We, the founders of this site, are long-time (37 year) residents of West Plymouth. We have no political agenda. We are simply your neighbors, fighting to preserve our community. We have lived within a mile and a half from the Plymouth airport with no issues for 35 years. In the last two (2) years, something has changed. We have been affected by an increase in multiple flight schools repetitively circling over our home on any given day. The planes seem to be flying at lower altitudes than ever before and are consistently louder, disturbing our peace and quiet in our backyard and even inside our home. And now, the jets are flying over our home at all hours of the day, and the proposed 351 ft. runway extension is all about accommodating private luxury jets. You won’t know how this will impact you until you feel it. They also discuss in the Airport Master Plan, the potential of adding a 24-hour fuel kiosk, which would increase traffic in the middle of the night. Let’s not wait to find out what that feels like.
The increased traffic and fuel sales will only help the airport make money, with no consideration to the inevitable negative impact on the residents lives. It’s important to note that there has been no study related to the loss of real estate values around the airport and how that will have to be picked up town-wide. There was no study of the perceived economic development generated by the airport runway expansion and if that would be far outweighed by the loss of real estate value. The loss of income for the town would have to be made up town-wide through higher property taxes.
In Spring of 2024 we learned from a neighbor of the plans already underway (since 2022) for an extension of Runway 6/24 that runs parallel to South Meadow Road. This is the runway that flies over the most heavily concentrated noise-sensitive residential neighborhoods in West Plymouth and Carver. We were shocked, as you may also be, that there was very, very limited publication of the extension or notices to the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.
We immediately began attending Airport Commission meetings every month explaining our existing intolerable conditions of noise, low-flying planes, circling training planes, increased jet activity and most recently the super mid-size private luxury jets. We expressed our concerns of any runway extension with our already troubling conditions and asked why this was necessary. We were told it was for safety as they repeatedly claim. We later learned that the 351 ft. increase (to a total length of 5,001 ft. is directly and specifically related to expanding the capacity of the airport to accommodate the private luxury jets, that minimally use our airport now, but that will change with the additional 351 ft. extension. There are so many reasons why this additional 351 ft. has the potential to increase the volume of the luxury jets and how they will have a negative impact to everyone’s quality of life forever. We were driven very early on by the lack of transparency and the dismissive attitude we all received from the Airport commission and manager on anything related to the runway extension or any complaints related to the current conditions to the neighbors of the airport.
Many residents soon lost confidence that the airport commission and manager were looking out for the residents. We believe, priority one and the main responsibility for the airport commission and manager should be looking out for the benefit of all residents and that is why we believe they were chosen by the Selectmen. They are supposed to be the “stewards” of our small hometown airport and they are supposed to be protecting us. Their main responsibility should not be for the benefit of a few people and a few businesses at the airport.
As stated by the FAA, the runway, as it stands today, IS safe for the smaller planes and the existing luxury jets that are under current extreme weight restrictions.
Along our journey to figure out what has been going on with our airport and what we can do about it, we have met incredible neighbors, activists and members in and outside our community who have been, and continue to be, very supportive. Many are experiencing the same or worse conditions than we are. All have the heart and enthusiasm to be a part of change. For that we are immensely grateful.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to share what we have learned and continue to learn about the reasons behind the proposed airport runway extension. We hope to inspire more of our neighbors and the entire town to get involved to stop this expansion before it is too late. We would love your support and involvement. Let’s come together as a community and be a part of the decisions being made that impacts our homes, property values, but most importantly our quality of life and that of generations to come.
Ongoing research reveals that there are several negative environmental impacts to neighbors surrounding small airports including, but not limited to; air quality, noise quality, soil contamination and particularly for us, threats to our sole source water supply. We have found multiple articles that support these threats to our health and wellbeing. We hope you will take the time to explore our site and educate yourselves on these issues. We appreciate any support in this fight! Small steps add up.
