RESIDENTS ARE FED UP WITH AIRCRAFT NOISE FROM INCREASED NUMBER OF FLIGHTS
Even with short notice, there were over 100 residents who filled the room at the Katy Geissert Library on February 6th for a meeting, arranged by City Staff, with HOA representatives and Sling Pilot Academy. Each group made presentations and then attendees were each given one minute to make their points.
Sling passed out a flyer of their suggested ideas, which were good, but only voluntary. That was not an acceptable solution for the HOA representatives and others in the audience.
Many speakers mentioned the impact of noise on their homes and their wish that the rules for pilots were more than voluntary. Some spoke about enforcing the City Muni Code no-left-turn rule, others were very upset at pilots from other areas coming here to practice touch-and-goes for free. There was only one pilot who expressed his concerns about increased regulations which he felt might result in shutting down the airport. No other pilots appeared to be in the large audience.
As a result of the meeting, and in response to residents’ requests, City staff have scheduled a meeting next week with only HOA representatives, to discuss a possible resolution of the ongoing issues involving aircraft noise and the role of the flight schools at Zamperini Field. Residents are impatient for some relief and the City needs to find a way to give it to us.
Grappling With Racism – League of Women Voters Sponsors Forum February 23
The City of Torrance is hosting the League of Women Voters South Bay Area’s Forum on “Grappling with Racism, Bias, and Discrimination” on Thursday, February 23, 2023 in the Toyota Meeting Hall, at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center. The event is free, but registration is required.
Posted on February 4, 2023 by Riviera Homeowners Association
A reminder to Hollywood Riviera and nearby residents feeling impacted by increasing aircraft noise – Monday at 6:00 pm at the Torrance main library the city is hosting a meeting to further discuss potential actions. Representatives from the flight training schools will be there as well as the pilot community. To learn more, and especially if you have solutions to propose, you should attend. For more information, see our previous post on the issue.
The RHA General Meeting on January 17th 2023 featured Torrance Councilperson Mike Griffith. His presentation included important information regarding housing and zoning legislation from Sacramento that severely impacts local control of planning and construction.
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. 7th 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 6th or 7 th … or Feb 9th (Airport Commission Meeting)
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.
Are you still frustrated by airport noise? Us, too.
Once again, we are asking you to come to City Council to urge the Council to consider the needs of residents over pilots. The meeting is Tuesday, January 24, Item 9B at City Hall at 6:30. Help us keep our demands consistent by all of us asking for the same things:
Enforce the no-early-left-turn rule as written in the Municipal Code, including training flights, as intended.
Close and begin removing the south runway.
Recommend that pilots using the north runway fly as close as possible to the airport and avoid flying over residential areas.
Evaluate potential environmental impacts in accordance with CEQA before approving or renewing a permit/lease to any flight training school.
These are steps that the City, which owns the airport, can easily take that will reduce airport traffic over the entire City.
The length of time that it has taken the City to take steps to reduce noise, and the lack of transparency of City Staff is unacceptable. Read the minutes of the Transportation Committee meeting below, which was promised to be posted publicly but wasn’t, note the amount of time and negotiations spent with pilots, while residents were not invited or consulted, and you’ll be even angrier! The City staff is snubbing the thousands of residents who are suffering from constant diving and climbing planes, while catering to a few pilots.
Please come and speak at the meeting!! There are Council members who will listen. City Council makes the final decisions on the airport management.
Reminder that we will be having an In-Person Live General meeting tomorrow evening at Riviera United Methodist Church at 7PM. This will be our first “Live” meeting since Covid. Doors will open at 6:30. It will be great to see all of you from the community attend.
Councilman Mike Griffiths will be speaking about the new state laws that will reduce local control of planning and construction. He is opposed to them and will present his plan of action. See previous post for details.
If you haven’t renewed your RHA membership, please bring your checkbook tomorrow night. You can always renew via this website as well. We cannot exist without your support.
We rely on Member dues to fund our programs and activities. To learn more about RHA Membership, click here. Thank you for your patronage!
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Calling High School Seniors who live in the Riviera: check out RHA’s College Scholarship Program. Due dates and application info found here!
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Have questions about a community-related topic? Let us know by clicking on the link below! Ask the RHA!
Riviera Homeowners Association 