The often sleepy tone of the monthly meetings for the Cottonwood Airport Commission was punctured by a crowd of guests at the meeting on Sept. 5.
At least a dozen Cottonwood residents from areas close to the airport — Pine Shadows, mostly — attended the meeting, and they brought with them complaints. According to those who spoke at the meeting, the airport has recently experienced an uptick in noise from planes, especially early in the morning, beyond even the expected levels for an airport.
“You’re going to nd there’s quite a vocal group coming forward if no action’s taken,” said Mike Sullivan, a Pine Shadows resident who spoke at the meeting.
The complaints went beyond Cottonwood residents in the immediate vicinity. According to Beth Escobar, planning manager for the town of Clarkdale, numerous Clarkdale residents have expressed their concern to the town government, and were encouraged to attend the airport commission meeting.
“It was so loud we couldn’t get out of our houses,” said Ruth Edwards, another Pine Shadows resident who has been one of the main organizers of the disgruntled group. “I said to my fiancé, we’re going to have to sell the house. Who can live like this?”
Al Gradijan, a former airport commission chair who attended the meeting, spoke up in defense of the airport.
“I’m going to be the bad [guy] here and I’m going to bail out this group because they can’t respond in a public forum,” Gradijan said. “One runway at Prescott’s been closed, and because of that they’re coming here. It’s a temporary deal.”
Gradijan’s assertion is backed up by representatives ofthe Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University operating out of Prescott. According to Parker Northrop, flight depart- ment chair at Embry-Riddle, a runway at Prescott Regional Airport had been closed for most of August, ending on Aug. 24, cutting the ight school to half capacity at its normal home. Embry-Riddle responded by rerouting many of its planes to the other nearby airports, namely Cottonwood, Seligman and Wickenberg.
Northrop estimated that the Cottonwood airport’s traffic from Embry-Riddle tripled in August, contributing to increased noise. The sound was especially noticeable since the school focused its takeoff and landing training at the Cottonwood airport, leading to planes close to the ground.
“Because the Cottonwood airport has a nice runway, which we appreciate, it’s able to handle multiple airplanes at the same time,” Northrop said. “It allows for us to saturate it with three or four airplanes that can all be there at the same time.”
Northrop said the Embry-Riddle pilots obeyed all noise rules at the Cottonwood airport, and went beyond them to avoid takeoffs and landings before 8:30 a.m. in the hope of not bothering nearby residents.
Edwards said even though the time period of heavy traffic that contributed to the high noise levels appears to be over, she wants to ensure changes are made to airport policy that guarantee a livable neighborhood in the case of a future spike in airport usage.
“My motive is to get something permanent on the books so the next time we don’t get pinged again,” Edwards said. “We’ve got to stop this now, or at least make them aware that this is unacceptable.”
Members of the airport commission did not respond to the complaints at the Sept. 5 meeting because of state open meeting laws barring discussion of matters not on the agenda. The commissioners promised to address it directly at next month’s meeting.
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
