RESOLUTION ON INCREASING AIR TRAFFIC OVER THE CITY OF SOMERVILLE — File 204515

RESOLUTION ON INCREASING AIR TRAFFIC OVER THE CITY OF SOMERVILLE WHEREAS: The City of Somerville for many years has adopted resolutions complaining about air traffic over the City of Somerville due to departures from Runway 33L and forwarded them to the FAA and Massport without receiving any meaningful response; WHEREAS: During the spring and summer months of this year, the residents of Somerville experienced relentless air traffic over the City, where, for repeated days the residents of this City had less than 6 hours respite between the last flight of the evening and first flight of the morning; WHEREAS: This Board of Aldermen authorized the President of the Board of Aldermen to send a letter to the Administrator of the FAA, alerting the administrator to the impacts of air traffic over the City of Somerville, with copies to Massport officials; WHEREAS: The response from the FAA offers no relief to the residents of the City of Somerville from the continued practice of unreasonably air traffic noise over the City; WHEREAS: The most recent runway usage statistics for Logan Airport show that more flights have departed from Runway 33L as of the end of September 2017, than for the entire years of 2014 and 2015 and is approximately equal to the total departures for 2016; WHEREAS: This increase in departures is clearly not attributable to the runway repair work done at Logan airport as it has also taken place during the months and other periods of time when there was no runway repair work; WHEREAS: The Board of Aldermen views this substantial increase in air traffic over the City of Somerville and all Runway 33L impacted communities with alarm as it shows a clear intent on the part of the FAA and Massport to send increasing numbers of departures of planes from Logan to Runway 33L, with severe consequences on the quality of life experienced by residents under the flight path of Runway 33L, NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: The Somerville Board of Aldermen hereby declares that the FAA and Massport by their actions are neglecting the health, welfare, and quality of life of the residents of the City of Somerville and all residents of all communities impacted by departures from 33L; RESOLVED: Since it is clear that the only possible recourse available to remedy this neglect by the FAA and Massport and to address this increase in departures from Runway 33L is through consultation with legal counsel to determine options available to the City of Somerville, the Board of Aldermen requests that the Administration consult with legal counsel to review the reasonable options available to the City of Somerville to address this issue of increased runway usage of 33L and that the City communicate with other communities impacted by departures from 33L about joint funding for such consultation with legal counsel.