Elk Grove Village Mayor Working To Ensure Chicago Honors Noise Commitments

The Suburban O’Hare Commission (SOC) is gearing up for another battle with the city of Chicago over airport noise.

The commission, chaired by Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, met last night (Wednesday) at Itasca Village Hall to work on its game plan to hold Chicago accountable for past commitments on airport noise, Johnson said.

SOC board members also heard a 45-minute presentation by engineer and Bensenville resident David Radszus, to install noise monitors in SOC communities.

For 20 years, Johnson and others have said they have asked for, without success, hourly aircraft noise reports. They said that they have only received daily average reports.

The proposed noise monitors would cost $500 each plus associated software expenses. Noise monitors could be placed in all SOC communities. SOC has $200,000 in grant funds that could be used to finance monitors, Johnson said.

Proposed noise monitors are not up to FAA standards, Johnson said. Each of those units cost about $5,000, he added saying the less expensive monitors would still give a better sense of violations of “fly quiet” hours by airlines than current monitors.

Current SOC members include Elk Grove Village, Elk Grove Township, DuPage County, Bensenville, Schiller Park, Addison, Itasca, Wooddale, Elmhurst, Roselle and Hanover Park.

The long fight to limit airport expansion has been lost, but Johnson said now it is time to hold Chicago officials to agreements they made when the idea of airport expansion was being sold to the public years ago.

The issue of noise has recently come to the forefront as O’Hare Airport officials have reconfigured runways leading to changes in noise from incoming and outgoing aircraft from the airport.

SOC is in the process of hiring attorneys and aviation experts to accomplish that goal.

Johnson accuses the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission of having no teeth to hold airlines and the airport accountable for violations of “fly quiet” evening hours.

- Source:  http://www.journal-topics.com