City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the Elmer City Council for Monday, February 2nd, 2026. And I'd ask that you please rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance. I rise first. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Tamer, please call the role. Graham, here. Jensen [snorts] here. Toudo here. Baker here. Virgil here. Nardini here. Best here. Herby here. Brennan absent. Bamis absent. Ramis is here. She's on the phone. Is on the phone. Ramis. Ramis here. Bellinger here. Jenko here. No. Present. 13 present, [snorts] one absent.

13 present, one absent. We have a quorum. Well, um, welcome everyone again. We are going to start off with a presentation from the O'Hara Noise Compatibility Commission. Um, [snorts] [snorts] all right. We have Amora Metani who is um the executive director of ONCC. Oh, there you are over there. How are you? And uh Vana Celich from Good evening.

CDA. All right. And Brianna Moyer who is a consultant to someone to you. All right. Welcome. Uh so when you speak the first time, please reintroduce yourself and thank you for coming out and we'll turn the floor over to you. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Um, city manager Gowski invited us to speak tonight. Uh, he mentioned you had some questions and would like some updates on um, air traffic and operations at O'Hare. So, we put together a presentation for you. Um, my name is Mora Elmatani. I'm the executive director of the ONCC of which um, Hurst is a member. Uh, Alderman Baker is your representative. Um we are hopefully you're aware but we're an organization uh we have 61 members municipalities school districts and counties and Chicago wards and we advocate um for noise mitigation and um try to assist residents um to provide relief from the impact of aircraft noise. Uh tonight I have with me as the mayor mentioned uh Vdana Chelik. She's with the Chicago Department of Aviation and Brianna Moyer who's with Langerman Brown. Uh they are a consultant to the city of Chicago to Chicago Department of Aviation. Uh we work very closely with uh the city and with Landerman Brown. They provide te technical support and expertise to the commission and to the city. Um, so they're going to be giving the the updates and um, we're happy to take questions and if you know we can't respond to everything today, we'll definitely follow up with you. And I, uh, left some materials, too, if anybody's interested, just some general materials. And there's a ton of information on our website, ohise.org, as well as um, the city's website, which I know they're going to touch on. So, without further ado, Brianna first. Thank you. Good evening everyone again. Uh my name is Wana Chelik. I'm the assistant commissioner of noise mitigation for the Chicago Department of Aviation or the CDA. Um our section um provides um oversight. Yes.

Can you pull the microphone up just a little bit? Yeah. Thank you. Is this better? Closer. Okay. Sorry. Should I start over? Yeah. Let me introduce you again. No, we're good now. Go ahead.

Okay. So um the Chicago Department of Aviation has a noise section which um is tasked with um managing its noise management programs and projects and like Mora mentioned we work very closely with the ONCC um and the communities that are part of the ONCC on uh noise management issues and Mora asked us tonight to present to you some materials which are pretty broad in scope. Um, but if you have any specific questions, we're happy to take them down and follow up through MOA um, after the meeting. And tonight with me, as Mora mentioned, is Brianna Moyer. She's a consultant with Lenderman Brown. Lenderman Brown provides noise consulting services to the CDA as well as the ONCC. They uh, compile all the technical uh, materials that and reports that we present at the UNCC meetings. And we were asked to specifically uh speak on three topics tonight. One is the O'Hare airfield operations uh construction impacts that might um have an effect on aircraft oper operations at O'Hare and then the future of the fly quiet program. So the first topic as I mentioned is the airfield operations and uh we have two slides on this topic. Uh on slide three which is the next slide. Thank you. Uh we look at the um number of aircraft operations at O'Hare in the year 2005 uh which is past year and um we compared to our baseline which is 2019 which is um the last precoid year. Um and then as you know the years uh during COVID had um um lower much lower numbers of operations but we have mostly recovered and then I'll hand it over to Brianna to go more into detail on this slide as well as the next slide.

Thank you Vana. Um as she mentioned my name is Brianna Moyer. I am a consultant to the city of Chicago department of aviation. My company focuses on airport planning for airports all over the world. Um, so we are very knowledgeable and versed in this topic. Um, as she mentioned, this first graph you're looking at here is comparing 2019 to 2025 month over month. Um, you can see that the red line, our baseline for 2019 is also the highest line on the graph. Um, we have not seen operations at O'Hare reach that peak uh, post pandemic. However, 2025 is the closest we have gotten. Uh you may have seen in the news recently that O'Hare was the busiest airport in the country. Total operations for the year hit 857,39 392, excuse me. Um that's an operation is an arrival as well as a departure. Um it's not just one arrival departure. Each one is counted as its own. So 857,392 total operations in 2025 averages out to about 2,349 operations per day. Um you can see that on the left of the graphic there. That is a 7% reduction in operations from 2019. And although we have seen traveler demand at the airport recover since the CO 19 pandemic, the number of operations has not returned because airlines have changed up their fleet mix a bit. Um they're no longer flying um narrowbody aircraft. The number of seats on aircrafts has increased. Um so now airlines are capable of flying uh more passengers but with less aircraft. So that's why we're seeing this reduction in operations year-to date compared to 2019.

