'People Were Very Angry': Beverly Airport Director Talks Danvers Noise Complaints
DANVERS, MA — Beverly Airport Director Gabriel Hanafin said noise complaints have decreased considerably in the past year since the airport implemented a noise-abatement policy aimed at easing the angst of Danvers residents who routinely expressed outrage over the disruption pilots and planes caused at their properties in recent years.
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Speaking to the Danvers Select Board 18 months after coming on board, Hanafin said addressing the noise concerns was one of his biggest priorities upon taking the job and that progress has been made through adjusting flight paths, listening to resident concerns and enforcing aspects of the noise-abatement policy.
“That included tracking each and every noise complaint that we received,” he said. “Before that, there was no system for tracking those noise complaints. So what was happening was that residents, our neighbors, were filing noise complaints and there wasn’t any follow-up happening.”
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He said with the change there have been 341 documented noise complaints in 2024 from 33 unique addresses — with 64 of the complaints and 19 addresses being in Danvers.
Hanafin said complaints have “greatly decreased” month over month, with 50, 60 and even 70 complaints per month at the beginning of the year dwindling to three in the past month.
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“I don’t know if that’s something I want to hang my hat on,” he said of welcoming any feedback. “What I do want to hang my hat on is a very noticeable change in tone of some of these complaints. At the beginning, people were very angry. And rightfully so because they weren’t being listened to.
“Now there’s conversation happening, bridges being built. We’re far from perfect. There are still issues there. There are still kinks that need to be smoothed out. But I think I’m most proud of this work that we are doing on noise in that sense that we’re starting to have conversations and it’s not just residents yelling in an abyss and not getting responses.”
He said at the start of the year 90 percent of complaints were about aircraft from the region’s two air schools, while recently they are now mostly about “other aircraft” after working with the flight schools and pilots on the number of take-offs and landings, curfews and flying height required to minimize effects on neighbors.
He said fuel and fee increases have led to a bit less traffic overall and addressed a Danvers town meeting request for an environmental study on the airport’s effects on neighborhoods, saying that work will need to be done as part of an upcoming runway replacement project.
While residents who spoke during the meeting allowed that noise has decreased somewhat and that the new leadership has been more responsive to complaints, they also expressed ongoing concerns over potential airport expansion, the disturbing vibrations from the flights that aren’t measured in noise and — especially — that the airport uses town-owned land and resources while providing only nominal payments to benefit Danvers residents.
Hannafin also talked about concerns that the planes still use leaded fuel, saying that a federal timeline to phase out leaded fuel has set 2030 as a benchmark, but that no current 100-octane unleaded fuel exists that is approved for private propeller aircraft.
“This is an issue that I take very seriously,” Hanafin said. “The 2030 deadline I wish was a 2023 deadline. I’d love to see this done yesterday. I have two very young kids at home. I want them to be able to come to the airport, come to work with me, and not have to worry about lead poisoning in the back of my mind.
“I am very empathetic about the concerns, very passionate about the need to get an unleaded fuel out there. Unfortunately, the product just hasn’t been found yet.”
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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