Innovative program makes airport a good neighbor

The roar of jets does not have to mean an accompanying roar from airport neighbors.In Madison, Wis., the Dane County Regional Airport (DCRA) found a unique way to overcome the distrust of nearby homeowners affected by the airport.

When a federal noise study was completed in 1991, the airport wanted to do more than ask its neighbors to relocate because of airplane noise. It hired Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, a Springfield, Ill.-based consulting engineering firm, to help it come up with a new approach.

The noise study quantified noise levels and determined measures for decreasing long-term noise and its impacts. Recommended within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved Noise Compatibility Plan was a traditional sales assistance program that would allow residents bothered by airport noise to sell their homes and relocate without fear of decreasing property values.

That program was modified to include a second option in which residents who wanted to remain in their homes could still benefit financially. Eligibility for either option was defined by the 70 DNL (day/night sound level) contour. In both options, the airport received an aviation easement in return for participation in the program.

Bill Flanagan, a planner in the Minneapolis District Office of the FAA, says other airports had tried sales assistance programs. Typically, he says, the FAA allows a refund of real estate agent fees for those homeowners who are tired of the noise and want to move. But the easement sale is a unique twist and something Flanagan had not seen before in the eight-state Great Lakes region.

Dane County Regional Airport Manager Peter Drahn says he, too, was unaware of a similar plan. “We wanted to provide a mechanism to avoid disruption or turnover in the neighborhoods, and provide compensation to homeowners who didn,t want to move.”

Traditionally, $1,500 would have been budgeted for the conducting of normal airport acquisitions proceedings for each of the 300 noise-affected parcels. The value of the easement, as determined by a detailed market study, was nominal since it has no real impact on the property value.

The DCRA concluded that the easement would have a similar impact on all the properties and then applied that value to all 300 homes.

The newly created Easement Sale Option allowed residents to remain in their homes and paid them $2,000 each for use as desired. In exchange, the homeowners conveyed air rights to the airport, which would serve to in form future home buyers of existing airport noise.

Those who chose to move were assisted by the DCRA in receiving fair market value. The neighborhood profile showed that typically 25 percent of those selling homes in that area would choose to sell on their own. In order to give fair exposure to each home, the project team required the sellers to use a Multiple Listing Service Realtor. In return, the homeowners were compensated for the agent’s fees at closing.

A homeowner who did not agree with the first appraisal could arrange for another. If the values varied greater than 5 percent, a third appraisal was held. If the house did not receive fair resale value, the project team paid the difference up to 5 percent of the total.

Extensive studies determined the neighborhood’s socioeconomic profile and home valuations. This was followed by a public-education program, which took into account the specific political, social and economic environment of Madison and laid out the road map for success. Realizing that it was dealing with a perception problem and 1990s anti-government sentiment, as well as public suspicion about why the government would offer money to homeowners, the project team relied heavily on public interaction.

Building trust was the primary focus of public communication efforts that included four public meetings and several subsequent newsletters. Of the 300 eligible homeowners, 185 opted for the $2,000 easement sales. Thirteen chose to sell, and those who chose not to participate will not be contacted further.

The program enabled the Dane County Regional Airport to obtain the aviation easements in only six months, as opposed to the six months per easement that a conventional process would have required. The aggressive schedule included educating the public, enrolling residents, exchanging the agreements and closing the real estate transactions. Funding for the program came from the State of Wisconsin (5 percent), DCRA (5 percent) and an FAA grant to DCRA (90 percent).