We will move on to slide number four. Um in case you are unaware of how airport operations um are managed, wind is a key factor that influences runway use and operation at the airport. Um, aircraft performance requirements make it necessary for aircraft to take off and arrive into the wind mainly for safety purposes. Um, but the biggest takeaway from this slide is that big red box in the top right corner there. It says the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration decides how runways are used. um that is based on wind and other weather conditions as well as ground conditions um such as runway maintenance or any type of construction occurring on the ground. Um and while the CDA can oversee and monitor runway use, they do not regulate them. Um the FAA and the pilot in command of each aircraft have sole jurisdiction over runway use um accordingly. Only the FAA has authority and enforcement over these issues. Um so looking at this graphic in specific on the left side we have west flow that means that the winds are coming primarily from the west. Um so when we are in this configuration the primary departure runways are departing off to the west. We have 27 left 28 right and 22 left. Um the arrival side they will arrive from the east on 27 right 27 center and 28 center. Alternatively, when we are operating an east flow or when the winds are blowing from the east, uh the primary departure runways that the FAA prefers are nine right and 10 left. The arrival runways, nine left, nine center, 10 center, and 10 right coming in from the west. Um you can see that there are more runways available in east flow. Um that's due to some construction that was occurring on the south portion of the airfield. Um we'll

touch on that in the next couple of slides. Um, however, the FAA usually uses up to three runways at a time for arrivals. Um, there's a couple of arrival combinations listed here on the slide. Uh, there's a couple preferred combinations. Nine left, 10 center, 10 right, 9 center, 10 center, and 10 right. Um, runway use is ultimately not only determined by wind, but it's also determined by demand. Um, the more operations that are occurring in a day, the more runways the FAA's air traffic is going to require. Um, you might see only one departure and one arrival runway used at a time. You could see up to three departure runways and three arrival runways used at a time. It all just depends on the demand at that time of day. And we will move into construction updates. I'll turn it over to Vanna to give a little intro to that and then I'll be back. Okay. I [snorts] want to want to keep it interesting. We switch up. Um, so I'll introduce Brianna on all three topics. So the second topic uh as Brianna mentioned is the airfield construction projects um that impact operations at O'Hare. And um I'd like to just um have everyone keep in mind that this is a topic that Brianna and I are not um experts in. These presentations are typically given by our CDA design and construction co-workers. They're presented to the ONCC twice a year, once in a fall and once in a spring. Um the last presentation was in November. So we're using a slide that was presented in November. Uh we're going to do our best to explain what's happening or what was happening um in 2025 at the airfield that caused um u some construction projects that uh in turn did or did not affect the air traffic. And then I would also like to invite anyone that's interested to attend one of our upcoming meetings of the ONCC at which we will

present um um an airfield construction update again and that I believe is in April or May.

Okay. April 30th. Um okay. So with that Brianna will go into more details on the slide. All right. Thank you Vana. Um so looking at the first project listed here we have the south basin expansion and south conveyance. Um these are projects related to the tap. Uh tap stands for terminal area plan. That is the redevelopment of terminals. You probably saw last summer the groundbreaking of uh concourse D. So with this construction occurring, there's going to be some reconfigurations of taxiways, some construction occurring on the airfield um to make room for this massive project. Um so this south basin expansion project as you can see um involves some closures of taxiways Romeo Romeo and Foxtrot. Um this is an ongoing project as it says on the slide it's going to keep continuing into 2026. However, this project has no impact on runway use. So the slide we just looked at um none of the runway use is impacted by this project. Um, moving to number two, some east taxiway improvements at taxiway Lima Lima. Um, this project was completed in late November and there was some runway use disruption. This project increased departures to 27 left. Um, so you can see on the map there, this occurred just souththeast of the terminals. Um, one of our primary departure runways, 28 right, was impacted by this specific project. Um, so some of the departures that typically occurred on that runway were dispersed across the airfield specifically to 27 left on the north. [snorts] Um, project number three, another east taxiway improvement project at taxiway alpha bravo. Um, this was also completed in late November of 2025. However, this one had no impact to runway use. You can see

