Venice to vote on hiring a noise abatement office to deal with airport noise, after being deluged by emails

Esteemed Council Member Ron Smith,

We are writing about The Venice Municipal Airport noise impacting our daily quality of life.

We purchased our home at xxx Golden Beach Blvd in 2007. We made the decision to move here because of the quaint downtown, the parks, the beaches, the nice neighborhoods, bike paths & the dog beach.

When we first moved in, there were occasional planes flying over our home.  Now there are many planes & jets that fly over our house, it’s extremely loud and unbearable.  Recently, the realtor who sold us our home was over.  She used to live in Golden Beach.  She was shocked and disturbed by the excessive noise, saying that she could never live here.

Things seem to be changing at a rate that is out of control for lack of a better explanation. The airport has more and more jets, which used to be a rarity here. They are LOUD. They idle while awaiting clearance to take off from ATC, sending toxic fumes to our neighborhood. Apparently, the new FBO operator has plans to bring in more jets (for his profit) by building hangars that can accommodate them. Our quality of life is decreasing as the jets, as well as the constant touch and go’s, and complete lack of regard for the posted side step procedure increase. People no longer seem to care that “Venice is noise sensitive.

The noise and the traffic increase due to the apparently unrestricted development in Venice needs to be reined in.

I request that you take steps to restore and protect our quality of life here in Gulf Shores and Golden Beach by:

1. enforcing steps to decrease noise such as the sidestep procedure being used, limiting jet traffic (esp on 31 and 13), restricting touch and goes, and hiring a noise abatement officer.

2. Slow down development. The island needs a moratorium, even temporary, that includes no more building the airport.

3. Jets are welcomed in Punta Gorda, that may be a more appropriate spot for NetJets and The Braves!

The area is booming because of the reasons I began my letter with.

The city of Venice needs to take control of our island and not let it be destroyed by overdevelopment and noise harassment by jets, the flight school, and touch and go’s.

Thank you for listening to our concerns.  I’m looking forward to positive changes to bring back our quality of life.

Sincerely,

Julia