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Aircraft noise has become such a problem for Atherton resident Mary Wheeler that she “cannot carry on a conversation in my house,” she told the Atherton City Council recently. “It’s so bad it has a detrimental effect on our quality of life.”

One idea that the council thinks should be considered in dealing with aircraft noise: give rebates to residents who install double-pane windows to dampen the noise.

Atherton Mayor Rick DeGolia will send a letter with complaints and suggestions to a San Mateo County governmental association looking at airport-related issues.

The letter to the City/County Association of Governments will constitute the council’s comment on the Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan, a report that serves as “a framework for reviewing significant proposals for further airport development,” according to City Manager George Rodericks.

The council met Sept. 2 to discuss its comments. In addition to the rebates, council members said the county Board of Supervisors should hold public meetings on airport impacts, and the letter should put Atherton on record as disagreeing with noise measurement standards.

By Dave Boyce

By Dave Boyce

By Dave Boyce

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13 Comments

  2. We live near an airport. We also live near the train tracks and 101; does that mean we should get rebates for the noise created from these transportation corridors? What about noise from schools, fire stations, ball fields, etc.

    While I empathize with the increased amount of noise, it is one of the side effects of living in a growing suburbia. There are also more cars on the road than 25 years ago. Atherton and Menlo Park are not the same communities they were even 10 years ago.

    If you want to see substantial growth (and not in a good way) look at our neighbor to the north and see how many new condo units are being added……do they call this progress?

    Time to move to the country!

  3. What a joke. Too loud? Seriously? With all those leaf blowers, clanging gates and train horns?

    re: rebates – iirc, CA offered rebates for energy efficiency all through the 70’s and 80’s. Hard to imagine an Atherton home didn’t take advantage of those, but such is the rough life in A-town, living so far out in the country and all…

    Just someone looking for hand-outs.

  5. I then wish a “rebate” for windows for the 40 minutes of leaf blowers almost DAILY…
    Let’s see….. Monday its my gardener, Tuesday to my right, Wednesday to my left, and Friday across the street for well on an hour (4 acres)….. oh and Thurs behind me…not to mention the constant BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP of construction vehicles for hours all around me. Not the train though…..love the sound of the train late into the night… 💗 it’s soothing form a mile away.
    I have NO peace in my backyard for any length of time. Give me a 30 second “fly over” of an airplane anytime👍

  6. we ALL should be getting rebates for enduring the destructiveness of Obama being president. He is absolutely destroying not only the US, but the entire world is in an upheaval. he is number #44 for a reason. we ALL should be getting rebates and even that is not enough to rationalize his lack of leadership.

  7. @ Mary W – No, we don’t want to pay for your double-pane windows. At various times, rebates have been available both from the state of CA & later from PG&E. Hard to imagine that you can’t speak over airplane noise if your windows are closed. How do your gardeners affect your neighbors when they blow leaves?
    Next, let’s take on noisy pool heaters? I hear my back & side neighbors’ heaters but I don’t ask them to chip in for new windows.

  9. re: “[Part removed. No one in the story is quoted as saying that he or she wants rebates for double-pane windows.]”

    Title: “Aircraft noise: Should residents get rebates for double-pane windows?”

    Huh?

  10. Perhaps one of the wiser souls who inhabit this Board can clear this up:

    If a government appropriates part of my property, say to run a highway through, my property will be of less value. The government is, by the principle of eminent domain, obligated to compensate me for the loss in value.

    If a government runs a highway *above* my property, I will need to disclose the noise nuisance when I try to sell. This will put off some buyers and will reduce the value of my property.

    How are these different?

  11. It obviously bothers Mrs. Wheeler enough to show up to a council meeting and register a complaint. Not easy to do knowing the feedback she would receive.
    Let’s give her the respect she deserves.
    If you want to make a complaint and ask for action for leaf blowers then go ahead and go to a meeting and make your case but don’t dismiss her.

  12. I do wish people would stop assuming that it is only the wealthy residents of Atherton who are affected by airplane noise. Certainly rebates for windows would help, but it depends on how much the rebates are. The ‘un’wealthy among us would probably still be unable to afford the double or triple pane windows needed. If we could have afforded them with the earlier rebates, we’d probably have installed them then! Further, for those of us who enjoy sitting outside on a warm evening, we’d still have to deal with the greatly increased noise. As for leaf blowers and such, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think they are allowed late in the evening or at midnight, or 5:00 A.M., or indeed before 8: A.M. Those who consider noise to be the price of a good economy should also consider the negative effect of noise on people’s health and attendant loss of productivity.
    For a start, I’d like to see/hear planes go back to their original flight paths. (Oh dear, now I’ll get a lecture from PC.
    Mary Wheeler does not deserve to be sneered at just because she wants the peaceful enjoyment of her home. Mary, thank you for speaking out.

  13. It seems to me that double-pane windows are already in the Atherton building code. So what’s the fuss? Anyway, I find they do little to make a noise-muffling difference. A lot of to-do about nothing!

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