WASHINGTON: Noise abatement and beautification at Chicago Executive Airport (CEA) both faced roadblocks as 2016 came to a close.
Action was pushed back on a proposed $250,000 airport sign for the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Palatine Road at the Dec. 21 airport board meeting, according to CEA Noise Committee member Steve Neff.
New regulations that change U.S. Customs procedures at the airport were the reason for the delay, Neff told the Journal & Topics.
While Customs staff previously went directly to aircraft after landing at hangars run by the airport’s fixed base operators (FBO), new regulations have eliminated vehicles that Customs staff previously used, instead requiring pilots taxi straight to the Customs office near the Atlantic FBO facility, according to CEA communications specialist Rob Mark.
Neff and Mark said that Hawthorne and Signature, the two other FBOs at the airport, have argued that the new regulation offers an unfair advantage to Atlantic, as pilots might now seek hangar space in the most convenient location to the Customs office.
Mark added that the airport board is in the planning stages of incorporating the Customs office and the CEA administration offices into a new structure near the airport control tower. The cost to complete that project has not been estimated yet, according Mark, and discussion of the project is in very early stages.
The Customs issue has also taken time away from discussion of noise issues at CEA, according to Neff. Currently, he is advocating that late night fees be imposed on pilots not based at CEA who fly in during late night and early morning hours.
Neff told the Journal & Topics that recent research through flightaware.com indicates that most of the flights during the time residents most often complain about noise — 10 p.m to 6 a.m. — are pickups of passengers by pilots bases at other airports. Therefore, he said, a fee for takeoffs and landings by pilots who are not based at CEA could generate revenue for the airport and not affect its main base of pilots while also cutting down on noise complaints.
