SWAMPSCOTT — The town government is voicing its opposition to proposed changes at Logan Airport that would result in increased air traffic over the town’s coastal residents.
Alice Stein, the town’s representative on the Massachusetts Port Authority (MassPort) Community Advisory Committee, said at a Select Board meeting Wednesday that the airport has received recommendations from Massachusetts Institute of Technology to shift 25 percent of incoming flights so that they fly over the Nahant causeway. While the change is meant to increase both efficiency and equity, Stein said, it will also increase traffic and noise over the town.
“You probably hear about Milton and Hyde Park. They have a lot of problems with traffic overhead. They’re constantly being inundated with planes flying overhead,” Stein said. “They’re, in my opinion, the worst-case scenario. We’re not there, and my concern … is I don’t want Swampscott to be there.”
Stein explained that incoming flights use a process called area navigation, more commonly known as RNAV, to guide their way into the airport using navigation beacons. The MIT study shows a more efficient flight path for pilots, and reduces noise for some surrounding communities, but does so at the expense of Swampscott.
Select Board members said that they didn’t see any reason why the flight path couldn’t be shifted slightly so that planes went over the water instead of Swampscott’s coast.
“I see equity for Nahant, the causeway, which has nobody living on it,” said board Chair Peter Spellios. “I see equity for Marblehead, the water, which has no one living on it, and I see equity for Lynn, which is now going to be predominantly the water of Lynn. Swampscott’s the one that’s on the side of creating equity at the expense of others.”
MassPort has scheduled until September for communities to give input on the proposed changes. The Select Board said they would draft a letter to MassPort voicing their concerns to be sent by the end of the month.
Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald noted that the negative impacts of overhead traffic are not limited to noise, but also include air quality and environmental concerns.
“There needs to be a serious understanding of how all of these ills are going to be thrust upon this densely settled community, our children and our families,” Fitzgerald said. “This doesn’t present in a way that makes it sound like it’s been thought through.”
Tréa Lavery can be reached at [email protected].
