The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, September 17, 2015 | 4 Airplane noise mitigation could be taken by 2016 continued from p.1 vice president of stakeholder relations and communications. "Together with NAV Canada (the private capital corporation which owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation service), the GTAA is considering a series of noise mitigation initiatives that could have a net benefit, but also new impacts on communities across the Greater Toronto Area," she said. "We want to talk to communities across the GTA about what some of those impacts will be, as well as the benefits. Residents of Oakville have been actively engaging with us, whether it is through our noise committee, CENAC, or by calling in to ask questions about noise mitigation, and so we identified Oakville as a community where we wanted to go and hold one of these stakeholder roundtable sessions." The Oakville meeting focused on six noise mitigation options. One option would see NAV Canada design new approaches for aircraft during the night to reduce noise impacts. NAV Canada can also design new departure procedures during the night so planes increase their altitude more rapidly, resulting in less noise for those on the departure path. The capital corporation is looking at increasing downwind arrival speeds from 200 knots to 210 knots. Skyway Jewellers SEPTEMBER 17-20 Noise from air traffic has become problematic for many residents living in the north end of Oakville. Flight paths were changed in 2012 and jets began making a regular appearance on the horizon. | photo by Graham Paine ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) 2501 Third Line rd., OakviLLe www.skywayjewellers.com *FREE CHARM must be of equal or lesser value than $75 CA. In Store Only. Prices before taxes. Valid at participating retailers. Void where prohibited. Not valid with prior purchase. While supplies last. See store for details. 905.827.0700 This will decrease the need for flap use by pilots of larger planes, which should result in reduced noise. Examining new technology to reduce the need for low-altitude levelling by arriving aircraft is another option. NAV Canada and the GTAA are also looking at the possibility of establishing weekend preferential runways. This option would see air traffic, which is less frequent on weekends, use runways whose approach paths have less noise impact on local communities -- giving residents periods of quiet time on the weekend. The GTAA is also looking at alternating its nighttime preferential runways. This means nighttime noise would be shared across more communities rather than concentrated on just a few. Oakville Ward 5 Town and Regional Councillor Jeff Knoll said the meeting was successful. "A couple of their proposals seemed obvious and other seemed a little far- As a Maid Right owner you have my quality guarantee with every clean. FREE Schedule3 3cleans, cleans, Schedule get the 4th free* get the 4th free* *Receive the 4th of four cleans at no charge *Receive the 4th of four cleans at no charge up to $150 value. Not valid on prior services. up to $125 value. Not valid on prior services. Not redeemable for cash. Applies to new Not redeemable for cash. Applies to new customers only. customers only. SM SPECIAL OFFER: OFFER: SPECIAL CLEAN CLEAN 289.809.9823 (XXX) XXX-XXXX localurladdressgoeshere.com Oakville.MaidRight.com Same Reliable Owners Clean Every Visit Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products Color-Coded Cloths Reduce Cross Contamination EnviroShield® Whole Home Disinfecting Strongest Guarantee In the Industry ©2015 Maid Right Franchising LLC. Maid Right and JAN-PRO International are subsidiaries of Premium Franchise Brands LLC. fetched," said Knoll, who is also chair of the Mayor's Advisory Group (MAG) on Air Noise. "Allowing the planes to travel faster and higher is something we have been calling for since Day One... Those two factors would have a fairly decent impact, potentially, on noise in our community for sure." Knoll was less enthusiastic about the option that looked at reducing airplane noise through new technology. He said that would require the retrofit of aircraft and ground equipment and therefore likely wouldn't happen anytime soon. Airplane noise has been a growing issue in the north end of town since February 2012 when a downwind flight path to Pearson International Airport was moved farther south. Knoll said the fact NAV Canada and the GTAA are actually willing to recognize the negative impacts they've had on local communities and are prepared to examine solutions to those impacts represents a massive change in attitude. He is hopeful this attitude shift will translate into some of these solutions to airplane noise being approved and put in place sooner rather than later to raise the qual- ity of life for many north Oakville residents. "Many of our north Oakville friends are really being impacted by the noise and the frequency of the flyovers," said Knoll. "I am sort of skeptical there is a quick solution at hand even though the `faster and higher' thing does look like something they could probably work on faster than maybe they are letting on." Marshall said the next steps would see NAV Canada further investigate and consult with local communities about what the impacts/benefits of making some of these changes may be. "The changes might be beneficial in reducing the noise impact of the operations or there could be new communities that are impacted," said Marshall. "So we really need to make sure we are engaging people in that understanding and their awareness." She said a technical review of these options would take place this fall. Broad public consultations will take place in the winter of 2016. The earliest the GTAA and NAV Canada could initiate some of the changes would be the summer of 2016.