where it is on the map, uh, just east of the terminals. Um, so no runway use was impacted. Project four, um, is the Illinois Tollway, I490. Um, this was an approach to 10, right? Um, this involved the construction of the bridge over the future I490 tollway along the west corridor of O'Hare. You can see on the map there, it's southwest. Um the approach light system for runway 10 right was repositioned onto this new bridge. Um so that is why runway 10 right was out of service between May and November of 2025. And then on the other end we had the LOC out of service um on 28 left for arrivals same time period of May to November. So the impact to runway use during that time was some of the arrivals were moved north to runway 9 center. Um project number five is the grade separated road. Um this is a belowgrade service road and surface repavement that will be the future entrance to the ramp um between concourse D and the O'Hare Global Terminal. Um you can see on the map it's right there dead center in the middle of the airport. Um this was probably the most impactful to runway use. This one occurred um this past October and November. Uh taxiway alpha was closed between July and November, but much of the work occurred in October and November when we saw runway 28 right closed for operation. Um so most of the departures were moved up to 27 left. There is a phase two to this project that is expected to be underway between March and November of 2026 and will likely cause similar impacts. Um, as Vana mentioned, you're all welcome to attend the future ONCC meeting where that presentation will be given to all members. And then finally, the final airfield project from 2025 is the concourse D tunnel and hy hydronic pipe.

Um, this is also an ongoing project into 2026. Um, it closed a couple of taxiways there um just west of the terminals. Uh, this had no impact to runway use. Um and then we can move on to the fly quiet program. Vulana will introduce this topic. Um and again I'll be back. Hello again. Um so as you may be aware um in the recent years the O'Hare airfield has undergone extensive u construction and reconfiguration and that project was called the O'Hara modernization program. Um, so we currently operate under an old fly quiet program that uses or that used to rely on uh runways that have been since decommissioned. And we also have some new runways that um that this fly current fly program um cannot use because they were not contemplated at the time it was developed. So it was time for um us to um propose come up with a plan and propose a new fly quiet program. And the CDA has worked extensively with the ONCC over the past years to develop um that program. And what Brianna is going to present to you is um the plan that the ONCC approved um and that the CDA submitted to the FAA for review. Um currently this proposal for the new fly quiet program um is with the FA to determine um the [clears throat] type of u environmental review that would be required in order to um implement this uh program. And uh for those of you who do not know, a flywide program is a nightly uh runway rotation program where we would designate uh a preferred or preferred set of runways for departures and

arrivals. Um and then uh we rotate those every week. And uh the goal is to provide predictability to the communities um around O'Hare and also um provide relief to some communities during those weeks that were not in flight quiet to make it more equitable and distribute the noise equally around um the airport and the program of course is voluntary in nature. So, um, Brianna is going to go over some of the configurations and and the process that we went through, um, in submitting this, uh, proposal to the FAA. Okay. So, as Vana mentioned, the ONCC, they formed a fly quiet subcommittee, um, to assist the CDA in redeveloping the fly quiet program. Um, as she mentioned, the Fly Quiet program is a voluntary overnight program um, aimed at reducing noise impacts during those nighttime hours between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. Um, so some of the goals that the fly quiet subcommittee had when developing this proposal was to establish a rotation plan, alternate between east and west flow, avoid consecutive community impacts, and reduce the use of the primary departure runway 28 right um and going to the east 10 left. Um, so looking at this slide, we have the first six weeks of the 12 um week period. Um each configuration consists of a single arrival and a single departure runway. Um a major feature of this program is that each configuration isolates operations to either the north airfield, um the south airfield or one of the crosswind runways. Um this allows us to not only rotate the runways but the airfield itself providing significant and predictable relief to communities around the airport. Um each departure runway has two different head departure

headings um that allows us to further extend that rotation proposal um to not only includes runways and which side of the airfield but also which direction that the departures take off into. Um and then the next slide is just the second half of that 12week rotation plan. And then I think this last slide I have nothing more. Yeah, it's all the same. Um just the second half of the 12-week rotation. Um I think I hand this back over to Vana, right? Sure. Yeah, I end it out.

Um the this outlines the process that we went through with um the ONCC and the FAA. Um [sighs] so the first step was to gather all the information and then um so we it was a lot of back and forth between the NCC and the CDA uh where we work together to develop and approve the criteria for the new flyquide program. Um so the way that worked um theCC members would propose u an idea and then we would vet that with our consultants at Landerman and Brown. Uh also um the FA was involved throughout the process to also let us know if something that we're contemplating is not feasible. Uh we we developed and approved or developed um a number of alternatives which the ONCC approved um and then we tweaked those alternatives um and then finally theCC um the fly quiet committee made a recommendation. So they took a vote on alternative B3. Yeah. And um they uh then passed that recommendation on to the full ONCC membership for approval. Um the ONCC approved that recommendation and then the CDA packaged that as a request to the FAA. So we took what the UNCCC worked on over the years uh what the ONCC proposed and voted on and then we submitted that proposal to the FA for view and approval. That was approximately 3 years ago. The FAA has since worked with a consultant to um to conduct a modeling analysis to um give us a preview of what the noise impacts might be if this flywide program is implemented. That presentation was um um that material was presented at one of

the ONCC meetings this fall and um upon that presentation the ONCC reaffirmed its commitment to the proposed fly program. Then in turn, the CDA reaffirmed its commitment to the program and it's back with [clears throat] the FA now uh for review and determination of the um um level of um environmental review or NEPR review. And that's the blue box on the right side that's um circled in yellow um that designates that step. Yeah. No,

I just wanted to note that Alderman Bob Dunn was uh the vice chair of the fly quiet committee. So um Hurst was a member of the committee and was very involved. Thank you. This would conclude our presentation and now um we would open it to questions if if that's the protocol that this um body has. All right. Thank you. Um there might be a question or two. Uh any alderman have a Bram.

