City of Offenbach hopes new noise limits will mean fewer building restrictions

The City of Offenbach is not hoping for a reduction in noise, but it does hope that the noise cap for Frankfurt Airport announced by the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy and Regional Development will make urban planning easier and have a positive impact on urban development. As Airport Director Paul-Gerhard Weiß reported to the city council at its last meeting, this instrument will not reduce noise, but it will not allow it to increase as it has done up to now. The intention is to cap it at around the level of 2014, when 470,000 aircraft took off or landed in Frankfurt. Should this noise cap actually be imposed "legally hard", this could have an impact on various construction restriction zones in Offenbach.

Currently, the building restriction zones are based on an assumed 701,000 annual aircraft movements and the aircraft noise calculated from this. It was originally assumed that traffic would reach this level in 2020. Now the ministry does not expect this to happen until 2035, but due to technical progress, quieter aircraft and more modern flight procedures can be expected by then. Compared to the original noise forecast, lower values of 1.8 decibels could be stipulated. The intention is therefore to reduce the area of highly affected areas - i.e. areas with a daily continuous noise level of at least 55 decibels - accordingly. This area coincides with the so-called day protection zone 2.

As a result, large parts of the city area are likely to fall out of the existing "noise protection zones", says Mayor and Head of Building Horst Schneider happily: "This is a unique opportunity to revise the injustices of the building restrictions within the so-called noise protection zones," he concludes. He points out that more than two thirds of the city has been under a noise carpet since the construction of the north-west runway and falls into so-called "protection zones", in which the Aircraft Noise Protection Act imposes building restrictions - for example for schools, kindergartens, retirement homes and other public facilities. This impairs urban planning. In addition, a settlement restriction area has been defined in the regional land use plan due to the assumed noise development, which hinders the designation of residential areas. According to Schneider, this would also have to be adapted, i.e. reduced in size.

"If the upper noise limit becomes legally binding and the targets are met, the noise protection zone with a 55 decibel continuous sound level during the day would have to move significantly to the west at the next review and parts of the urban area in the east and north would be exempt from the building restrictions," Weiß is also convinced. This could reduce the disadvantages of urban development, but it would not solve the noise problem.

According to Offenbach Airport Director Paul-Gerhard Weiß, the noise cap is "a step in the right direction", which the local authorities have always called for. In addition, dense residential areas must be relieved of aircraft noise, "and in such a way that it is noticeable for those affected. The relief must not only be visible in the simulation programs of noise physicists". In addition to technical progress on the aircraft, the faster implementation of new flight procedures with significantly higher overflight altitudes and the definition of noise-reducing flight routes are also essential. According to Paul-Gerhard Weiß, the aim must be to ensure that the limit and threshold values of the Aircraft Noise Protection Act are observed in residential areas, even without passive noise protection.