Flight path changes good news for Delta, says NAV Canada

SANDOR GYARMATI sgyarmati@delta-optimist com

It’s a great news story for Delta

That’s according to Frederic Gagnon, Operations Manager for NAV CANADA, during a presentation to city council on March 27, providing an update on proposed new flight paths and landing approach procedures for aircraft arriving at Vancouver International Airport (YVR).

The Vancouver Airspace Modernization Project (VAMP), initiated in 2018, will see changes to aircraft flight movements over residential neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland.

The goal of the review is to prepare for projected future aircraft movement growth, balancing the needs of stakeholders while sustaining improved safety, he said.

In collaboration with the Vancouver Airport Authority, NAV CANADA’s airspace review’s focus included mitigating aircraft noise impacts over Delta by shifting aircraft approaches away from more populated areas

A member of the YVR Aeronautical Noise Management Committee, the City of Delta requested during NAV CANADA’s stakeholder input, that aircraft routing be shifted to areas such as oceans, highways and industrial and commercial areas.

No changes are proposed for departure routes or aircraft operating under visual flight rule, however Gagnon said scattering the departure noise is considered better for communities, as opposed to penalizing certain neighbourhoods.

“Unfortunately, we’re not changing that 3 a.m departure that’s going to go over the Pacific. This project was designed more on the approach phase with less focus on the departure phase That doesn’t mean in the future we won’t be looking at departures. We actually made a conscious decision not to touch departures because we had the opportunity to implement that same sort of very precise departures, but we felt, along with our partners at YVR, that departures are the big- gest noise generator,” he explained.

“If you implement very strict departure gates, that means that point with the most noise, you’re sending the planes over a single point every time, which means the people living under that single point will eat all of that noise, versus today where the departure routes are very scattered.”

Noting the changes will also see more utilization of GPS and other navigation services, Gagnon said one of the highlights in the noise reduction plan is use of continuous descent procedures

Gagnon said a report detailing NAV CANADA’s recent public consultations is now being prepared. Some adjustments may be implemented to address public feedback. The changes would be implemented by late fall or early winter.

According to an earlier City of Delta report, the aircraft approach route and other changes should result in either no noticeable increase in current aircraft noise over Delta or even improvement over areas

Sandor Gyarmati

sgyarmati@delta-optimist com

The City of Delta has not formally adopted a “15-minute city” plan but that doesn’t mean aspects are not already part of the city’s ongoing initiatives.

That was the staff response to a recent letter to council from a resident opposed to the idea of Delta adopting such a policy, a form of urban planning aimed at having residents being able to walk or bike to work or access groceries, healthcare, education and other services in an approximately 15-minute walk or bike ride.

While the concept has been talked about for a few years, Delta has not adopted the policy as part of its community development and planning

However, there are many aspects in Delta’s Official Community Plan, Community Energy Emissions Plan, Cycling Master Plan, among other plans and policy documents, that support compact and complete communities along with improving cycling and walking infrastructure, the staff memo explains.

Staff are also working on an update to the energy and emissions plan which included public consultation and surveys to get the public’s views on reducing community- wide GHG emissions, staff added

The Climate Action and Community Livability Advisory Committee in 2021 discussed the concept during its review of the city’s plan at the time to update Delta’s plan.

A recent Research Co and Glacier Media survey asking Canadians about the “15-minute city” found that only 33 per cent of the country’s residents say they had heard of the concept. When Canadians were asked if they support or oppose the “15-minute city,” 63 per cent were in favour, while 16 per cent were against it and 22 per cent were undecided.