Naples Airport pursuing a change in flight paths to reduce noise in areas — locals object

Flight paths could be moving in the Naples area.

In an attempt to decrease airport noise in currently affected areas like Old Naples, the Naples Airport Authority (NAA) is pursuing an initiative to move certain flight paths toward other residential areas by Naples Bay.

Several locals are objecting to the proposed flight path change because of safety reasons and the noise newly affected areas like Port Royal, Royal Harbor, and Aqualane Shores would be facing.

What's the proposed change?

Now, about 1,000 flights per year head southwest and fly directly to the Gulf of Mexico, creating takeoff noise in the Old Naples area. The NAA is looking into directing flights south and down the bay before flying out to the Gulf.

Director of the Naples Airport Authority Christopher Rozansky says the initiative, called "Down the Bay," isn't a new one.

"There's a lot of history here," Rozansky said. "This actually goes back to the airport's 1997 noise study."

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How will the change impact airport noise?

This change wouldn't decrease airport noise. It would just move it to a different area.

"It's shifting noise and it doesn't reduce the number of residences that are in the noise contour," Rozansky said.

"Down the Bay" would move noise away from Old Naples, but different neighborhoods would be newly impacted.

"One measure alone isn't enough," newly retired President of the Old Naples Association (ONA) Janet Ferry said. "You have to go higher faster. You have to reduce volume, in our opinion."

Rozansky affirmed Ferry's statement and said the NAA is already working on other measures paired with "Down the Bay."

"This is truly only beneficial if it can be combined with a separate initiative that we're separately pursuing parallel to the noise study," Rozansky said, adding: "When it's combined with the the initiative called "higher faster" that is getting jets to a higher altitude after takeoff."

Is it safe for pilots and residents?

"I think it's reasonable to make an argument for the efficiency of air traffic and reduction of emissions from aircraft operations," Rozansky said. "You could make a case for sending those 1,000 flights a year down the bay on that basis. Now, notice I didn't mention safety."

Rozansky said the NAA has not heard from a pilot who thought sending flights down the bay was safer than the existing path into the Gulf. He also said the NAA consulted airspace experts who said "Down the Bay" was a difficult ask.

"They gave a preliminary analysis that essentially said that under the existing conditions of your airspace here in Naples and Greater Southwest Florida. These items you are requesting are difficult if not cannot be done under these existing conditions," Rozansky said.

Residents in the area who would be newly affected are concerned about their safety if the flight path were to change.

"If there is an accident, they crash in the Gulf," Royal Harbor Naples Airport Liaison Ralph Alberto said. "Fortunately, we haven't had that incident. If ONA and City Council get their way, they'll start flying over the rooftops on the peninsula. If we have an accident, those accidents are going to happen over the top of homes. We don't want that."

Does the community support the measure?

Several community members are concerned that moving the noise rather than decreasing it goes against the goal of airport noise abatement.

"I support abatement, not sound relocation," NAA Commissioner Terrence Cavanaugh said after voting against the measure in a recent NAA meeting.

Residents in Port Royal, Royal Harbor, and Aqualane Shores say Down the Bay isn't fair to people who bought homes away from the existing flight paths.

"There isn't a person alive, who bought a home in Naples today, who didn't realize where the airport was," Port Royal President Dick DelBello said. "And I paid more for my house, to live where I live, because I didn't want to be there. And now you're going to send planes over my house. That's not right."

Ferry said the neighborhood doesn't want other people to be affected by airport in noise in the same way they have.

"We don't want the other city residents impacted as we are," Ferry said. "We're a city. We're a family. We have to solve this problem for the city."

Ferry said locals can sometimes misunderstand what Old Naples wants in terms of reducing airport noise.

"Old Naples wants to be a good neighbor," Ferry said. "We want everybody in the city to have quality of life, but we also want to have it ourselves."

Ferry said ONA doesn't push for any specific measure from the NAA.

"We're not advocating for any measure in particular," Ferry said. "We're not the experts. But how mitigation is accomplished is up to the experts. But it really needs to be done because it's life changing for the residents who are disproportionately impacted."

What's next?

Once the NAA finalizes a report, they'll send it to the FAA for evaluation. Only the FAA can change flight plans in federal airspace.

"They're, of course, first and foremost going to consider safety and efficiency because that's their core mission," Rozansky said. "And then they're going to look at noise abatement and they are going to consider the comments they've received from people in this community."

Rozansky says "Down the Bay" is not a guarantee. The initiative is in its earliest stage where the NAA is exploring what the change would mean for pilots, residents, and the airport.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples Airport might change flight paths to reduce noise in some areas