A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 18-77, regarding a report on Airplane Noise

C I T Y O F C A M B R I D G E Community Development Department IRAM FAROOQ Assistant City Manager for Community Development SANDRA CLARKE Deputy Director Chief of Administration 344 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02139 Voice: [phone removed] Fax: [phone removed] TTY: [phone removed] www.cambridgema.gov MEMORANDUM TO: Louis DePasquale, City Manager FROM: Iram Farooq, Assistant City Manager for Community Development SUBJECT: Policy Order #12 dated 6/25/18, regarding airplane noise over North and West Cambridge DATE: July 18, 2018 In response to Policy Order O-12 dated June 25, 2018 requesting that the City provide an update on the noise study being conducted by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and MIT, we report the following. Airplane noise over North and West Cambridge increased significantly after 2013 when the FAA instituted an area navigation (RNAV) routing procedure using electronic navigation points off runway 33L, which concentrated flights in narrower paths over those neighborhoods. The City engages actively in the Massport Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC), formed more by the Massachusetts legislature, to work with Massport and other communities on airplane noise issues. Through participation in that group, and in cooperation with abutting communities affected by Logan airport noise off runway 33L, the City has worked to engage Massport and FAA in a discussion directed toward reducing noise related to the 2013 RNAV procedure. After much work by the communities and elected officials, FAA and Massport jointly funded and began a study in 2017 to devise short and long-term measures for reducing airport noise. The study is being conducted by MIT. Initial recommendations on the first phase (called Block 1) have been made by the MIT team and are currently being reviewed by the FAA. The recommendation that has the greatest potential benefits to North and West Cambridge proposes a reduced airplane climb speed target of 220 knots. The noise impacts to residents are greatest from planes flying below 10,000 feet. This target would have the benefit of reducing noise generated by planes while they climb to 10,000 feet. A presentation on the recommendations may be found on the Massport Advisory Committee website: http://massportcac.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MIT-RNAV- Presentation-04-18-2018.pdf Additional recommendations for a future phase (Block 2) are currently being developed. These may include greater dispersion of routes that airplanes would fly, therefore spreading out remaining noise from the route of the current RNAV over a larger area. The Massport CAC is committed to pursuing additional measures as part of its work to reduce airplane noise and ensuring that noise burdens are shared as equitably as possible.