Elmhurst residents: Keep fighting against O'Hare noise
Residents urged Elmhurst officials to keep fighting this week even as the city council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the Fly Quiet Rotation Test Program at O'Hare International Airport.
Roughly 50 residents attended Monday's meeting and at least eight complained about increasing noise from O'Hare.
Barbara Lonergan told the council 32 planes flew over her home between 3:50 and 5:20 a.m. on Aug. 19 and passage of the resolution should be considered only the first step in the ongoing fight.
"Please know the residents' level of interest is not dwindling," resident Amy Wallace told aldermen.
Alderman Bob Dunn admitted the resolution may largely be symbolic, but said it accurately represents the sentiments of city leaders and residents.
"This resolution does not have any direct political pull," he said, "but it does give us a unified position."
Alderman Scott Levin agreed.
"This is an important resolution," he said. "It is one important tool to have our council be on the record."
The O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, which includes representatives from 42 communities and 16 school districts, approved three tests within the Fly Quiet Test Rotation Program. The first ran from July to December 2016 and the second from April 30 to July 23. The third began in late July and is scheduled to run for 12 weeks.
The program rotates flights to different runways overnight each week to spread jet noise over different areas. Elmhurst is directly in the flight paths when diagonal runways are used.
The Elmhurst resolution, however, contends that Fly Quiet has not helped the noise problem in the city and uses runways adversely affecting Elmhurst at a disproportionate rate.
The third test period was approved by a 30-4 vote of the ONCC on June 2, according to the website oharenoise.org. The Chicago Department of Aviation will review the results of the test in the fall and winter and it could be used as a model for a Fly Quiet program that would be in place from spring 2018 to fall 2020, according to the website.
Dunn attended the noise commission's June 2 meeting in place of Mayor Steven Morley and was one of the four people to vote against Test 3. He said the city also is trying to get seats on the commission for representatives from Elmhurst Unit District 205 and DuPage High School District 88, which serves Addison Trail and Willowbrook.
Morley and Alderman Danee Polomsky urged residents Monday to fill out surveys on the city's website at elmhurst.org to make their feelings known. They said residents also should log complaints on the oharenoise.org website.
But many residents and Alderman Michael Bram complained that the oharenoise.org website is often down.