Strong majority of residents desire improved balance between adjacent neighbourhoods and city’s vital economic, transportation, and recreational asset
For immediate release.
OSHAWA, ON – November 22, 2021 – Oshawa Member of Parliament Colin Carrie today released the results of a wide-reaching survey concerning aircraft-related noise levels at the Oshawa Executive Airport undertaken by Mr. Carrie’s office earlier this year.
The survey’s release coincides with recently-concluded airport-area noise studies and this week’s City of Oshawa-led virtual consultations on Draft Proposed Noise Abatement Procedures for the Oshawa Executive Airport.
“It’s clear that a majority of Airport-area residents want a substantial reduction in flight-school related noise in the near term. It’s also clear that a strong majority of residents – in the immediate area and beyond – continue to value the Airport and believe it’s an important economic, transportation and recreational asset,” said Carrie.
“As Oshawa’s MP, I too am a stakeholder. I will have a role to play in advocating for our city’s residents and Airport stakeholders with the federal regulator, Transport Canada.”
The survey confirms that the majority airport-area residents – about 80% of whom have lived at their homes for a period of 5 to 25 (or more) years – have genuine concerns about the increase in the level and frequency of noise attributable to Airport-based flight schools, particularly over the past two to three years. Over three quarters of respondents had not previously engaged in any Airport consultations.
Importantly, 1,137 (90.5%) of all valid Oshawa-based responses were received from individuals living within a 3km radius of the Airport.
“I’m grateful that so many residents took the time to provide fair-minded comments. I hope their feedback will make a positive contribution to the City’s consultation and help all parties achieve a resolution. We need a balanced solution that secures our airport’s future as a vital economic, transportation, and recreational asset.”
“In the near term, I will continue to advocate on our City’s behalf with the Airport’s federal regulator, Transport Canada. Should there be a need to amend current federal regulations or develop new parameters to support noise reduction, I will support those efforts at the federal level,” concluded Carrie.
The City of Oshawa has invited residents and Airport stakeholders to provide input on the Draft Procedures until 12:00pm on Monday, November 29, 2021. City-led virtual workshops examining the Draft Procedures take place tomorrow, Tuesday, November 23, and Wednesday, November 24 2021.
Oshawa residents and Airport stakeholders are strongly urged to participate in these discussions by signing up at: https://connectoshawa.ca/AirportFeedback. Importantly, resident and stakeholder feedback will be used to refine the Draft Procedures where appropriate, ahead of formal presentation to Oshawa City Council and, ultimately, Transport Canada.
About the survey
During the week of May 18-25, 2021, Mr. Carrie’s office sent survey invitations to 15,385 households (which accounted for 31,502 individuals of voting age) within the Airport’s catchment area (i.e.: the area bounded by Stevenson Rd N to the West, Taunton Rd to the north, Harmony Rd N to the east, and King St to the south.) Additionally, the survey was advertised to residents within the catchment area via social media during the week of June 15-19, 2021.
A total of 1,317 survey responses were received. 32 (2.4%) of those responses were deemed invalid due to: 1) incomplete or unverifiable individual/address information; or, 2) obvious fraudulent attempts to influence the survey results (i.e.: multiple responses submitted from the same individual using different e-mail addresses, unverifiable individuals or household addresses, etc. 1,285 (97.5%) of 1,317 responses were deemed valid and, as such, form the basis of this analysis.
1,255 (97.6%) of the 1,285 valid responses were received from individuals residing within the City of Oshawa. 30 (2.3%) valid responses were received from non-Oshawa residents including: Bowmanville (2); Columbus (2); Courtice (1); Hampton (1); Orono (1); Pickering (1); and, Whitby (22).
1,183 (92.1%) of the 1,255 valid Oshawa-based responses were received from individuals residing in the Oshawa federal electoral district (i.e.: that portion of the City of Oshawa lying south of Taunton Rd. 72 (5.5%) of valid Oshawa-based responses were received from individuals residing in the Durham federal electoral district (i.e. the neighbourhoods of Northwood, Samac, Windfields, Kedron, Taunton Columbus, or Rural Oshawa).
- 30 -
Downloads
- Full survey report (1.73 MB.pdf)
- Data tables (225 KB.pdf)
- Publishable comments (687 KB.pdf)
- News release, November 22, 2021 (225 KB.pdf)
For further information
Rhonda Gorham, Office of Colin Carrie MP
[email protected] | 905.440.4868