Thank you and thank you all for coming tonight. I appreciate uh we appreciate you coming out. Um, one of the things that some of my residents, including myself and even individuals, even residents outside of my ward throughout Elmherst, and the alderman, I'll let him speak for himself, but to my left, even commented prior to the start of this meeting that how he being further south than I, um, is also impacted now with O'Hare airplane noise versus previously. [clears throat] Can you speak to how not only Fly Quiet, but just daily operations have changed um from where they are today compared to before? Cuz I know so I'm under 4R22 left and when I first moved here, yes, it was 25 plus years ago. Um but we rarely see any impact on that runway. And when we did, it was all arrivals. It was never any departures. Now, even under the proposed, which we all know is more than likely going to pass, a fly quiet program, it's not only being used for arrivals, but it's also being used for um departures, which at least in my novice mind is significantly worse from a no noise perspective as well as a pollution perspective overall. So, do you have any type of I don't know uh could you do you know on the spot here? I know I'm putting you on the spot. um how things have changed over time with this fly quiet and daily operations versus before because it seems like the runways are impacting more and impacting more of the Elmherst residents.

Um yes, I can speak to that. Um will you flip back to slide number four for me? Um on slide four, we'll see the um daytime runway configurations. You mentioned that you were used to seeing a little bit more arrivals in the past. Um in 2022, O'Hare completed the O'Hare modernization program. They commissioned the final runway in that program. So um that opened up arrivals. I believe it was 9 center 27 center completed in 2022. Um which allowed for arrivals to be moved up north. You can see here um that is one of the primary arrival runways that is available in both east and west flow.

I'm sorry, which one you speaking to? um 27 center and then going the opposite direction 9 center up on the north airfield that was completed and commissioned in 2022. So just a couple of years ago. Um so some of those arrivals that we were seeing on the south airfield you once saw um were able to be moved north. Um that runway is available for any type of aircraft to arrive on. Um and like I said, it's one of the primary arrival runways in whichever configuration we are in. Um, as for the departure side, you can see that 22 left in west flow is one of the primary departure runways. Um, this is all up to FA air traffic. As I mentioned earlier, um, the CDA does not regulate runway use. Um, it just kind of handles the ground situations, any type of maintenance that occurs. Um, there are times, like I said, during the construction update where several runways might be closed, one or two at a time, um, for this construction. Um specifically this past fall we saw 28 right um which is highlighted in green in west flow that was closed for operations meaning that a majority of the operations were shifted north to 27 left. However if demand calls for a second departure runway FA air traffic will prefer to use 22 left. Now this is in west flow. Chicago does primarily see more westerly winds than easterly winds um depending on the season. So the west flow is the dominant configuration we see most of the year. However, going to the east when we're in east flow you see um some of that demand is taken off of 22 left and moved to other runways for departures. I don't know if that answers your question.

May I follow up?

Yes, go ahead. So with that and I do understand that you know even fly quiet right it's a recommendation pilots FAA doesn't have to follow it I I get that but just sticking with the conversation on uh daily operations or daytime I should say operations um before 22 left was not used as a primary runway uh the city of Chicago spent 6 to8 billion billion with a B dollars to do east west configuration runway so how is the 22 to left runway utilized now as a as the safest option when that was never used as I shouldn't say never but it was not as primary as it seems to be today utilized as a um departure runway

sure um so when an arrive arrivals are being used on other runways they can't be used at the same time for departures um so for example we have 27 right 27 center and 28 center all being used for arrival operations. Um the other end of that pavement can't be used for departures. So that kind of narrows down the amount of options that FAA air traffic has um down to 27 left, 2A right, and 22 left. Um I do know that this is kind of a hot topic with the noise commission trying to disperse the runways that are used a bit more away from the south airfield. You can see 28 right and 22 left. Um those are both south. So you might even receive some traffic from 2A right. It is a hot topic as I mentioned. The commission monitors this very closely. Um and they are working on action items to try to disperse some of these departure runways. Okay. Really didn't answer the question, but I do understand where you're coming from. So would it be possible? I'm not I'm not gonna dive deep here, but just a question for 28 right and 10 center. Um, one's you utilized on the west flow, one's utilized as a departure, one's utilized as an arrival. Could are they too close to be utilized both for say departure or both for arrival at the same time?

