By James Pilcher
and Brenna R. Kelly
Enquirer staff writers

Sisters of Charity Marty and Geraldine work in a garden in Delhi Township as an airplane passes overhead. The Enquirer/MEGGAN BOOKER

Nancy Macenko and neighbors (from left) Steve Seger and Joe Henkel, his son Alex, 2, and wife, Tina, are bothered by the noise of airplanes flying over their Miami Heights neighborhood. The Enquirer/MEGGAN BOOKER

HEBRON - An study into nighttime noise at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport will continue even though DHL will cease major operations here in late 2005, airport officials said Friday.

But those officials still have no idea what to tell the public about what to expect once the late-night and early-morning flights stop, when DHL consolidates its hub in Wilmington in September 2005.

"We can't go to the public and say that after 16 months, there will be no noise," airport spokesman Ted Bushelman said following a two-hour meeting of airport executives Friday to discuss the noise issue.

"It is not the practice of this airport to give false hopes to the public," he said. "We just don't know what is going to happen."

Even so, DHL's announcement last week lifted the hopes and spirits of Nancy Macenko and her neighbors in the North Bend neighborhood of Miami Heights, who wrote several letters pleading with DHL to move north.

"I think we all share some concern for the people that could lose their jobs," said Macenko. "But when the decision came, there was dancing in the streets."

Many residents throughout western Hamilton and Boone counties have long complained about the noise created by DHL, which operates nearly 50 flights a night between midnight and 5 a.m. at the airport.

Those complaints came because of the hours of the noise - many of those interviewed cited 4:30 a.m. as when they are normally awakened - and because some of DHL's planes are older and noisier.

"I have no love lost for DHL leaving the airport," said Gary Ziegelmeyer, who lives in the Grandview section of Parlor Grove in Hebron. "There have been times when they actually rattled the windows.

"But I am smart enough to understand the impact the airport and all the surrounding businesses have on the economy - they are subsidizing my property tax."

Solutions sought

The possibility that DHL would consolidate here and increase noise after 12 a.m., and an overall increase in late-night flights, prompted the airport to begin a $1.2 million, 18-month noise study this spring to come up with possible solutions to lower noise levels.

The study was considering three scenarios: if DHL were to consolidate here; if DHL were to keep the status quo with flights at the local airport and Wilmington; and if DHL were to leave for Ohio.

"We've always said we would look at what would happen if DHL left, and so that will be the new focus of the study," Bushelman said.

But while the study will continue, Bushelman acknowledged that airport officials don't know what to plan for 10 or even 20 years in the future. One possibility includes another air cargo company moving in and buying DHL's facility, which cost DHL $220 million and only opened last August.

And DHL says it will keep the building in place as a backup hub, meaning there could be noisy nights a few times a year.

That doesn't worry Sean Wells of Hebron, who moved into a house close to the airport 21/2 years ago.

"I'll worry about it when it comes to be," he said.

Wells is just excited about the prospect of more sleep, since passengers "don't fly in the middle of the night."

Growing despite noise

According to the most recent Census data, airport noise hasn't deterred growth in either Boone or western Hamilton counties.

In the first six months of this year, nearly half of all takeoffs, the noisiest operation at the airport, were to the west, over Boone County. Yet the Boone County area around the airport saw population growth of more than 14 percent between 1990 and 2003, and the county is one of the fastest-growing in the state. The area farther south of the airport, where a third of the departures occurred, did see shrinkage of up to 7 percent, however.

Another 17.2 percent of this year's takeoffs occurred to the north on one of two north-south runways - yet parts of western Hamilton County also have seen population growth up to 14 percent or more in the last 13 years.

Some feel that those numbers will go up even higher, now that DHL is leaving.

"Miami Township is the last place in Hamilton County that's still developable," said Steve Seger of Miami Heights, who lives in Macenko's neighborhood. Seger wrote a letter to DHL, asking the company to move.

His co-workers joke that "all you West-Siders have runway lights on your roofs ... I know a lot of people leaving Delhi (Township), specifically because of the noise."

Those interested in learning more about existing flight paths or wishing to register a noise complaint can call the noise abatement office of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport at (859) 767-7020. Complaints and comments can be filed 24 hours a day. They can also be filed by e-mail to noise@cvgairport.com. Information about the ongoing Part 150 noise study can be read at Web site.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com or bkelly@enquirer.com