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Wednesday, June 22, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I N I O
N
airport should be
responsive to community
By John Mapes
Guest Columnist
Letters to the Editor…
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ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
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To the Editor:
I am also very concerned over the offensive
noise pollution from the skydiving business at
Eagle Airport.
Each weekend and some weekdays the
drone of the skydiving airplanes circling over
Sisters Country mimics that of an annoying
mosquito circling one’s head. It doesn’t mat-
ter where you are — at home, hiking a trail,
biking, shopping, dining outside at a local res-
taurant — the noise is with you. The constant
drone of the skydiving plane gaining altitude
becomes difficult to ignore.
When the folks of Sisters voted for the
airport to be included within in the city lim-
its I was happy as I thought this meant more
oversight. I never thought the airport would be
allowed to incorporate commercial operations
so close to a downtown core.
Is it safe for skydivers to land so close to
Camp Polk Road? This is a very busy artery.
I’ve seen cars dramatically slow down to gawk
at the dropping skydivers, an accident waiting
to happen.
Is it legal for a commercial business to use
the industrial area for skydiver landings?
Should we place the assumed economic
benefit before livability? Residents also spend
money at local businesses and if we are forced
to leave town each weekend due to the offen-
sive, constant airplane noise we are spending
our money elsewhere. Many of us work all
week long and look to the weekends for some
quality time at home or in nature, but we now
need to find it somewhere else. Will tourists
that come to Sisters in search of tranquility
continue to visit or will they seek alternatives?
Will anyone want to host outdoor events such
as weddings while a plane is circling above?
Unless your vision of Sisters Country
includes the drone of skydiving airplanes and
the possibility of helicopter and plane tours
please contact city officials and the airport
now.
Eagle Airport, please give us back our
tranquility.
Marie Clasen
s
s
s
See letterS on page 14
Sisters Weather Forecast
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I share the concerns of
increased noise from air-
planes flying over Sisters
expressed in Bruce Mason’s
Letter to the Editor of The
Nugget (June 15, 2016). I
read the letter the day after
attending a meeting among
the airport manager, city
manager, and members of
the board of the Indian Ford
Ranch HOA. The HOA had
written a letter to the airport
and to the City of Sisters
concerning the increase in
airplane noise from take-
offs/landings and circling
for hours over Sisters.
The opening statements
of the meeting were sober-
ing and disheartening. The
pilots are not breaking any
laws. The airport expan-
sion has been supported by
consecutive city councils,
by county commissioners,
and by state officials and
agencies (including $1 mil-
lion in ODOT administered
Oregon Connect funding).
Over 80% of Sisters resi-
dents voted for annexation
of the airport. The Master
Plan for development of the
airport has been approved
by a previous City Council.
And virtually every home
and parcel in Sisters falls
within an “Airport Safety
Combining Zone,” desig-
nated as “AS” on county
property records, consid-
ered sufficient notice of
potential noise from airport
operations and potentially
prohibiting lawsuits to miti-
gate the negative impact.
In the meeting the air-
port manager stated that he
would consider any reason-
able suggestion for miti-
gating the noise, but as yet
had not heard any. He was
asked if the drop of skydiv-
ers could be moved away
from inside the city limits
and instead to uninhabited
open space. No, that would
be inconvenient to the sky-
diving company. And, in
fact, the airport is planning
to build a permanent sky-
diving landing site at the
airport. He was asked if the
planes could gain elevation
away from Sisters before
dropping skydivers above
the airport. No, if the sky-
divers are to land at the air-
port, for safety reasons the
FAA requires that planes
circle inside a five-mile
radius of the landing site,
resulting in planes circling
over Sisters.
He was asked if the air-
port would take action, such
as prohibiting a pilot from
use of the airport, if the pilot
was repeatedly flying in a
way that did not honor the
airport’s “Fly Neighborly”
statement, in cases where
the pilot was not breaking
any laws. No, he would not
take such action if a pilot
was not breaking a law. One
participant in the meeting
described how her children
couldn’t fall asleep at night
due to the drone of airplanes
as late as 8 p.m. She asked
if the skydiving company
could be limited to oper-
ating up to 5 p.m. No, the
airport manager would not
attempt to limit the hours
of operation of the skydiv-
ing company. He suggested
the woman ask the owners
of the skydiving company
directly if they might con-
sider doing that.
The City planning com-
mission has just issued a
contract for the update of
the Transportation System
Plan. Regarding air trans-
portation, the current plan,
written prior to the proposed
airport expansion, states
“No additional facilities are
considered necessary within
Sisters.” It is imperative
that the City proceeds with
careful scrutiny of its plans
and of any applications
from the airport to ensure
that noise impacts are con-
sidered and mitigated in any
updated and new plans and
approvals.
And it is critical that
Sisters residents express
their concerns to the own-
ers of the airport and to
staff and City Council of
the City of Sisters. If there
is limited regulatory and
legal recourse to address
the current noise, then the
main path for mitigating
noise from planes flying
over Sisters, current and
future, is for residents in the
community to speak up, as
Mr. Mason did, and for the
owners and management
of the airport to choose to
develop and operate the air-
port in a way that is respon-
sive to the community and
that minimizes the airport’s
negative impact on the
community.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.