03-9336r
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RESOLUTION NO. 9336
RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE COMPLETION OF THE 1996 SOUND INSULATION
PROGRAM
WHEREAS, The City of Richfield appreciates the positive, productive and
cooperative working relationship it has developed with the staff and commission members
of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) to find solutions to the airport noise
impacts experienced by Richfield; and
WHEREAS, continuing that cooperative relationship and maintaining a critical level
of trust is important to the City of Richfield and its residents as a neighbor of the
Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport (MSP); and
WHEREAS, in 1996, the Minnesota Legislature made the final decision to expand
the MSP at its current location and directed the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC)
to implement the MSP 2010 Long Term Comprehensive Plan; and
WHEREAS, with this decision, the Legislature also directed the MAC to develop a
noise mitigation plan which includes steps and procedures to mitigate aircraft noise and
aid community stabilization for the affected communities, and
WHEREAS, on October 28, 1996, the MAC approved the MSP Noise Mitigation
Committee recommendation, including completion of the residential sound insulation
program for the area encompassed by the 1996 DNL 65 contour, on the currently
approved schedule, and
WHEREAS, the schedule contained within the Noise Mitigation Program was based
on completion of the 1996 program by 2000 and the current program, including single
family and multi-family residences, should have already been completed; and
WHEREAS, the MAC incorporated the Noise Mitigation Program into the Final
Environmental Impact Statement on the Dual Track Airport Planning Process as a specific
mitigation measure addressing airport noise and FAA incorporated the program as a
condition of approval in their Record of Decision approving the current airport expansion;
and,
WHEREAS, recognizing the fallibility of a projected noise contour and that noise
may be significantly annoying to the population beyond the 65 DNL, MAC adopted the
block intersect method in 1995 and FAA concurred; and
WHEREAS, no new noise exposure map or noise compatibility program has been
developed and no public participation has occurred in the development of a new program,
nor is their any guarantee that FAA will approve a new noise exposure map in 2003; and
WHEREAS, the current sound insulation program is entirely user funded through
passenger facility fees and airport improvement program funds, neither of which are costs
borne by Northwest Airlines and the MAC's bond rating remains higher than "A"; and
WHEREAS, the City of Richfield has had 643 single family homes and duplexes
within the 1996 - 65 DNL noise exposure map successfully insulated for aircraft noise and
is hopeful that homes within the 60-64 DNL will also benefit from some type of mitigation.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Richfield,
Minnesota, the following comments are hereby adopted:
1. The City of Richfield has relied upon the commitments made by the MAC
through the environmental process for the construction of Runway 17/35 and views further
deferment or indefinite postponement of the current sound insulation program as an
abrogation of MAC's commitments to all affected communities and residents.
2. The City of Richfield urges the MAC to complete all the 1996 eligible homes and
multi-family residences without further delay under the same policies that have been in
place throughout the program.
3. The City of Richfield requests that a last and final offer to enter the current
program be made to deferred residents no later than August 1, 2003.
Passed by the City Council of the City of Richfield this 13th day of May, 2003.
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Martin J. Kirsc . yor
ATTEST:
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