Ahead of F-35s, questions about who will foot the bill for soundproofing

Less than two months before a fleet of F-35s arrive at Vermont’s Air National Guard base, officials from South Burlington and Winooski believe that Burlington should continue to shoulder the financial burden of mitigating dangerous noise for the 2,640 homes expected to be newly impacted by the arrival of the next-generation fighter jet.

Yet as a new noise mitigation program comes to fruition — and recently released noise maps show a tripling of affected homes — Burlington officials have made no concrete promises to continue this financial support once the F-35s touch down.

Burlington owns and controls the Burlington International Airport, where the Green Mountain Boys take off and land, despite it being located in South Burlington. This means that the Queen City is the only entity that can apply for noise mitigation grants through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Historically, Burlington has secured this money and put up the necessary matching funds, generally 10%, to help buffer airport noise for surrounding communities.

Winooski and South Burlington officials estimate F-35-related soundproofing efforts could cost $6.4 million annually, which they say would put significant financial strains on their small city budgets.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2019/07/29/ahead-of-f-35s-questions-about-who-will-foot-the-bill-for-soundproofing/