Lake Elmo Airport working on decreasing noise complaints with preventative measures

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
Updated ·4 min read
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Signs asking pilots to “fly neighborly” to reduce aircraft noise will be installed at Lake Elmo Airport this spring.

Officials with the Metropolitan Airports Commission say the signs — the total number and locations of which have yet to be determined — are one of many steps being taken to reduce noise complaints associated with the suburban airport.

On Monday night, the Lake Elmo Airport Advisory Commission unanimously recommended a noise abatement plan. The plan, officially called the Noise Abatement Recommended Practices document, will be published by MAC by March 31 and distributed to Lake Elmo Airport users.

The voluntary measures in the document were developed by airport users, local residents, city officials, commission members and MAC officials, among others.

The document recommends that pilots at the airport avoid “stop-and-go operations” and avoid “repetitive activity over residences, including when conducting flight-training activities.” It also asks pilots to “choose a path that avoids flying over residential areas if practical … when departing the traffic pattern.”

The document also suggests that pilots avoid operating aircraft during nighttime hours, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

The number of complaints about Lake Elmo Airport operations increased exponentially after the airport’s runway was relocated and expanded in 2022. In the fourth quarter of 2023, MAC logged 5,266 complaints that ranged from excessive noise to frequency of flights to low-flying aircraft, among others. By comparison, during that same three-month period a year earlier, MAC received 606 complaints about Lake Elmo Airport.

The new 3,500-foot runway at Lake Elmo, which opened in July 2022, was part of a $23.9 million multiyear project to improve airfield infrastructure and provide safer operations, according to MAC. The project included converting the previous runway into a taxiway, realigning 30th Street North, upgrading instrument-approach technology and installing new lights and signage.

Flight school issues

Many neighbors objected to the expansion plan, citing concerns about noise and the possibility of more and larger aircraft using the airport. Those concerns have been realized, said Mary Vierling, who lives near the airport’s runway.

Since the expansion, Lake Elmo Aero, the flight school that operates out of Lake Elmo Airport, has dramatically increased operations, she said.

“Eighty percent of the problem is the flight school,” Vierling told the advisory commission members during their meeting at Baytown Township Hall. “A voluntary noise abatement will not solve this problem. There was no transparency on the part of MAC — only deceit — when they continually assured the surrounding communities that the number of operations and type of aircraft would not likely change from what we had experienced in previous years.”

Flight training “of this enormous capacity is not compatible with this airport or the neighbors with the location of the new runway,” Vierling said.

A flight school has been operating out of Lake Elmo Airport for more than 30 years; Lake Elmo Aero has operated there for six years, said Nathan Ruedy, director of flight training.

Ruedy, a member of the Lake Elmo Airport Advisory Commission, told his fellow commission members on Monday night that he planned to share the noise abatement recommend practices document with instructors and students at Lake Elmo Aero. “We can spread that knowledge,” he said.

Lake Elmo Aero, which currently employs 20 flight instructors, plans to continue to grow, Ruedy said.

“We intend to do well,” he said. “We have a great reputation. We also want to be a part of the community, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure that our noise levels are reduced and within the scope of this document — if not even a little bit further.”

Has to be voluntary

The Federal Aviation Administration prohibits restrictions of flight paths to and from airports, restricted hours of operation, and discriminatory access to airports, according to MAC. The federal Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 limits an airport’s ability to impose restrictions based on aircraft noise.

As a public-use airport, Lake Elmo Airport is subject to federal regulations, and MAC cannot levy fines, restrict hours of operation, or restrict access to the airport for the purpose of noise abatement, MAC officials said.

MAC officials plan to share the noise abatement recommend practices document through the creation and publication of a “Fly Neighborly Guide” and in newsletter articles to pilots. They also plan to hold pilot meetings and create an FAA chart supplement, said Philip Tiedeman, the airport’s manager.

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