Curfew Violators, Seaplanes

Twenty-one citations for violating East Hampton Town’s new curfew on nighttime landings at East Hampton Airport have been issued since the law went into effect earlier this summer, Jemille Charlton, the airport manager, reported this week.

Twelve jets and one helicopter were charged with violating an extended curfew for “noisy” aircraft, barring them from taking off or landing between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. The transgressions occurred mostly between 7 and 9 a.m. and 8 and 11 p.m., Mr. Charlton told the town board on Tuesday.

Eight aircraft subject to the standard 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew were also cited. Those violations occurred between 6 and 7 a.m. and 1 and 2 a.m., said Mr. Charlton, who also delivered an airport traffic report.

While the overall number of takeoffs and landings at the airport in the first half of 2015 decreased slightly from 2014, Mr. Charlton said, complaints about aircraft noise almost doubled for the same time period.

Also on the increase — by almost 66 percent over last year — are the number of seaplanes coming and going to the airport, and complaints related to them. The complaints increased by 238 percent over the first half of 2014.

From January to June, the airport received 9,749 noise complaints altogether, coming from 309 different households.

The airport manager also reported on traffic over the two summer holiday weekends, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. While total aircraft traffic over the Memorial Day holiday was only 28 percent higher than last year, the number of complaints went up by 220 percent, to 1,177. Complaints about helicopters skyrocketed to a total of 889, up from 222 during the 2014 Memorial Day weekend, a 300-percent increase.

Over the Fourth of July holiday, between July 2 and 6, Mr. Charlton reported that airport traffic grew by half over last year, with a total of 1,217 “operations” — takeoffs and landings. Complaints came in from 121 households, about the same as last year, but each household made more of them, upping the average per household by 40 percent. Complaints about helicopters, totaling 761 over the weekend period, outstripped by far those involving other types of aircraft.

With costs of approximately $300,000 expected this year for services related to airport noise, such as logging complaints, tracking flights, and compiling data on aircraft that prompt complaints or violate the airport curfews, the town board has proposed adding a $75 “noise-management fee” onto the landing fees for aircraft that fall into the “noisy” category, defined as planes with a particular decibel noise rating of 91 or greater.

The fee is expected to generate about $337,500 annually, enough to cover the expenses for airport noise-management programs.

Also being discussed are additional changes to the airport landing fee schedule, which the board had discussed earlier this month.

Attorneys from Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell, the town’s consulting aviation law firm, have advised that the town is within its legal rights to raise landing fees in order to generate enough revenue for the airport to be self-sustaining.

The fees were increased by 10 percent last year, with a 25-percent surcharge for night landings between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., before the nighttime curfew was passed. Aircraft based at East Hampton, and police, government, and other public service aircraft are exempt from the landing fees.

An increase discussed earlier this month was intended to allocate the fees more equitably, depending on the type of aircraft, and to raise them enough to cover unexpected airport operating expenses, and possibly airport maintenance and repairs as well. The fee structure as now proposed would continue to set the fee based on an aircraft’s weight, but would establish various weight classes rather than charge fees per thousand pounds of weight. The fees would range from $25 for aircraft that weigh between 2,600 and 4,999 pounds, to $800 for planes weighing 50,000 pounds or more.

The board is expected to vote at its meeting tonight on resolutions adopting the new fees and the “noisy” aircraft surcharge.