[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 117 (Monday, June 19, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35321-35322]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-5515]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Approval of Noise Compatibility Program for Scottsdale Airport, 
Scottsdale, AZ

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces its 
findings on the noise compatibility program submitted by the City of 
Scottsdale, Arizona under the provisions of Title I of the Aviation 
Safety and Noise Abatement Act, as amended, (Public Law 96-193) 
(hereinafter referred to as ``the Act'') and 14 CFR part 150. These 
findings are made in recognition of the description of Federal and 
nonfederal responsibilities in Senate Report No. 96-52 (1980). On 
January 21, 2005, the FAA determined that the noise exposure maps 
submitted by the City of Scottsdale under Part 150 were in compliance 
with applicable requirements.

DATES: Effective Date: The effective date of the FAA's approval of the 
Noise Compatibility Program for Scottsdale Airport is May 30, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Simmons, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Airports Division, Arizona Standards Section, 
AWP-623.4, Western-Pacific Region, Federal Aviation Administration, 
P.O. Box 92007, Los Angeles, California, 90009-2007. Telephone: 310/
725-3614. Documents reflecting this FAA action may be reviewed in the 
Office of the Airports Division, 15000 Aviation Boulevard, Room 3012, 
Hawthorne, California, 90261.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces that the FAA has given 
its overall approval to the Noise Compatibility Program for Scottsdale 
Airport, effective May 30, 2006. Under section 104(a) of the Aviation 
Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979, as amended (herein after 
referred to as the ``Act'') [recodified as 49 U.S.C. 47504], an airport 
operator who has previously submitted a Noise Exposure Map may submit 
to the FAA a Noise Compatibility Program which sets forth the measures 
taken or proposed by the airport operator for the reduction of existing 
non-compatible land uses and prevention of additional non-compatible 
land uses within the area covered by the Noise Exposure Maps. The Act 
requires such programs to be developed in consultation with interested 
and affected parties including local communities, government agencies, 
airport users, and FAA personnel.
    Each airport noise compatibility program developed in accordance 
with Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 150 is a local program, not 
a Federal program. The FAA does not substitute its judgment for that of 
the airport proprietor with respect to which measures should be 
recommended for action. The FAA's approval or disapproval of FAR Part 
150 program recommendations is measured according to the standards 
expressed in Part 150 and the Act and is limited to the following 
determinations:
    a. The Noise Compatibility Program was developed in accordance with 
the provisions and procedures of FAR Part 150;
    b. Program measures are reasonably consistent with achieving the 
goals of reducing existing non-compatible land uses around the airport 
and preventing the introduction of additional non-compatible land uses;
    c. Program measures would not create an undue burden on interstate 
or foreign commerce, unjustly discriminate against types or classes of 
aeronautical uses, violate the terms of airport grant agreements, or 
intrude into areas preempted by the Federal Government; and
    d. Program measures relating to the use of flight procedures can be 
implemented within the period covered by the program without derogating 
safety, adversely affecting the efficient use and management of the 
navigable airspace and air traffic control systems, or adversely 
affecting other powers and responsibilities of the Administrator 
prescribed by law.
    Specific limitations with respect to FAA's approval of an airport 
noise compatibility program are delineated in FAR Part 150, section 
150.5. Approval is not a determination concerning the acceptability of 
land uses under Federal, State, or local law. Approval does not by 
itself constitute an FAA implementing action. A request for Federal 
action or approval to implement specific noise compatibility measures 
may be required, and an FAA decision on the request may require an 
environmental assessment of the proposed action. Approval does not 
constitute a commitment by the FAA to financially assist in the 
implementation of the program nor a determination that all measures 
covered by the program are eligible for grant-in-aid funding from the 
FAA under the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982, as amended. 
Where federal funding is sought, requests for project grants must be 
submitted to the FAA Airports Division Office in Hawthorne, California.
    The City of Scottsdale submitted to the FAA on October 13, 2004, 
the Noise Exposure Maps, descriptions, and other documentation produced 
during the noise compatibility planning study conducted from September 
28, 1982 through October 13, 2004. The Scottsdale Airport Noise 
Exposure Maps were determined by FAA to be in compliance with 
applicable requirements on January 21, 2005. Notice of this 
determination was published in the Federal Register on February 7, 
2005.
    The Scottsdale Airport study contains a proposed noise 
compatibility program comprised of actions designed for phased 
implementation by airport management and adjacent jurisdictions from 
September 28, 1982 to beyond the year 2009). It was requested that the 
FAA evaluate and approve this material as a Noise Compatibility Program 
as described in 49 U.S.C. 47504 (formerly Section 104(b) of the Act). 
The FAA began its review of the program on October 13, 2004 and was 
required by a provision of the Act to approve or disapprove the program 
within 180 days (other than the use of new or modified flight 
procedures for noise control). Failure to approve or disapprove such 
program within the 180-day period shall be deemed to be an approval of 
such program.
    The submitted program contained thirty (30) proposed actions for 
noise abatement, land use planning and

