Complaints about flight noise around the Monterey Regional Airport have inspired activism.

For years, some residents in Del Rey Oaks, Monterey and elsewhere have complained about airplane noise from flights taking off or landing at Monterey Regional Airport. Some of those complaints arose after the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates all the flights coming to or leaving the airport, implemented in 2015 its “NextGen” technology at the facility, part of a nationwide effort to modernize how the agency manages federal airspace.

As a result, flight paths changed, creating consternation among some residents. The Monterey County Civil Grand Jury released a report earlier this year highlighting ways in which the Monterey Peninsula Airport District can better address complaints about noise, primarily through greater transparency and community engagement.

The district’s board met July 17, and among the things they discussed was approving a response to the Grand Jury report, which is to be provided to Monterey County Superior Court no later than Sept. 11.

Among the recommendations of the grand jury is that “MPAD develop a Citizens Committee to provide community input regarding operations and noise mitigation efforts” by Oct. 31. MPAD’s response to that recommendation is, “Will not be implemented.”

Members of the board, who agreed with District Counsel Scott Huber’s proposed response, noted that the district already has a standing committee that usually meets once a month. The committee’s name is a word salad – Air Service, Marketing and Community Relations Committee – and is comprised of Executive Director Mike La Pier, board chair Mary Ann Leffel and board member Dino Pick, the former city manager of Del Rey Oaks, and also the former commandant of the Defense Language Institute.

Also at the July 17 meeting, the board approved a response letter to the Monterey Fly Safe Coalition, a recently formed group of residents concerned primarily about airplane noise. The coalition’s chair, Monterey resident Uwe Grobecker, spoke at the July meeting.

“I live around 400 feet above sea level,” he says, while planes routinely fly over it at 1,000 feet, just 600 feet above his house. “I can handle that two times a day… but they keep adding more flights.”

Grobrecker is also miffed about the vagueness in the district’s minutes. The July 9 minutes of the community relations committee state that “There was a discussion about the noise report and the Grand Jury recommendations.”

To what extent the airport district can mollify residents’ concerns is somewhat of an open question. Repeatedly at the July 17 meeting, MPAD staff stressed that it has no jurisdiction to regulate the airspace.

Pick, who serves on the standing committee, says the district is taking the Grand Jury report very seriously, and that “one complaint is too many.” He believes there needs to be a better understanding between the public and the district, and thinks the standing committee is the venue to achieve that – he’s for trying it out instead of forming a new committee.

Pick also notes there’s a nationwide pilot shortage, so airlines are flying bigger planes that can hold more passengers; overall, he says, flight traffic now is considerably less than the Fort Ord days of the 1990s.