No. Um, but again, this is an FAA air traffic decision, um, not a CDA decision. So, I would have to defer to the ways that air traffic would decide to fly these aircraft. Um, we can look at some data and see if anything like that has been done in recent years. Um, and we can take your information and staff can get back to you with a little bit more information and details on that. Have anything All right. Anyone else? Alderman Irby.

Thank you, Mayor. [snorts] Uh, again, thanks for coming out. I appreciate that. The fly quiet program is at night [snorts] and I believe we've established and if if I'm wrong, stop me and correct me. Uh, that's at night. It starts at 11, 10,

10 o'clock. So, Flight Quiet is a voluntary program. Um, it basically begins when the pilots and the air traffic begin to uh follow the procedures that were established back in 1997. Some nights it could be right at 10:00 p.m. If demand calls for more runways, it could be later. It could be 11:00 p.m. Um, it changes night to night. Um, however, the FAA declares that nighttime is between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.

Okay. And so that being said, if [clears throat] I'm a pilot and let's say I'm in daytime operations and I'm brand new to the to the to the airline company and uh I I get assigned O'Hare and I depart, before I get in before I can take off, I have to call and get Zulu service for the noticed airmen. I' I've got to look at all this stuff before I take off. And if I'm doing a departure obviously because I'm on the ground. Uh when you look at those procedures, there's this thing called a noise departure abatement program and there's two levels. There's a a European model and there's an American two different designations. And that tells me when I take off that I need to fly a certain angle of attack on departure and at what heading and at what um I don't know about speed, but it's it's all documented in those procedures. And so when I last time I looked in the FAAs for for O'Hare and looked at all the departure plates for each of the runways, there were no noise abatement procedures for departures anywhere to be seen. It just says call this number for procedures. And when I did call that number, no one answered. And I tried about three times to find out if someone would answer that line to tell me as a pilot how I need to depart O'Hare. Um, so I was a little discouraged by that. And so my question would be when do you think the FAA is going to put noise abatement departure procedures into the notice to airmen and it actually becomes a part of the regs and the departure plates for each of the runways at O'Hare. so that when a pilot does get in there, I can hold him accountable or someone can hold him accountable for either fly quiet or daily operations with cuz without noise

abatement procedures, I think we're kind of just swimming in the in the kitty pool here. So, can you elaborate on if how you feel about that? Um, so I can't speak to a timeline that the FAA might be able to implement a new NOTM or put these type of regulations out. However, I can speak to that there are four different forms um of Fly Quiet program delivery that is given to airlines and pilots. Um, the first one is the ADIS, if you've heard of that. Um, the air no automatic terminal information system. Um, it's a continuous broadcast. So um once the airport enters into fly quiet mode that broadcast uh just delivers that um noise abatement procedures are currently in effect. Um so that's one way that it's delivered to pilots. Um there's also noise abatement signs all around the airfield um that specifically say noise abatement program in place between 2200 and 700 hours. Um air traffic control we do stay in contact with the FAA. We track fly quiet, my company, Landerman Brown, we track fly quiet on behalf of the CDA um every single night. We keep track of the departure deviations away from those headings and we do relay that information back to the FAA. The FAA if it's over half a mile consistently that turn they are deviating away from that consistently. The FAA does have training activities that they do with their controllers to get them back to following this noise abatement procedure. Um, and then of course we have the ONCC um public outreach. They um work to track fly like I said. Uh there's fly quiet reports. They do outreach to the airlines and pilots um to kind of keep track of where we are in the current program while we await the FAA's decision on the proposed program.

Thank you. Uh, city manager had a comment. Yes, thank you. U, thanks. Alderman, that was a great question and I feel like I'm at an ONCC meeting right now because this is exactly the discussion that happens. Alderman Baker can back that up. He's been not not to too many meetings yet, but uh this this is exactly what the ONCC does on a monthly basis with the CDA and Landerman and Brown, and they measure that and they report back. And there are good questions like that. Why haven't they been following the heading that they're supposed to? And so it's good to hear that they they do hold the airlines accountable for that. But I I would end with it is always about safety first.

