I have read about the noise level at the Vernon airport. I have also read the rebuttals that are obviously written by people who use that same airport trying to protect what they consider is their personal area. They say the airport was there first.
Fine, it was there first. But in the 1930s, owning and operating an airplane was a rich man’s luxury and there were very few planes or pilots around and no noise to speak of.
Nowadays, these pilots don’t just take off and fly away. They hang around the immediate area, hanging over your heads for hours on end.
They are conducting business at the taxpayers’ expense.
They ruin your right to the quiet and private enjoyment of your property and home. Lunch or dinner on the deck is impossible because of the loud noise level.
Try being woke up in the middle of the night because two or three helicopters are swooping 500 feet over your roof, charging off to clean the rain off some farmer’s cherry orchard. It literally shakes the plates in the kitchen cupboard.
Everyone who lives within a mile of that airport suffers from the noise level generated by a small handful of people who are using that airport to conduct their business. After all, it’s cheaper to use Vernon in comparison to Kelowna.
Mayor and council are obviously trying to keep these valid noise complaints under raps and in doing so, have created a growing number of disgruntled taxpayers who are angry about the city’s lack of interest or contempt for these valid complaints.
I contacted the federal Department of Transport and was told it’s the city’s responsibility to quiet airport noise.
I would suggest you figure out a way that the airport can co-exist with the surrounding taxpayers.
D. Moorhouse
Vernon