Statistics Soared In That Category Because Of The Acts Of John Palmer

The city of Longmont, CO received 949 complaints about noise at Longmont Airport in 2017, a sharp increase over the 257 complaints registered in 2016, according to a report presented Tuesday by airport manager David Slayter to the the Longmont City Council.

But of those complaints, 825 were filed by a single person, who Slayter identified to the Council as resident John Palmer.

Speaking last Monday to the Times Call newspaper, Slayter said he had reached out to Palmer about his concerns, but "there was a lack of interest on (Palmer's) part to have a meeting or discussion."

Another well-known anti-airport activist in the area, Kimberly Gibbs, was responsible for another 67 of the complaints received in 2017. Gibbs is the founder of "Citizens for Quiet Skies", which has been involved in a long-running dispute with the airport over the operation of Mile-Hi Skydiving at the airport.

Gibbs told the paper that a lot of residents have given up on complaining about airport noise because they feel they have been ignored when they have complained in the past.

Slayter said that all but 20 of the complaints filed in 2017 were connected with the skydiving company's operations.

Overall, 28 people complained about airport noise in 2017 through the Link2Longmont logging system, Slayter's report indicated. That was down form 33 in 2016.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report