Appeals To City For Concessions

McNary Field at Salem, OR is widely considered to be one of the more underutilized, towered fields in the region. It's been even quieter since the bankruptcy of Silver State Helicopters grounded the company's swarm of R22s in early February.

Now, NIMBYs are mobilizing to keep the airport quiet. The Salem Statesman-Journal reports SESNA, the Southeast Salem Neighborhood Association, voted April 22 to fight the resumption of helicopter training based at McNary (SLE).

The Salem City Council held a public hearing Monday evening on an application from Leading Edge Aviation, Incorporated, of Bend, OR to start helicopter training at McNary Field. A flurry of e-mail among anti-noise activists suggested a packed meeting room might result; over 70 attended Monday's meeting.

Randy Lawrence, who lives four blocks from McNary, acknowledges that noise is part of the deal when you buy a home near an airport. But, he says, Silver State's operation created a unique problem.

"...It's not like other things at the airport," Lawrence said. "They're not here and gone. They circle, circle, circle. There were times I'd be lying in bed and the helicopter would come flying overhead every 15 minutes."

It may be impossible for those neighbors to keep the whirlybirds in their nests. When the City of Salem, which owns the airport, accepted a federal grant to build the control tower, it lost much of its control to discriminate against certain types of operations there. The Airport Advisory Commission already considered and approved the application from Leading Edge back in March.

City Councilor Laura Tesler tells neighbors she's working with the city attorney to determine just how far the city can go in pushing for concessions on operating hours and other noise abatement efforts.

SESNA chairman Bill Smaldone tells the paper, "We understand the airport is there and we know the airport has to do business but we also feel the airport has to accommodate the neighborhoods. If it becomes too noisy, if we have to deal with all these other environmental effects, then the quality of life in the neighborhood will decrease."

FMI: www.cityofsalem.net/departments/scdev/airport, www.leadingedgeavn.com/