Curfews Proposed for Town Airport

New regulations limiting the use of East Hampton Airport, including a year-round curfew and a ban on helicopters on weekends from May to September, will come up for public hearing before the East Hampton Town Board in March following years of complaints about aircraft noise and ongoing disputes about what to do about it. The proposed laws address 74 percent of the noise complaints while affecting only about a third of aircraft operations, according to consultants who helped develop them.

The year-round curfew, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., would affect all flights into or out of the airport and extend from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m. for aircraft defined as "noisy," based on metrics used by the Federal Aviation Administration and international regulatory agencies.

In addition to the weekend ban on helicopters from May to September, "noisy" aircraft would be allowed only one trip (arrival and departure) per week during the same period.

Exceptions would be made for emergency, government, and similar operations."We need to strike a balance that ensures the peace, quiet, tranquility, and health of our community while preserving for the community the benefits of aviation," said Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the town board's liaison for the airport, in a press release. "We know that some well-funded opponents will sue us — some of them have already done that — but we will not be intimidated. We will do whatever it takes to protect this community and our quality of life."

The town board is expected to set a March 5 public hearing on the regulations at next Tuesday's meeting, after hearing from its budget and finance advisory committee about the potential economic impact of the restrictions "to ensure that the airport remains financially sustainable and is able to meet its capital needs," according to the release. A vote on the regulations is expected by mid-March.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell urged the public to weigh in on the proposed laws either at the hearing or by sending an email to a comments address, at [email protected].

A website has been set up where the public can review all of the noise study results and reports used to develop the airport restrictions, at www.HTOplanning.com.

At a meeting yesterday at which the new laws were reviewed, elected officials including New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and representatives of neighboring East End towns lauded the town board for acting on the longstanding noise problem that has affected both the North and South Forks.

But several speakers said the proposed regulations were ill-advised. Gerard Boleis, a private pilot who is president of the East Hampton Aviation Association and chairs the town's airport planning aviation subcommittee, read a statement questioning the conclusions about the noise problem and complained that the town has neglected airport maintenance and repair.

As of Jan. 1, the town was released from certain assurances it had given the F.A.A. in connection with federal grants. But Mr. Boleis said developing airport restrictions without consulting the F.A.A. was a mistake.

Bonnie Bistrian Krupinski, an airport user and owner of an airport business with her husband, Ben Krupinski, said the laws proposed were "much too strict. I think this is the beginning of closing the airport," she said. "I think that this is going to be a huge economic impact to this town."

Cindy Herbst, an owner of Sound Aircraft, which is suing the town over an increase in aviation fuel fees, echoed that. The new rules would spell the demise not only of the airport but of her business, she said.