TagBeacon Hill(20)

The Beacon Hill Community Noise Team is a Seattle resident group that documented excessive noise pollution from Sea-Tac and King County airports, as well as road traffic, across 52 neighborhood sites in 2018. Their measurements found that more than half of recorded noise levels exceeded FAA mitigation thresholds, Seattle city ordinances, and EPA public health standards by up to 800%. The group is calling on local, state, and federal officials to take action, citing compounding health and socioeconomic burdens already faced by Beacon Hill's nearly 40,000 residents.

In summer 2018, Beacon Hill residents partnered with University of Washington researchers to measure noise levels at 52 locations across Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood over several months, collecting 136 separate 24-hour measurement periods. The study found that the neighborhood is heavily affected by aircraft noise from three nearby airports — Seattle-Tacoma International, King County International, and Renton Municipal — with Sea-Tac arrival flight paths directly overlying the area and King County International Airport runways located as close as a quarter mile away. The project represents the first quality-assured, community-led noise dataset of its kind for Beacon Hill, and was designed to inform future research into the health impacts of airport noise on residents.

The Beacon Hill Seattle Community Noise Team, a group of neighborhood residents working with the University of Washington, has been documenting the disproportionate impact of Sea-Tac Airport aircraft noise on their community. Building on decades of prior advocacy—including a landmark April 2000 report by Citizens for Aircraft Noise Equity—the team highlights that official noise impact assessments still rely on mathematical models rather than actual measured data. Beginning in October 2017, they launched a citizen science effort to conduct systematic, long-term noise measurements throughout the Beacon Hill neighborhood, with a focus on health effects and impacts on children's learning.

A Beacon Hill resident submitted scoping comments in September 2018 regarding the Sea-Tac Airport expansion, raising concerns about air quality, airplane emissions, noise impacts on children's health, traffic congestion, and environmental justice for communities of color. The commenter requested studies on health effects for nearby residents, better public outreach to non-English-speaking communities, and neighborhood noise monitoring equipment. She also expressed frustration about cost overruns on existing airport projects and the limited accessibility of the public open house held at New Holly.

The Beacon Hill Seattle Community Noise Team recorded aircraft flying over their neighborhood on August 13, 2018, capturing both video and real-time noise levels using a handheld noise dosimeter. Nine videos from that afternoon show aircraft passing overhead between 12:22 PM and 12:37 PM, with a still image from 12:22 PM displaying a reading of 77.8 decibels on the dosimeter. These recordings were compiled as community evidence of aircraft noise impacts in the Beacon Hill area near Sea-Tac Airport.