THE WAR ON TORRANCE AIRPORT CUSTOMERS

City Council 1/14/2025--targeting flight schools and aircraft rental businesses

The Community Development Department has placed a proposed Ordinance change on the agenda (Item 10B) which:

• Replaces the three-member Hearing Board with a "fair and impartial Hearing Officer" (not a city employee)--appointed by the City
Manager. This Hearing Officer will be the sole arbiter of “guilt.”  No other qualifications (aviation or legal experience are NOT necessry) are identified for that officer.
• Formal rules of evidence shall NOT apply.
• Hearsay evidence may be admitted even if the author is not present at the meeting.  One must assume that an anonymous noise complaint will be considered as such evidence.
• Any aircraft involved in three or more violations in three years will be excluded from the airport. The three violatios need NOT be caused by the same pilot.  This is clearly targeting flight schools and aircraft rental businesses.
• Implementation will commence 30 days after approval.

Airport Commission 1/9/2025--The Bad News

COTAR, represented by Chuck Costello and Richard Root, gave a presentation at the Commission.  They admitted that they have  only "20-25 members" with a mailing list of under 200 persons.  They are demanding additional measures be taken by Noise Abatement Office to report monthly figures on non-compliance with voluntary measures.  The obvious next step will be for COTAR to demand penalties for non-compliance with those measures.

COTAR also intimated that the maximum sound level should be lowered to 60 db because that is the level at which people are “annoyed” by a continuous sound. They showed a sample of the Santa Monica Airport noise report as the level of information they would like to see on our reports. One of the commissioners noted that the Santa Monica Airport maximum limit is 95 db--much higher than the Torrance limit of 82 db.

Airport Commission 1/9/2025--The Good News:

The City will begin repainting the tie-down ramp areas, starting on the west end and proceeding in stages.  Aircraft that relocate to the transient tie-down area will not be charged extra.  The Airport Office can provide scheduling information.

The plans for AWOS installation have been approved.  It will be installed near the mid-field windsock.  Some short runway and taxiway closures may be necessary during installation.

The Mr Pinela announced that the City Council will consider a recommendation to rename the General Aviation Center to honor Frank Robinson. This was recommended by the Airport Commission last year.

The commissioners asked that the airport operations data be presented with the historical context illustrating the disastrous effects that have resulted from acceding to COTAR's demands.