Eagan's airport proximity worth the noise trouble, city says

Eagan residents are complaining about excessive noise and low-flying planes coming from the nearby Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

But Mayor Mike Maguire reminded them at a recent public forum that the city has also benefited economically from its proximity to the airport.

Had the airport been moved, as some wanted, in 1996, "it would have really changed the economic fortunes of the city of Eagan and of our community," said Maguire. He referred to the "three B's of airport noise: benefit, burden and balance."

A quarterly community meeting invited a panel of experts to give a presentation that would answer questions submitted via social media, as well as respond to neighbors who attended the live event.

John Nelson, the Metropolitan Airports Commission's manager of noise, environment and planning, encouraged residents to continue filing detailed complaints about excessive noise.

When complaints are specific — with the exact time of a noisy departure, for example — positive changes can occur, he said. One plane repeatedly described by neighbors as a "screecher" or "screamer" turned out to have a defect in the engine, which was promptly fixed.

"So complaints are used," Nelson emphasized, "and they're used actively for us."

One man blamed the airport for invading citizens' lives without their consent simply to make a quick buck.

"All of the stuff you gave us means very little to the majority of the people here," he said, referring to a largely technical presentation. "We just want some relief from this noise."

Nelson responded for the panel by saying that much of it was out of their hands.

"We're a major hub airport, and with major hub airports come noise," Nelson said. "And it's not something I can do much about, frankly."

Most residents were there to complain about a spike in noise during a particular time of day, a lack of response to their complaints or some low-altitude planes.

"I've got raw data here saying you're poisoning our children with all these aircrafts. I just want to plant a seed," he said, laying down reports from the Transportation Research Board for distribution around the room.

A trickling of applause followed his speech — the first time anyone had clapped all evening.

The panel spent much of the night responding to complaints by explaining why certain flight paths are designed that way and why other policies are written as they are.

But few suggestions were made as to how to deal with the biggest issue: noise.

There are 39 noise-monitoring towers stationed in communities surrounding the metro, eight of which are located in Eagan, officials explained.

"We get complaints from everywhere and everybody. But the number of complaints we get in no way directs which runway we're going to use," said Nelson, who explained that those decisions are based on factors such as weather conditions and ultimate flight destinations.

The airport is the 16th busiest in the country and has three runways. While the airport has the capacity to accommodate about 100,000 more aircraft movements a year, experts said, its landside operations are becoming cramped.

There's a move to add gates to the Humphrey terminal, now known as Terminal 2 and possibly improve parking, Nelson said.