In March of 2015, the lives of thousands of people in mid-county, Scotts Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains were disrupted by a change in the San Francisco Airport (SFO) flight path over Santa Cruz County. Although originally billed as the "NextGen" program, with no significant impacts, the new jet path generated thousands of complaints each day.  Even San Francisco Airport's own noise monitoring showed decibel readings at 6:30 a.m. that violate our county's noise ordinance. 

With activism from the community, the offices of Congress members Sam Farr and Anna Eshoo became involved in the effort to engage the FAA in solutions.  Along with Rep. Jackie Speier, the three formed the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals, with 12 elected officials representing three counties to work with the FAA on a series of recommendations to address the situation created by the NextGen flight path change.

  

Hundreds of local residents came out when the Select Committee met in Santa Cruz, and nearly as many traveled to the 12 out-of-county meetings held during the five month process. These concerned citizens clearly articulated the impacts of the change in the flight path and were also creative and thorough in their suggestions about possible solutions. 

Working with data provided by the FAA and buttressed by input from a strong crew of local citizen-experts, the Select Committee painstakingly reviewed scores of options. With the committee's scheduled November 17 conclusion approaching, the Select Committee was faced with a number of critical decisions. I am happy to report that the committee backed my motion to move the flight path back to its historic location, but at higher altitudes and with a more optimal glide path to reduce noise impacts. The Select Committee also recommended that the FAA meet with affected communities within three months of implementation to assure that the impact assumptions and noise criteria are met.  In addition, we recommended that the FAA continue to search for a new flight path that tracks over unpopulated areas to minimize impacts. This is a great victory for our community and a reflection of a government agency truly working with a community to address the impacts of its decisions. Thanks go to our Congressional delegation, the hundreds of people who came forward and attended meetings, and local advocacy groups like Save Our Skies Santa Cruz and Quiet Skies NorCal. 

If you want to read the final report of the committee, click here.  Flight changes should be made within the next 12 months.

URGENT UPDATE: Late Friday, Supervisors Coonerty and McPherson added a letter to the Board agenda to overturn the work of the Select Committee.  You can read it here.  If you care about this please come to the Board meeting on Tuesday morning at 9 am so you can tell the Board what you think should happen.