Correct. And I you can't argue with that, right? And and that's what it is. So the pilot and the FAA have final control over whatever runway they choose to use. You have any um Alderman Herby? Can I have a F? Is it okay to have a follow-up please? Um, so what the way I understood it is that once we put or the FAA puts the data into the modeling system, that's what determines the 65, what is it? DNR, the DNL, the the pattern level. Did I get that right? DNL, DNL, DNL,

DNL. And there was a big study for the last 20 years to try to get the DNL lowered from 65 to 63 or something or let that play out and it didn't fly, pardon the pun. Um, and so we're still at 65. So my question would be once we get to this final configuration or you know this is iteration B, right? We're in uh did I get that right? BB alternate B3. Obviously, there going to be I'm just pretending there might be an alternate C3 or C1 down the road, whatever that is. Has this already been modeled to that? What is it again? D

DNL DNL

DNL 65. Has that been done? And we know that that's going to take with the FAA or we're waiting for that 65 DNL model to come out of the FAA. And apparently that's the only thing that matters from what I hear is what that modeling says. No matter what our sound meters say in Elmherst or Bensonville or or around the airport at the at the known recorded sites. Apparently those don't feed into that model. The only thing they put in the model is the actual flights, the duration, the body, how much fuel, the passenger load. They take the actual historical data for that whole year, dump it into that model, and that's what we get for that sound geographic picture, a map, and that's what decides all the money and everything. Is that a is that a fair presentation or summization of that?

Um, yes. If you want to go two more slides ahead. Um, and maybe you want to finish your question and then I can answer all of it. Thank you. Mhm. Yeah. This slide. Is that is that a complete question? She's asking if you have a question. Is that the complete question or did you have more to add? I think that's the question. I think I've exhausted my detailed question. So, that'll be enough. Thank you.

Um, yes. So, Fly Quiet, as you could see on this kind of process map, um, the Fly Quiet proposal is still with FAA review. Um that would include like you're stating um it could include a noise modeling analysis. Um ultimately the goal would be to have a new noise contour that 65 DNL. Um but again that is FAA review. Um we can't speak to when it could be done. Um could be done this year, could be done, who knows. Um but you were mentioning that the 65 has been under review. That is correct. There was the noise reauthorization or noise

the noise policy review. Um they were looking for public comments I think within the last year or two. Um and they were still in the process of reevaluating that 65. So like you mentioned that could drop lower. It could stay at 65. It just determine it just depends on what the FAA determines when they review everything all the data. Um but ultimately yes we are almost there with flight quiet. Um just waiting on FAA to review and determine what the appropriate process the NEPA National Environmental Policy Act um process will require to determine the noise impacts from this program. Thank you.

All right. Um we'll just maybe do two more questions because we have other business to get on to. Alderman Hill. Thank you, Mayor. Fairly brief question. Do you know if other uh airports have undergone a similar process with between the communities and the FA FAA? And if so, how long if they completed their process? How long was the review period? How long did it take if it was adopted if we know that?

Yeah. I mean, the FAA works closely with communities and airports across the country. I can't speak for a program that is anywhere near close to what Chicago has done with Fly Quiet. I think that this is kind of a special case here. Um I think the FAA even refers to uh the ONCC and the FAA's relationship with the CDA and the ONCC as the gold standard. Um so you would hope that since they view us that way, they would kind of work with us, which they have. Um putting together this entire proposal, making sure that it was feasible. Um, you would hope that movement would keep going on with this program. They haven't forgot about it. Um, there's a lot of stuff that happens in the background. And you want to add to it?

I was just going to say we are in regular contact with them, like very regular contact. So, we are definitely communicating with them and monitoring the process, but we're just waiting for it to play out. And there are kind of standards for the type of environmental review that's determined. So there's like a cat X is the lowest. That would be like the least amount of review. The next step would be an environmental analysis. That would be kind of in between. And then the highest level would be an environmental impact study um statement. Sorry. Uh we we don't know what what they would choose. Um so we're just kind of waiting to find that out. Yeah.

Thank you. Just quickly, historically, while we don't have data from um what other airports the flyw quiet programs that they may have initiated, but we have pre previous experience with our current flywide program and the O'Hare has undergone um uh an environmental um all three categories that um that Moa just mentioned. So that process can take um anywhere from 6 months to 3 years typically. Okay, you have one more. Alman Bram,

thank you. And I don't know if anybody here can answer this, but I'm going to ask it anyway. So, metrics and the use of the metrics, right? Calling the number in regards to noise abatement or noise concerns from airplanes um or utilizing the website because I think this is run by CDA. So, I I don't know if anybody can uh respond to this. Are those metrics used at all? How are they used now that we're almost at the end of the fly quiet proposal with the assumption that it'll, you know, pass the environmental standards? Um, are is that going to continue? What essentially what I'm asking is what's the point of these are residents calling in and is is that data being used somehow?

Um, I think you're asking about like the complaint data that they submit through 311 or like the website. Um, yes, the CDA does reach out to the top three noise complainants about once a quarter. Um, so there is outreach done. The ONCC also has an inquiry form which we recently just redesigned. Um, there's a lot more fields to really narrow down the types of questions and concerns that residents have. Um, I highly recommend you take a look at it. We try to keep up with that and respond within just a couple of days. Um, I think Mora can attest that residents are pretty happy just to get a call back. um that's mainly what they're looking for is just to hear someone and talk to someone and kind of understand why my house, right? Why is it flying over my house? So, um we do talk to residents almost on a daily basis. Um try to hear them out and try to get them the help that we can provide within our means.

