John Scarffe, Peak to Peak. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been investigating a new flight path system from airports in the Rocky Mountain Front Range, including flights over Nederland and Gilpin County. On January 24, 2020, the FAA released an update on the environmental assessment and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision (FONSI/ROD) for the DEN Metroplex Project.

Peak to Peak and Boulder residents have been noticing an increase in air traffic in jets from DIA due to changes made to the flightpath, and Gilpin County residents are upset about it. A large number of residents concerned over the matter attended the Tuesday, December 10, 2019, regular meeting of the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners, when the Board discussed the Commissioners’ Letter to the FAA regarding Denver Metroplex Flight Paths over Gilpin County.

Since then, Gilpin County residents’ complaints about the new flight proposals have received publicity in Denver 7 News, the Denver Post, Westword, the Register-Call and other media. 

The Metroplex Program Team uses data collected in the study phase to re-design flight paths and update procedures to increase efficiency and improve operations, according to the website. The proposed Denver Metroplex Project would allow for more direct and efficient routing of aircraft into and out of Denver and surrounding airports; thus enhancing aviation safety and reducing flight delays. 

The proposed Denver Metroplex Project is a federal action under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Denver Metroplex Project would improve the efficiency of airspace in the Denver Metroplex area by optimizing aircraft arrival and departure procedures to and from various airports, including the Denver International Airport, Centennial Airport, Greeley-Weld County Airport, Northern Colorado Regional Airport, Buckley Air Force Base, the Front Range Airport and the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.

The Project may involve changes in aircraft flight paths and altitudes in certain areas, but would not result in any ground disturbance or increase the number of aircraft operations at any of the above airports, according to the project website. The FAA was required to prepare an Environmental Assessment to document the potential environmental effects from optimizing aircraft routes while departing from or arriving to the Denver Metroplex area and completed the Final Environmental Assessment, which was released on November 18, 2019, for public review and comment, which closed on December 20, 2019. 

The FAA reviewed all comments on changes made from the environmental assessment drafts and on the FAA’s process and preliminary determinations before making a final decision whether to implement the proposed Denver Metroplex Project.

At the December 10 Commission meeting, Commissioner Gail Watson said she held conversations with neighboring counties to ascertain what their position is on the Denver Metroplex. Boulder County suggested that the Metroplex flight lines move south, which puts a target on Gilpin County, according to a Mountain-Ear article on December 19.

Watson makes a case that the summits and peaks along the Continental Divide would amplify the sound, mirroring Boulder’s concern of amplification of sound from the Flatirons. “Gilpin has very little ambient noise. We don’t have an interstate,” Watson said, so would the sound tests be valid here? 

The County should focus on NEPA section 106, Watson said. It’s about protecting historic places, and we’re familiar with that because of the East Portal Workcamps. The county is filled with historic properties and areas, so one of my actions has been to contact Judge Jackson and J.R. Lapierre with Lincoln Hills because they have some interest in turning that into a designated landmark, and flights would be pretty much right overhead. 

Gilpin County Resident Donna Okray-Parman represented the public at the meeting. She spoke about how the FAA’s website states that the FAA would meet with counties that had concerns, but that hasn’t happened here in Gilpin. Okray-Parman’s case is that these counties already have a lot of ambient noise and aren’t as affected by it as much as Gilpin county, which prides itself on a peaceful, rural way of life.

“Flights used to be fanned out. Everything got their fair share of it, but now the FAA Metroplex is going to stop the fanning of flights. We in Gilpin County have six air traffic highways right over us.” 

Okray-Parman also brought up several examples of complaints before and after a Metroplex was implemented. San Diego had 158 complaints in their noise division before Metroplex implementation. 

In 2015, after announcing the implementation, they had more than 4,000 complaints, she said. In 2016, they had 31,716 complaints after only implementing phase one. In 2017, 72,000 complaints were logged and in 2018, 125,000 complaints. “This is bad for Denver. This is bad for Colorado,” Okray-Parman said.

Despite the concerns of Gilpin County Residents, on January 24, 2020, the FAA released an update on the environmental assessment. The FAA has prepared a Final Environmental Assessment (EA) to assess the potential environmental impacts of the Denver Metroplex Project (DEN Metroplex). 

“This notice announces that based on the information and analysis contained in the Final EA and after reviewing the comments received on the Final EA, as well as comments related to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the FAA is issuing a Finding of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision (FONSI/ROD) for the DEN Metroplex Project.

“The FONSI/ROD documents the FAA’s determination that the DEN Metroplex Project, as proposed, would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment and that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is therefore not necessary. The FONSI/ROD documents the FAA’s decision to proceed with the preferred alternative detailed in the Final EA.” 

The FONSI/ROD and Final EA are available at http://www.metroplexenvironmental.com/denver_metroplex/denver_docs.html. For additional information, contact: Marina Landis, Federal Aviation Administration, Operations Support Group Western Service Center, 2200 S 216th St., Des Moines, WA 98198-6547, phone (206) 231-2238.

Electronic copies of the Final EA and supporting materials including all Section 106 historic preservation materials are available online at the Project website:

http://www.metroplexenvironmental.com/denver_metroplex/denver_introduction.html, and electronic versions of the Final EA have been sent to 78 libraries in the General Study Area with a request to make the digital document available to patrons. A complete list of libraries with electronic copies of the Final EA is available online at the Project website link. 

For more information on the Denver Metroplex Project, visit https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/communityengagement/den/.