On Oct. 25, 2004 the Tucson City Council passed a change in land-use codes, and adopted the recommendations of the Joint Land-Use Study (JLUS) for Tucson. This action was a political move to demonstrate to the Military's Base Realignment and Closure Committee (BRAC) that Tucson was taking concerns about urban encroachment around Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (DMAFB) seriously. The JLUS set forth hypothetical noise contours and accident potential zones at the northwest and southeast ends of DM's runways that extend into residential neighborhoods. New churches, day cares, and schools will not be allowed within these high noise and accident potential zones. New homes and additions to homes in these zones require soundproofing at the owner's expense. The high noise zone now extends into the Broadmoor-Broadway Village Neighborhood (as well as Arroyo Chico to the south).

So why are midtown residents upset by the implementation of the JLUS by the City?

•  Tucson's neighborhoods had no representation in the JLUS process, though businesses, developers, and DM were well represented.
• Midtown residents were told that the JLUS changes would not affect them.
• Despite a unanimous recommendation by the Tucson Planning Commission and substantial public outcry to postpone acceptance of the JLUS until neighbors' concerns could be addressed, the City Council accepted the JLUS changes to the land-use code more than a year before zoning action was required by the State Legislature. Citizens' concerns were ignored.
• The number of homes in the high noise and accident potential zones increased from 1,500 to 8,000 with adoption of the JLUS.
• The hypothetical noise contours of the JLUS do not accurately reflect the levels of noise that citizens in midtown experience.
• The hypothetical noise zones reflect plans for louder planes to be stationed at DMAFB in the future.
• Citizens living within and outside the hypothetical noise contours are experiencing unacceptable levels of aircraft noise from DM operations.
• Citizens and business owners are concerned about loss of property values, increase in rental properties, and a general pattern of community disinvestment in and around high noise and accident potential zones.
• Citizens are concerned about negative impacts on their health and safety in and around high noise and accident potential zones.
• Scientific studies have shown that exposure to loud aircraft noise can cause increased levels of stress hormones in children and adults, which can lead to high blood pressure and heart problems including heart attacks.
• Excessive noise affects reading levels and long- term memory of school children because children can't hear new sounds correctly.

In addition, the City and County have planned development to surround DMAFB on the south and southeast. It is already surrounded in the north, northwest, and east.  What is the likelihood that DMAFB will be a viable airbase when it is completely surrounded by urban development?  If the example of Oceana AFB in Virginia Beach is any indication, the Air Force would recommend closure because it could no longer maneuver safely in a crowded urban area.

Because of the MC3 mediation process, those of us who were not represented in the original JLUS process have the opportunity to make known our concerns and provide input into how the City of Tucson and DMAFB can coexist in this rapidly growing area. More  information on the issue is at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MC3_solutions

or www.tucsound.com Broadmoor neighborhood opinion survey results and noise measurements are at WWW.BBVNA.COM 

Latest Update on the MC3 

Over the past several months, two subcommittees of the MC3 (Land use and DM operations) have met about once per week to devise recommendations that address noise reduction, health and safety, land use around the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, improved communications between DM and the community, and other issues. After considering public comments from the upcoming May 17th meeting (see box), these recommendations will be sent on to the entities that can potentially implement those recommendations (i.e., Department of Defense, DMAFB, City of Tucson, Pima County, etc.).