But could you provide an example of what that help would be? I mean, you're not going to prevent right the airplane or airplanes from going over their house. So, what's other than a sounding board, and I'm not trying to trivialize this, right? But other than a sounding board, it doesn't sound like the metrics overall. I'm not saying individual phone calls or or submission forms. Um, I'm saying the data overall. It doesn't sound like that's currently utilized or really ever has been utilized. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm just trying to understand because it's kind of interesting that it's on the onus of the homeowner, property owner to call when obviously FAA, CDA knows where their planes are going overhead. Um, and obviously that will impact the property owners, albeit commercial or or or private homeowners. Um, so it's kind of interesting to me and that's why I was always curious on how is that data utilized if at all. So I think what you're asking in relation to the residential sound insulation program, right? Like is that data does that data impact the residential sound program? Is that what you're referring to?

I'm just asking in general. Yeah, because the sound installation program is all based on that 65 DNL. So I understand that piece. And I know Elmherst has never been anywhere close to entering the 65 DNL because of the overall average, right, of that decibel level. Since we're impacted heavily one day and then not the next day, it's not going to reach that 65 DNL. And that's as Alderman Irby stated, that's where that should, in my personal opinion, should be lowered because 2, three days out of the week, you can be impacted severely, but then because you're not impacted the other two, three days, it's not as bad.

Yeah, I can maybe speak a little bit to that. As Mora mentioned, um, one of the ways we provide a real, um, noise mitigation to the to the homeowners or residents residents surrounding the airport is residential sound insulation program. And like you said, there are uh, federal metrics that are set forth for to determine eligibility for that program. And the CDA has sound insulated over 12,000 homes around O'Hare and a bit over 10,000 homes around Midway. So in total over 22,000 residences were sound insulated to date. Um, and we have to use objective criteria, right? Uh, and somebody's complained, you could you could consider a subjective, right? Annoyance is subjective. Um, [music] and I'm not saying that to dismiss anybody's experience, but we do have to um use objective criteria to provide any um any noise remediation. And also because we typically receive um federal grants for um these programs, we also then have to follow very strict federal guidelines for determining eligibility for these programs

then and I definitely agree with that. But then how come there's never been a sound meter in the city of Elmherst under 422L?

Uh if the city of Elmherst would like to request a sound noise monitor, we we would cons take that uh request in under consideration. Also, in the past, I'm not sure if there was a request for a long-term portable noise monitor which could be deployed for three months if you want to test it out. So, there's an application that MOA could um send you that um the city could complete and then we could deploy a noise monitor temporarily and in the meantime we could work together to possibly install a permanent noise monitor. But that also to what Mora is getting at is um the the actual noise u measured by these noise monitors is not used as a basis for sound insulation. uh to Alman Herby's uh point, the modeled noise that's usually a result of um an environmental review such as a fly quiet or a project that that's happening on the airfield um like the terminal area plan or the O'Hare um modernization program would be um where we would model noise to project the noise that uh would occur in the future upon completion of that project. Typically that's used as a basis for sound insulation. So those noise monitors would not qualify anyone for for noise mitigation.

So then there's no point in the sound monitor noise monitor. I mean it does record data, right? We report on it and it's it's used to validate the noise contours. It's used for information and also assigns a number to people's experience also. Thank you. All right. Um I'm going to conclude this presentation by thanking all three of you ladies for taking time out. I think it was quite informative. Uh sometimes we forget uh the complexities of uh the this uh program. Uh so um with that we'll close it off. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll move on to receipt of written communications from the public. Uh is there any member of the public that has a written communication that he or she would like to deliver to the council? If so, please raise your hand. Seeing none, we'll move up on to public form. Clerk Tamer, has anyone signed in for public forum? All right. No one has signed in for public form. And is there anyone in the public who would like to make public comment but did not have an opportunity to do so? All right. We'll close public forum announcements. Oh,

yeah. I we need a meter for that. All right. Um is uh are any announcements from the dis? Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. I believe uh clerk tamer, please read the consent agenda. [clears throat]

6 6.1 Executive session minutes of the regular meeting of the Elmer City Council on January 20th, 2026. 6.2 minutes of the regular meeting of the Elmer City Council on January 20th, 2026. 6.3 accounts payable February 2nd, 2026. 3,464,93321 6.4 appointment to the economic development commission Chris Leanti chair and Paul Kaiser vice chair 6.5 reappointment to the fire pension board one second um ladies by the way you don't have to sit through all this unless you're getting college credit for it but otherwise we will not feel rude if you take leave thank you again all right clerk tamer

