Concerned Residents to Meet About Airport Noise

Photo: Google Maps

Tonight, at 7:30 p.m. in Bridgehampton, at the Community Center, there will be a meeting to discuss noise issues at the East Hampton Airport it has been announced by the Quiet Skies Coalition on their Facebook page.

The noise problem is nothing new for residents who live under the flight paths leading to the airport off Daniels Hole Road in East Hampton, it’s just a whole lot worse this year, the Quiet Skies Coalition says, than in the past.

Overall traffic has increased 20 percent and helicopter traffic has increased 40 percent since last year, it has been reported in Newsday and The East Hampton Star.

Airport officials are investigating whether Blade, a smartphone app that lets users book shared helicopters to the airport, or Uber, the car service app which has branched out into shared flights to East Hampton, are partly to blame.

Flying to East Hampton used to be the prerogative of the uber-rich residents of Lily Pond Lane, Further Lane and Lee Avenue, but with apps like Blade, the service has become considerably more affordable and dramatically more accessible. Flying to East Hampton on a plane that is shared with strangers costs $500 to $600, less than chartering, and much less than owning, a private plane or helicopter.

There were 12,677 total takeoffs and landings at the town-owned airport through July 28, East Hampton Town Board member Kathee Burke-Gonzalez told Newsday. Noise complaints to the town hotline have tripled since last year. The calls to the hotline have originated in roughly 373 houses mostly in Noyack, Shelter Island and Sag Harbor.

The problem was the subject of a feature in The New York Times last month. Dominick Stanzione, the former Town Board member who served as liaison with the airport identified the problem as one of privilege. “I call it the 2 percent versus the 1 percent,” he is quoted as saying. “It is the product of affluence all around.”

Some passengers who take flights to the airport have claimed ignorance of the antagonism generated by noisy planes and helicopters among those residents who live under the flight paths. A managing director of a financial recruiting company was quizzed about the dilemma upon arriving at the airport by a Times’ reporter. He professed not to have heard about the problem though he spends his weekends at a rental in Amagansett.

The airport is a perennially thorny subject, a source of never-ending contention, and one which dominates local politics. Stanzione, the former liaison with the airport for the community, was ousted in last year’s election. Newly elected Burke-Gonzalez now acts as the community’s liaison and says she spends 85 to 90 percent of her time on issues having to deal with the airport.

If by any chance, you’ve missed all the drama surrounding the airport, tonight is a chance to catch it first hand at the Bridgehampton Community Center, 585 Sag/Bridge Turnpike, at 7:30.