Danvers Select Board adopts resolution pressing Beverly Regional Airport for noise, fuel and communication actions amid calls for wider review

The Danvers Select Board voted on April 15 to send a resolution to Beverly Regional Airport management and multiple state and federal offices calling for immediate steps to mitigate aircraft noise, accelerate preparation for unleaded aviation fuel, and establish formal communications between the airport and town representatives. The action follows extensive public testimony and a lengthy Select Board discussion.

The resolution requests measures including stricter flight-path management, restrictions on nighttime flights, noise mitigation technologies and the creation of an advisory committee of pilots and aviation experts to research applicable laws and regulations. The board agreed to broaden the list of recipients to include state legislators and "such other appropriate federal, state, or local officers and agencies as may be relevant," per an amendment suggested during the meeting.

Mark Zubrick and several other residents made extended public comments urging stronger action. Zubrick said the larger problem was ongoing airport expansion: new hangars, increased jet traffic and a master plan that, he said, favored expansion without adequate study of impacts on Danvers neighborhoods. He asked the Select Board to include a request to halt hangar construction and runway expansion until the town receives an environmental impact study assessing air emissions, water and soil impacts, runoff and flooding.

"The biggest issue is all of this happening at the airport and to our neighborhoods is a result of the expansion of the Beverly Airport and the impact on the quality of life in Danvers," Zubrick said. He also asked that the town pursue more Danvers representation on the airport commission and that the town press for a comprehensive environmental review prior to further expansion.

Select Board members said the resolution was the next step in an ongoing engagement with the airport. Several members urged using the resolution to open dialogue and then form an advisory committee to drill into technical questions, while others said the community should be prepared for federal limits on local authority over aircraft operations.

"This is a good first step," one board member said in discussion, adding that the board would form an advisory committee and pursue additional detail in follow-up work. A motion to approve the resolution as amended passed on a 5-0 voice vote after board members confirmed they would pursue follow-up and allow public contributors to help shape the next draft of the document.

Public speakers urged a range of next steps, from an immediate halt to further hangar construction to negotiation for greater Danvers representation on airport bodies. The Select Board directed staff to finalize the amended resolution text and forward it to Beverly Airport management, Governor's offices, state legislators, the Federal Aviation Administration and other relevant agencies, and to convene an advisory committee to examine additional requests from residents.

The board said it would keep the matter active and use the advisory committee to prioritize feasible legal or regulatory steps.