thank you thank you

6.6 Six report CA case P1 meta motors conditional use for pylon sign and variations 459 and 463 South Spring Road. 6.7 report motor fuel tax general maintenance section resolution 6.8 report North York Street Sidewalk Improvement Project phase 2 engineering services contract amendment 6.9 an ordinance amending section 7.2000 entitled water service charges adding section 7.2 205 entitled phosphorus fee and renumbering subsequent sections of article four entitled rates and charges of chapter 7 entitled water and sewers of the municipal code of ordinances of the city of Elmherst Illinois. 6.10 an ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of the first amendment to the redevelopment agreement by and between construction inc and the city of Elmherst Illinois. 6.11 ordinance approving and authorizing the execution of a non-exclusive license agreement by between the St. Patrick's Day parade committee of Elmherst and the city of Elmherst, du page and Cook counties, Illinois. 6.12 um a resolution approving the Elmherst improvement and renovation business grant for Sparkscent Collective located at 128 North Addison Avenue. 6.13 a resolution to adopt the DUP page mayors and managers conference 2026 legislative action program. 6.14 a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a professional engineering services agreement between the city of Elmherst Illinois and Baxter and Woodman Inc. for the 2026 computer management maintenance software assistance project 6.15, a resolution authorizing the issuance of a notice of award [clears throat] and contract for the 2026 sanatorial sewer lining and manhole rehabilitation project number 26-15 for the city of Elmherst, Illinois. 6.16, a resolution authorizing the issuance of a notice of award and authorizing the execution of a contract for the 2026 sanitary sewer cleaning and

televising project. 6.17, a resolution authorizing the execution of change order number three for the water reclamation facility bundle number five, improvements project. 6.18, a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of a professional construction engineering services agreement between the city of Elmherst, Illinois and Baxter Woodman, Inc. for the 2026 sanitary sewer, a manhole rehabilitation project. 6.19, a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of the Illinois Department of Transportation resolutions for maintenance under the Illinois Highway Code for the Motor Fuel Tax Appropriations for the general maintenance sections for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024. In 6.20, a resolution approving and authorizing the execution of the first amendment to the contract by and between the city of Elmherst and a Maritimemp Belt Limited for the rental of a chiller for the police department. All right. Thank you, Clerk Tamer. Is there any item on the consent agenda that any alderman would like to remove either for further discussion or to vote against?

All right, then. Clerk Tamer, please call the role. Bram, I'm sorry. We need a motion to adopt the consent agenda. Alderman Nuda with a motion. Alderman Virgil with a second. And now, please call the role. Bram, I. Jensen. Hi, Tudo. I Baker. Hi Nudara. Hi Virgil. Hi Nardini. Hi Vasto. Hi Herby. Hi Brennan. Absent. Sorry Vimis. I Ellinger I Shenko I Hill I 13 I's zero nays one absent.

13 eyes zero nays one absent. The consent agenda passes. Onto reports and recommendations of elected officials. 7.1 Mayor 11. Um, couple things. Uh, the neighborhood traffic study number 7 uh will be uh kicking off with an open house on next Monday, February 9th from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. here at city hall. That's the northeast portion of Elmherst. So again, that would be Monday, February 9th, 4:36 p.m. Um, I also wanted to uh note uh that you had on the consent agenda today that uh we have installed a new chairman of our veterans commission and I want to acknowledge that Ralph Pachanio was one of the founders of that commission. He served on it uh from 1993 uh at the request of the veterans of the who were in the city, the city itself and the park district uh with the original intent to look after the construction and uh care of our veterans memorial. Uh he then went on to serve as the chair of that commission from 1993 to 2026. So um many many years of service and within that time frame he was also um a chairman of the board of the Elmer's Chamber of Commerce and Industry. So uh we thank um Mr. Pachanio for that uh run of service and that's among other things he's done in the community. Uh this morning I had the pleasure of swearing in a new fire lieutenant Zack Russ Savage uh who will uh is now assuming the duties of a lieutenant. So, congratulations to him. Um, and that is all I will have for today. City manager.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, at your places tonight, you see there's an Elmharst America 250 pin. Uh, that is part of the celebration that city staff and, uh, others in the community, school district, library, park district, uh, a lot of groups have been putting together. Uh, this pin is our official logo and designed by our own communication staff member, Molly Arnold, and I appreciate all her work and everyone's work on that. Thank you, mayor.

All right. Are there any other reports and recommendations of elected officials? And is there on to item 8, other business? Is there any other business to be brought before the council? Seeing none, may I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion by Alderman Bellinger, second by Alderman Shenko. All in favor say I. I. I. Oh, wait a second. Do we need a roll call because Jennifer is on the probably because she is uh remote. Call. Yes. Roll call. I think Graham. Hi. Jensen. Hi. Tuludo. Hi Baker. Hi Juda. Hi Virgil. Hi Nardini.

Hi Vidito. Hi Berby. I Brennan absentis I Bellinger I Shenko I Hill I 13 eyes zero nays one absent 13 I's zero nays one absent we are adjourned thank