Riviera Homeowners Association

We invite concerned neighbors to attend a meeting that has been called by Shant Megerdichian, General Services Director for the City of Torrance, Michelle Ramirez at Community Development (which runs the Noise Abatement Program), other administrators from the City, and the owners/directors of Sling Aircraft Academy, the largest flight training school at Torrance airport (Zamperini Field).

The purpose of this meeting is to ask if Homeowner Associations and residents will accept an offer from Sling to voluntarily not use the southern runway for training flights.   They have been doing this for two weeks now.  The sticking point is that Sling refuses to sign a written contract or lease agreement on any action.

If they refuse to sign an agreement in writing, they are not legally bound to follow that rule and it will be impossible to enforce.  The past activities of Sling pilots indicate that they are interested in doing what they want to do, and they are not bothered if they disturb nearby Torrance residents. Still, we can comment on their ideas.

Here is what Sling is proposing and what concerned residents are proposing:  

         Sling: 

• South runway not used for flight training.

• South runway only used for departure and return. Upon Departure, aircraft will only turn left after the shoreline. 

• Flight Schools will send scheduled groups of training flights to OTHER Airports.

• Flight Schools will stagger flights to avoid having planes fly all at once.

Residents of South Torrance and the Hollywood Riviera are proposing:

• Written agreements, ie., permits, leases, or contracts.

• Sling to agree to fly within ½ mile of the airport on the north side, to avoid impacting residential areas (New Horizons, Hickory).

• If the FAA is involved, the control tower needs to stop approving requests to train on the south side.

• Ability to see if current leases or permits already require compliance with the Municipal Code sections limiting operations, and if environmental impacts were considered.

• Stop using leaded fuel by a certain date.

The day after this noise abatement meeting, Feb. 7^th is the City Council meeting.  We want to see what the City Council comes back with regarding other options such as landing fees, identifying the airport as a public nuisance, enforcing no early left turns, installing more noise monitors  on the south side away from the airport.  Before we can talk further with the flight schools, we want to know what the City intends to do. 

If you haven’t seen it, please watch the city council meeting on Jan. 24, Item 9B ,when  council filed the minutes of the Transportation Committee meeting.  Residents came forward and told how they were severely affected by airport noise in their homes.  Afterward, the council asked that the staff investigate how to declare the Torrance Airport a Public Nuisance. Wow!!

See you on the 6^th or 7 ^th     … or Feb 9^th (Airport Commission Meeting)

Decorative Succulents

Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at El Retiro Library

Succulents are attractive resilient plants that thrive both indoors and outside with limited water. Join us to decorate a pot and then plant your own succulent to take home. Registration is required and limited to 20 participants. Please call the El Retiro Library at 310-375-0922 to register.

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