Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

Archive for the 'noise' Tag

CHOPPERS INCOMING BUT FORT CARSON PROMISES PEACE AND QUIET

February 29th, 2012, 4:35 pm by

A UH-60 Black Hawk takes off in Gypsum in this March 28, 2011, file photo by Christan Murdock.

 Last week, the Army warned that a helicopter brigade will arrive soon at Fort Carson to begin high altitude training before deploying to Afghanistan.

It’s routine for units to visit Fort Carson for two or three months to practice touch-and-go landings and other things with their choppers.

This alert, though, came with an invitation which caught my eye.

Anyone who encounters unreasonable noise was invited to call Fort Carson.

Army officials say they are serious about enforcing their “Fly Neighborly” program on visiting brigades and especially when a new combat aviation brigade is established next year at the post with 113 helicopters.

“Soldiers need to train,” said Dee McNutt, Fort Carson spokeswoman. “But we need to be good neighbors, too.”

That means keeping helicopters within established flight corridors as they zip up Ute Pass and Gold Camp Road area to train in the Pike National Forest, or as they fly down the Highway 115 corridor to visit a couple dozen recently approved Bureau of Land Management sites near Canon City, or as they head over to the Pinon Canon Maneuvering Site northeast of Trinidad.

It means keeping the choppers at minimum heights to avoid buzzing cattle or campgrounds or neighborhoods and unduly upsetting folks.

Follow this link to the Army’s environmental assessment of the Combat Aviation Brigade and the impact of locating it at Fort Carson. It discusses noise issues in chapter 4.4 beginning on page 67.

Longtime Colorado Springs peace activist Bill Sulzman

One skeptic is Bill Sulzman, a longtime Springs peace activist who opposes military expansion in the region and has campaigned against the permanent chopper bridge.

Sulzman doubts the Army’s sincerity, or their ability to control pilots, when it promises to mitigate noise.

“I think it’s lip service,” Sulzman said, noting that Fort Carson is under pressure to avoid upscale neighborhoods like the Broadmoor as well as Cheyenne Canyon State Park just west of the post.

UH-60 Black Hawk trains in Eagle in a March 28, 2011, gazette file photo by Christian Murdock.

But McNutt insists her community relations office works hard to reach out to neighbors to solve noise issues. And it stands ready to respond to future issues related to the helicopters.

“We have a lot of helicopter units come through,” she said. “Sometimes issues may arise. If we’re flying over people and it’s causing difficulties, we want to know about it.”

She said neighbors experiencing chronic noise often are invited to the post to meet with the unit to describe what they are hearing and try to solve the problem.

It’s especially important for neighbors to speak up as the permanent new aviation brigade settles in at Butts Army Airfield, McNutt said. Once pilots learn the region, she predicts a great relationship.

“They’ll know the flight corridors better and it will be easier to work with our neighbors,” she said.

In the meantime, jot down the number — 719-526-9849 — and don’t be shy about calling.

Fort Carson Butts Army Airfield

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MANITOU RESIDENTS TELL CHAIN SAW ARTIST TO BUZZ OFF

January 26th, 2011, 1:46 pm by

What is happening to Manitou Springs?

I know it has nice new sidewalks, curbs and gutters.

And rubber tomahawks are giving way to shops devoted to olive oil.

And beautiful lofts and townhomes are replacing creekside shacks.

But you can’t run a chain saw along Manitou Avenue anytime you want anymore?

Say it ain’t so!

Bill Fee, owner of the Nature of Things Chainsaw Art gallery, said neighbors are trying to ruin his business by making him muffle his saws.

But it is so, says Bill Fee. He says Hippy Mayberry, home to fruitcake-tossing, coffin-racing, drum-beating, live-and-let live folks is no longer welcoming his art.

He faces a Feb. 28 deadline to meet strict noise guidelines or he risks losing the business license for his Nature of Things Chainsaw Art  gallery.

The Nature of Things Chainsaw Art gallery on Manitou Avenue in Manitou Springs.

Here’s a look at Fee in his shop.

Bill Fee uses a propane torch to add color to a carving of a bison in his Nature of Things Chainsaw Art gallery as his shop cat, Taboo, wanders along.

Fee said one neighbors is responsible for the attack on his business. He said Thomas Lundgren is rallying other neighbors to complain to City Hall.

Lundgren doesn’t deny it. He’s outraged Fee has been allowed to create an “open-air manufacturing process” on the site. He notes Fee has several apprentice carvers who keep saws running daily.

He describes it as “heavy industry” not art. It’s loud, dirty and not compatible with the commercial zone where it exists or near homes like his, which is about 500 feet away, Lundgren said.

Visible beyond the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce, through the trees, is the home of Thomas Lundgren, who organized neighbors to demand City Hall enforce noise and nuisance laws against Bill Fee and his Nature of Things Chainsaw Art gallery. Neighbors say Fee often ran chainsaws seven days a week, well into the evenings, and made the peaceful enjoyment of their homes impossible.

Here’s a letter Lundgren wrote explaining his position.

Fee said he’s complied with every request of neighbors and the city to reduce his noise. He 0nly saws 10-5, Monday through Friday. No more weekends or holidays.

He has moved his sawing operation to the side of his building, behind a wall and huge bales of hay and underneath a tent he constructed to muffle the noise.

Bill Fee explains all the steps he's taken to muffle the noise of his chain saws to appease neighbors upset about the buzzing and whining.

Bill Fee has erected a tent beside his building, built walls, stacked bales of hay and used foam to muffle the noise of his chain saw carving.

Several neighbors I spoke to say they are happy with the changes Fee has made. La Rita Mason and Lucy Mills, among others, said they don’t want his business jeopardized. As long as he sticks with the Monday through Friday, 10-5 schedule, they are satisfied.

Other neighbors, including Ken Healey and Janice Montoya at the Briarhurst Manor, praise Fee for everything he’s done to accomodate their business. For years, Fee has shut down his saws when they are having weddings or other events. All it took was a phone call, Montoya said, to quiet the saws so guests could enjoy a romantic dinner on the patio.

Dan Folke, city planner, said he has no choice but enforce noise standards in the face of neighbor complaints.

Fee said he has to carve — put on a show — to attract customers. And he can’t do his job with small, electric-powered saws. They just don’t cut it.

Here’s a video of Fee’s gallery and here’s another video of him in action.

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