Tweed opponents hold forum to voice concerns

EAST HAVEN — Neighbors and opponents of Tweed New Haven Regional Airport again voiced their concerns and frustrations over the airport and its expansion plans, this time at their own forum Tuesday night.

“Tweed Talk” focused on Avelo Airlines' growing service at the airport, as well as plans for a new terminal on the East Haven side of the airport and a runway extension.

The airport sits in both New Haven and East Haven.

The forum, held at Hagaman Memorial Library and on Zoom, was organized by 10,000 Hawks, a volunteer group committed to preserving the coastline and wetlands and maintaining the health of the neighborhood, mainly focused on the Tweed expansion, saw more than 67 virtual attendees and roughly 120 people in the library.

State Rep. Joseph Zullo, R-East Haven, and Andrew King, who works in communications for Avports, which operates Tweed, also attended.

Group members raised issues including pollution, wetlands and flooding, noise and vibrations, and economic impacts.

Gabriela Campos of New Haven spoke about the environmental impact assessment being conducted as part of the expansion plans. If the community wants to have a voice in the process they must speak up now, according to Campos.

Campos encouraged all attendees to write letters as part of the process.

“Usually, the people that write letters to the EA (environmental assessment) are not people like us,” Campos said. “We're democratizing the process and that's what's really exciting.”

Some complaints concerned sound and vibration reportedly from the airport, with some residents reporting cracks in their walls from the loud sounds of planes overhead and vibrations.

The federal Aviation Administration uses a day-night average sound level, also known as a DNL, to reflect “a person's cumulative exposure to sound over a 24-hour period, expressed as the noise level for the average day of the year on the basis of annual aircraft operations,” according to the agency. “FAA has adopted DNL 65 dBA as the threshold of significant noise exposure, below which residential land uses are compatible,” according to the agency site.

According to Campos, some East Haven residents have reported higher readings.

Lynne Bonnett, who spoke about issues with the ozone and particulate matter, both of which she said could negatively affect health, said some residents have complained about odors of jet fuel, as well as pollution and asthma issues.

Bonnett, who was chosen to be on Project Advisory Committee for Environmental Assessment, said 10,000 Hawks tried to get the airport to partner with them to apply for a grant to get monitors along the perimeter of the airport to see what neighbors are exposed to, but the airport did not agree.

“The air monitor that the EPA process is using is three miles away and it's upwind so it's not going to pick up the pollution from the airport,” Bonnett said.

Lorena Venegas spoke about wetlands and flooding issues in town, urging people to write letters to the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees wetlands on the federal level, and the Environmental Protection Agency in hopes those agencies can funnel information to the FAA.

Venegas also spoke of concerns related to water runoff from the airport area and how wildlife could be affected.

She asked where that water would go, and alleged that the distribution of endangered plant species and their density had not yet been studied.

“Are you going to be putting in water holding tanks like we do in these developments on Hemingway or at a mall?” Venegas asked. “But if you displace water, you need to put the water somewhere else. Are you going to carry it through Morris

Creek and are those tidal gates good enough? Are you going to create a pond because water once you move water, it's going to find a way around and that's what's happening here, so we have a gap of information.”

In addition to quality of life issues, East Haven resident Patrick Rowland said while local officials tout economic benefits of the airport such as jobs, they are ignoring negative economic effects such as lower home and property values.

Following presentations by members of the volunteer group, residents spoke about their issues concerning the airport, including how low the planes fly by their homes, questions about zoning, pollution and where the local representation was.

An organizer introduced Zullo, who said his number one priority is East Haven residents' quality of life.

“I think somebody made the analogy earlier about buying something; you don't go and buy a car without doing the research,” Zullo said. “I'm not going to buy anything 'til we know the facts, 'til we have all the information, because nobody else would so why would we?”

Zullo added that he does not have the documents people are looking for and that the airport does, but he said residents deserve and need to have the information.

“I will start reaching out to (Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon) on a regular basis to find out what what information requests are not fulfilled and why they're not fulfilled,” Zullo pledged. “I'm happy to try to be a vessel for anybody who needs information to try to get that.”