[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62586-62587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24814]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


Approval of Noise Compatibility Program for Meadows Field 
Airport, Bakersfield, CA

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces its 
findings on the noise compatibility program submitted by County of 
Kern, Department of Airports 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. 9652 (1980). On 
January 16, 2008, the FAA determined that the noise exposure maps 
submitted by County of Kern, Department of Airports 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 Meadows Field Airport is September 18, 
2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victor Globa, Federal Aviation 
Administration, Los Angeles Airports District Office, P.O. Box 92007, 
Los Angeles, CA 90009-2007, Telephone: 310/725-3637. Documents 
reflecting this FAA action may be reviewed at this same location.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces that the FAA has given 
its overall approval to the Noise Compatibility Program for Meadows 
Field Airport, effective September 18, 2008. Under section 104(a) of 
the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979, as amended 
(hereinafter 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 noncompatible 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 Regulations (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 District Office in Hawthorne, California.
    The County of Kern, Department of Airports submitted to the FAA on 
August 28, 2007, the Noise Exposure Maps, descriptions, and other 
documentation produced during the noise compatibility planning study 
conducted from October 19, 2005 through August 28, 2007. The Meadows 
Field Airport Noise Exposure Maps were determined by FAA to be in 
compliance with applicable requirements on January 16, 2008. Notice of 
this determination was published in the Federal Register on February 
20, 2008 (73 FR 940 1-9402).
    The Meadows Field Airport study contains a proposed noise 
compatibility program comprised of actions designed for phased 
implementation by airport management and adjacent jurisdictions (from 
October 10, 2005 to beyond the year 2010). 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 June 23, 2008 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

[[Page 62587]]

program within the 180-day period shall be deemed to be an approval of 
such program.
    The submitted program contained ten (10) proposed actions for noise 
abatement, land use planning and 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 Manager 
of the Airports Division, Western-Pacific Region, effective September 
18, 2008.
    Outright approval was granted for all ten (10) specific program 
measures. The approved measures included such items as: Continue 
Voluntary Policies That Limit Turbojet Training Operations; Continued 
Informal Preferential Use of Runways 30 LJR; Continue To Use 
Intersection Takeoffs for Single and Twin-Engine Aircraft at the 
Taxiway F Intersection on Runway 30R; Revise Airport Land Use 
Compatibility Plan (ALUCP) Zones To Reflect the Ultimate Runway 
Configuration if the Third Parallel Runway Is Included in the Master 
Plan and Pursued by the County; Maintain Compatibility Planned Areas 
Within the Airport Influence Area; Maintaining Compatible Zoning Within 
Airport Influence Area (AlA); Amend Section 4.8 of the Airport Land Use 
Compatibility Plan (ALUCP) To Include Compatibility Criteria That 
Explicitly Identify Compatible Land Uses; Amend Section 4.8 of the 
Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan (ALUCP) To Incorporate Prescriptive 
Noise Standards To Address Airport Noise Concerns in New Construction 
and Major Alterations to Existing Structures; Continue Noise Complaint 
Tracking Program; Update Noise Exposure Maps and Noise Compatibility 
Program; Monitor Implementation of Updated F.A.R. Part 150 Noise 
Compatibility Program.
    These determinations are set forth in detail in the Record of 
Approval signed by the Manager of the Airports Division, Western-
Pacific Region, on September 18, 2008. 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 County of Kern Department of 
Airports, Meadows Field. The Record of Approval also will be available 
on-line at: http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/airports/environmentai/airport_noise/part_150/states/ .

    Issued in Hawthorne, California on September 29, 2008.
Mark A. McClardy,
Manager, Airports Division, Western-Pacific Region, AWP-600.
 [FR Doc. E8-24814 Filed 10-20-08; 8:45 am]
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