Airport noise a concern for Q.C. community

Neighbors near a private airport in a Queen Creek that's marketed to aviation enthusiasts are concerned about excessive noise if a proposal to allow helicopters and planes with jet engines at the facility is approved.

A proposal to change the types of aircraft allowed to land at Pegasus Airpark and to have jet fuel on site is scheduled to go before the Town Council on Wednesday.

Current rules allow planes that are under 12,500 pounds and have piston engines.

Pegasus Airpark wants the Town Council to amend that, allowing planes with jet engines and helicopters to land at the site as well.

The town's Planning and Zoning Commission decided on a 4-3 vote to recommend approving two of the changes to allow planes with jet engines and jet fuel on site, but not the change allowing helicopters. That September recommendation is the one that will go to the council next week.

Pegasus isn't looking to increase the size of the planes allowed or go above the 225 aircraft maximum for the airpark, said Ron Serafinowicz, vice president of the Pegasus Airpark Flight Association.

Instead, Pegasus wants to bring in types of aircraft popular in the aviation community, which would allow it to market the neighborhood to a broader range of pilots, he said.

There are fewer than 50 aircraft housed at the facility now with an estimated 1,600 take-offs or landings a year, Serafinowicz said.

When the facility is built out, the group expects up to 20,000 take-offs and landings, which is still less busy than the nearby Chandler and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airports, which can get closer to the 250,000 to 300,000 range, or Stellar Airpark with around 40,000, Serafinowicz said.

"The traffic in and out of Pegasus is very minimal," Serafinowicz said. "We'd always be much lower, even when Pegasus is built out."

Plus, technological advancements have made jet engines and helicopters quieter than past models, Serafinowicz said.

However, neighbors are concerned with noise and safety issues, especially since the rules did not allow planes with jet engines when many of the neighbors moved in.

Greg Clark, a resident of the Orchard Ranch neighborhood just north of Pegasus Airpark, said he doesn't think the development that could be brought in by aviation enthusiasts would be worth other neighbors wanting to leave rather than live next to an airport that allows planes with jet engines.

While the jets the Pegasus group used for noise demonstrations were quieter than many prop planes, they made sure to use the newest, most technologically advanced jets there are, Clark said. Clark is concerned most jets would be louder than the ones used for the demonstration.

"We do agree that some of the newest jets are quieter, but overall, they are not," Clark said.

Clark also cited complaints neighbors at other nearby airports have had about helicopter noise.

But adding the helicopters to Pegasus could actually make things quieter for residents, Serafinowicz said. If helicopters could land at Pegasus, the airpark could create flight plans that would require helicopters passing through the airspace to fly higher than they normally can - but that change can only come if helicopters are allowed to land at the airpark, he said.

"The big change would come if we were able to publish the helicopter procedures," Serafinowicz said. "If the town does not approve helicopters it would leave a big gaping hole in our pattern."

Clark said neighbors are also concerned they haven't seen a lot of flight pattern plans in writing, but have only heard about discussions Pegasus has had with other airports and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Written plans are especially important to see with the amount of traffic coming out of the nearby Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Clark said.

"There's a lot of gray areas within their proposal. There's not enough detail or verified information," Clark said.

Serafinowicz acknowledged there's not a written agreement to use Phoenix-Mesa Gateway's airspace at this point, but there is a verbal agreement and diagrams of flight patterns drawn up that will be shown at Wednesday's meeting.