Upgraded Noise, Water and Air Quality Monitoring Planned for County Airport
With the Westchester County Airport stirring up contentious debate over the years, County Executive George Latimer announced plans Monday afternoon to remediate residential concerns and discussed possible privatization of the airport.
Following a string of public forums in June where residents offered feedback on the airport’s future, Latimer said his administration is taking an active first step to investigate airport operations and implement noise, water and air quality monitoring systems to create long-term solutions.
Officials said 10 portable noise monitors have been ordered and will be placed in areas that have received a high volume of complaints by the end of the month. The monitors will assess and validate the accuracy of data collected from the systems currently in place. A consultant has also been hired to analyze best practices to institute a state-of-the-art fixed noise monitoring system.
Data gathered from the monitors will be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees air travel, Latimer said.
“We intend to change the permanent monitoring,” Latimer said at a press conference held at the Westchester County Airport. “We’ve seen a heavy concentration over the route that takes in Pleasantville and Chappaqua into the airport which was not what it was 10 years ago. We intend to try to attach these to the locations where the greatest amount of current noise is.”
Improvements will also be made to the noise complaint system to increase response time and provide greater detail to resident concerns. Changes will go into effect in September.
While residents panned the increased traffic, noise, drainage and environmental impacts throughout the forums, several strongly opposed privatizing the county-owned airport. With the county facing a $32.2 million deficient, Latimer, who harshly criticized former county executive Rob Astorino’s controversial plan to lease the airport to a private operator during his 2017 campaign, said any decisions to lease the airport will be decided by the Board of Legislators.
“Governance of this airport has never been the main issue,” Latimer said. “The issue of governance was brought in by the last administration and turned the discussion of the airport into a financial discussion.”
Latimer said seeing the airport operate efficiently as a “transportation hub” is his main goal and has never viewed the airport “as a piggy bank to crack open.” While he accused Astorino of wanting to “liquify an asset,” he said the county has a fiduciary responsibility to balance the county budget.
Latimer added there is an ongoing dialogue between county officials as to whether the airport would be leased long-term but wouldn’t confirm if any proposals received under Astornio’s administration were still up for consideration. Latimer said his administration has met with Oaktree Capital Management and Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. about their proposals, but asserted, “no documents have been sent to the board of legislators.”
Macquarie proposed a $1.1 billion public-private partnership last fall. The 40-year lease would have included a $595 million financial offer accompanied by $550 in capital funds to maintain and improve the airport’s infrastructure. Oaktree proposed a $140 million deal in 2016.
Discussions with the board of legislators are informal but will only become formal if they choose to investigate one proposal, Latimer said.
“When we submit a budget in November it will reflect the common dialogue between the administration and the legislator,” Latimer said. “I have not been a fan of changing the governance of the airport but I’m willing to listen to whatever the dialogue is, and that dialogue will be informal on the outset.”