[[Page 35322]]

program management on and off the airport. The FAA completed its review 
and determined that the procedural and substantive requirements of the 
Act and FAR Part 150 have been satisfied. The overall program was 
approved by the Acting Associate Administrator for Airports, effective 
May 30, 2006.
    Outright approval was granted for twenty-eight (28) of the thirty 
(30) specific program measures and (1) program element was approved in 
part and disapproved in part. The approved measures included such items 
as: Continued Informal Preferential Use of Runway 3; Continuation to 
encourage Stage 2 Aircraft to use Runway 21 for landings and Runway 3 
for takeoffs; Continuation to discourage right downwind and right base 
pattern entry, long straight-in approaches, and right turn-outs prior 
to reaching the airport boundary for aircraft using Runway 3; 
Continuation to encourage right turns as soon as practical and 
discourage straight-out and left turns on departure from Runway 21. 
Continuation to prohibit stop-and-go operations, intersections take-
offs, formations, and simulated single engine take-offs and training go 
arounds by multi-engine aircraft on Runway 21; Continuation to 
discourage descents below 2,500 feet mean sea level (MSL) for practice 
instrument approaches; Continuation to encourage National Business 
Aviation Association (NBAA) standard or manufacturer's comparable noise 
abatement procedures; Continuation to prohibit touch-and-go operations 
between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m.; Continuation to prohibit maintenance run-
up operations between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.; Continuation to encourage use 
of AOPA Noise Awareness Steps by light single-engine aircraft; Request 
Air Traffic Control to coordinate on any new approach, departure, or 
routing procedures when ASR-11 radar installation is complete; Relocate 
the existing run-up area from the approach end of Runway 21 to the 
proposed site in the central portion of the airport; Inform transient 
helicopter pilots of the noise abatement flights paths; Change Phoenix 
Sectional Aeronautical Chart to depict additional populated places; 
Within their respective General Plans, the cities of Scottsdale and 
Phoenix should maintain the compatibility planned areas within the 55 
DNL contour; The cities of Scottsdale and Phoenix should maintain the 
compatibly-zoned areas within the project study area; The City of 
Scottsdale should consider rezoning the parcel located directly north 
of the airport, within the 65 DNL noise contour, to a compatible land 
use. The parcel is currently utilized as a golf course. The cities of 
Scottsdale and Phoenix should enact Project Review Guidelines for those 
areas impacted by Airport operations; The cities of Scottsdale and 
Phoenix should adopt the overlay zones contained within the proposed 
Project Review Guidelines; If the Project Review Guidelines and Overlay 
Zoning Alternatives are not implemented, the City of Scottsdale should 
consider amending the subdivision regulations to require the issuance 
of navigation easements and fair disclosure notices for the areas 
contained within the AC-1, AC-2, and AC-3 of the overlay zoning; The 
City of Scottsdale should consider amending its current building codes 
to incorporate prescriptive noise standards; Should the Project Review 
Guidelines alternatives not be implemented, the City of Scottsdale 
should consider incorporating the 2009 noise contours into its general 
plan to allow for an additional level of fair disclosure; The City of 
Phoenix should consider rezoning the areas located north of the Central 
Arizona Project (CAP) canal, which are currently zoned for residential 
land, uses and planned industrial or commercial land uses; Update Noise 
Exposure Maps and Noise Compatibility Program; Monitor implementation 
of the updated Part 150 Noise Compatibility Program; Continue noise 
complaint tracking program; Continue and expand airport signage 
program; and Airport Pilot and Community Outreach Program. Approval was 
not granted to three (3) proposed program elements and one (1) program 
element was disapproved in part. The disapproved measures included such 
items as: Encourage the use of published approach patterns for Runway 
21; The City will encourage FAA to chart visual flight procedures to 
provide pilots with minimum safe flying altitudes and paths on 
approach; and Construction of a run-up enclosure. These determinations 
are set forth in detail in the Record of Approval signed by the Acting 
Associate Administrator for Airports, May 30, 2006. The Record of 
Approval, as well as other evaluation materials and the documents 
comprising the submittal, are available for review at the FAA office 
listed above and at the administrative offices of the City of 
Scottsdale. The Record of Approval also will be available on-line at: 
http://www.faa.gov/arp/environmental/14cfr150/index14.cfm.

    Issued in Hawthorne, California on June 9, 2006.
George E. Aiken,
Acting Manager, Airports Division, Western-Pacific Region, AWP-600.
[FR Doc. 06-5515 Filed 6-16-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-M