Angry city leaders and community members laid into the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday afternoon about new flight routes over central Phoenix. The Phoenix City Council recommended the FAA return to previous flight paths. This came is after 90 days and nearly 2,000 noise complaints.
The city council passed several motions to deal with problems caused by this flight path change. One requires city staff to come to the council 30 days before any proposed flight path changes. The other is to gather and release federal and city documents on this issue. Lastly, the council voted to hire a firm to conduct noise tests in affected areas.
Glen Martin with the FAA couldn’t promise a quick fix, because the agency can’t just go back to old flight routes.
“To go back is going to take us just as long as fixing it today because we still have to go through the same processes," he said. "We can’t just move the noise and have it be that simple.”
Martin doesn’t think the FAA can get this done in 90 days. He also said it’s going to be difficult to make any changes before the Super Bowl.
Vice Mayor Jim Waring isn’t happy with how long it’s going to take.
He said although it isn't favorable, legal action may be the fastest fix.
"It’s about the only recourse I can think of that we got...I don’t understand what we get by waiting and hoping that the process that was so flawed that we wound up here in the first place, is going to somehow produce a better result the second time around,” Waring said.
Community members spoke about the disruptive plane noise and the effect on their property values.
The State Historic Preservation Officer originally didn’t oppose the flight path changes but after learning about negative effects to historic neighborhoods, he sent another letter voicing his concern.
