Living near an airport can present various challenges, from safety concerns to significant disruptions in daily life. Individuals residing in proximity to these airports often attempt to advocate for changes, albeit with limited success.
However, one household in Washington, D.C., took an extraordinary approach by lodging over 7,000 complaints against Reagan National Airport within a single year.
This remarkable revelation surfaced through a tweet from @AlecStapp, showcasing a page from a 2017 study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
The findings shed light on a phenomenon known as NIMBYism, where residents oppose local developments. In this case, it involved homeowners near airports issuing thousands of noise complaints.
From 2014 to 2015, nine major airports across the U.S., including Reagan, Denver, Dulles, Las Vegas, LAX, Portland, Phoenix, Seattle, and San Francisco, received numerous noise complaints. Notably, a significant portion of these complaints emanated from a small group of individuals.
For instance, Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport received 3,814 complaints from merely 13 households within a single zip code, averaging 293 calls per household.
Similarly, a solitary individual in Monterey Park, California, filed 489 complaints against LAX in June 2015, constituting over 50 percent of the total complaints for that month. However, the situation reached an extreme in Washington, D.C.
Reagan National Airport garnered 8,760 noise complaints in 2015, with a staggering 78 percent (6,852) originating from two individuals in a single household in the Foxhall neighborhood. These individuals lodged complaints nearly 19 times per day on average, reflecting their determined stance against aircraft noise.
While it’s understandable to feel aggravated by frequent plane noise disruptions, especially at such a high frequency, the airport has been operational since 1941.
Given this long history, residents choosing to reside nearby might have been aware of potential noise disturbances. Therefore, the decision to purchase a property near an airport raises questions about expectations versus reality.
Also read: Spain’s Urban Air Mobility Initiative: Volocopter & UrbanV Partnership
