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FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009

Floor Speech

Date: May 21, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Transportation


FAA REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - May 21, 2009)

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Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I'd like to thank Chairman Oberstar and Chairman Costello and the minority members on the committee for allowing this amendment to come before us today.

Every year, the FAA works with local communities and local airports to address and try to remediate noise and safety issues. In my district, that's happening with respect to the Waterbury-Oxford Airport, which has changed over time: a lot more jet traffic, a lot more noise and increased safety concerns for, in particular, a neighborhood, the Triangle Hills neighborhood, which sits in the town of Middlebury.

We are undergoing a process right now to potentially purchase and relocate some of the people who live in that neighborhood. A problem, though, potentially arises in that during the process of notifying the neighborhood and the community about a relocation effort, the value of those homes is going to normally drop. It is standard practice in the FAA to make sure that in assessing the value of those homes that you do not allow for the decrease in value due to the notice regarding a potential relocation. This amendment simply seeks to take that standard practice issued in guidelines to local Departments of Transportation and put it into statute.

This is going to make sure that these processes of relocation ensure that people in the Triangle Hills neighborhood and like neighborhoods around the country get the fair market value for their homes, but also, I think it will allow this program to work more efficiently as it goes forward. I think residents will be much more willing to enter into these type of noise remediation and safety remediation plans if they have some assurance that they are going to get a fair price for their homes.

So I thank again the chairman and the ranking member for working with us on this amendment; and on behalf of the dozens of residents of the Triangle Hills neighborhood, we thank you for allowing us to bring this amendment before us.

I reserve the balance of my time.


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