Plans to adjust flight paths so fewer planes fly over certain Kitchener neighbourhoods have been put on hold.
Officials at the Region of Waterloo International Airport had suggested the changes in a spirit of “neighbourliness”, but overwhelming negative response from the public forced a rethink.
“We had lots of feedback – 95 per cent of it was negative, so we really had to have a second thought,” airport general manager Chris Wood tells CTV News.
The proposed plan wold have seen aircraft diverted over neighbourhoods in Kitchener’s south end, instead flying past less populated areas in Cambridge and North Dumfries.
Residents in those areas didn’t warm to the idea, and pointed out that a significant amount of residential development is planned for their neighbourhoods over the next few years.
“Some new information came to light about new building in Cambridge that would basically negate all the benefit that we had hoped for,” says Wood.
“They didn’t want it to be in their neighbourhood and felt we were pitting one community against another.”
Geoff Lorentz, a regional councillor who sits on the airport’s noise management committee, says the airport will continue to look at ways to minimize aircraft noise over residential neighbourhoods.
“Our mandate is to try to take noise away from neighbourhoods if we can. We’ll continue to do that,” he says.
Any changes to flight paths must also receive approval from Transport Canada.
