ensuring that
LAAHNC's request to the FAA to rescind the new routes is fairly considered, and that the FAA goes
through a proper process of implementing a new offshore route, starting with adequate outreach to
affected cities.
Sincerely,
Ken Dyda, Mayor
City of Rancho Palos Verdes
cc: Rancho Palos Verdes City Council
Richard Root, LAAHNC
Doug Willmore, City Manager
Ara Mihranian, Community Development Director
So Kim, Senior Planner
D-2