Thank you for your consideration for my re-appointment as the LJCPA’s representative to the San Diego International Airport’s Air Noise Advisory Committee (ANAC). I have been a La Jolla resident for 15 years and became involved in aircraft noise issues several years ago after the adoption of new commercial airplane paths and procedures created by the 2017 NextGen/Metroplex, which created new “superhighways in the sky” and routed departures closer to La Jolla and Pacific Beach, and arrivals directly over La Jolla. These changes led to an exponential increase in noise complaints lodged by La Jolla residents to the San Diego International Airport. As an interventional cardiologist, I have a particular interest in the well-documented effects of aircraft noise and pollution on cardiovascular health. In 2018, I co-founded the community organization, Quiet Skies La Jolla, to help promote smart growth: i.e., airport expansion to support our growing local economy, combined with robust and meaningful mitigation efforts to reduce the noise that results from this expansion. Quiet Skies La Jolla, along with other residents, successfully lobbied the airport administration to expand the ANAC to include a representative from La Jolla, the seat which I currently serve in.

These past two years have been critical ones at the ANAC and for La Jolla. We crafted several proposals to modify flight paths and procedures to reduce noise exposure across San Diego that could be acceptable to the FAA, which has very strict rules for such modifications. As the La Jolla representative, I worked with both independent noise consultants and the airport consultants as well as other stakeholders from our neighboring communities to ensure that our residents’ interests were front and center. To that end, La Jolla was successful in getting a proposal submitted to the FAA that would redirect nighttime aircraft to turn west over the ocean before proceeding Northwest near our shoreline; if approved the FAA, this should provide some relief to La Jolla residents who are impacted by the high volume of flights that are sent north from the airport after 10pm. Furthermore, we were successful in getting FAA approval and implementation to route south-turning flights further off-shore before circling past Point Loma, which may provide some relief to La Jolla as well.

There are several issues at the airport over the next few years which will be critical for the La Jolla representative on the ANAC to monitor on behalf of La Jolla. First, there is an ongoing problem with east-bound flights vectored directly over La Jolla. These low-level overflights are supposed to fly directly over the ocean after takeoff and then turn south at high altitude around the southern tip of Point Loma. However, they are often directed by air traffic control, particularly after 10pm, to instead turn north and fly at low altitude right over residential La Jolla (including Bird Rock, Lower Hermosa, Upper Hermosa, La Jolla Village, the Muirlands, and Soledad Mountain). I will continue to ask for accountability from air traffic control and the FAA to understand why this is happening and hope to create a formal process to prevent these “early turns” from occurring. Second, I will continue to follow and advance the airport’s Flight Path & Procedures recommendation to the FAA to fly north-bound planes further from the La Jolla’s shoreline during night time hours. Finally, even without the ongoing terminal expansion, commercial aircraft operations at San Diego International are projected to markedly increase in the coming years. This will cause substantial strain on the airport which is already the busiest single runway airport in the United States. The La Jolla ANAC representative must continue to ensure that the community’s voice – and interests – are heard clearly and loudly. If reappointed I look forward to representing the LJPCA, and our residents, for the next term.

Sincerely,

Matthew J. Price, MD

Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory

Scripps Clinic

La Jolla, CA