potrero view

April 2009

University of California, Mission Bay Helipad Virtually a Done Deal

Lisa Tehrani

Helicopters have lately been on the minds of many Dogpatch, Mission Bay, and Potrero Hill residents. With the idea of a helicopter landing pad, or helipad, floated at San Francisco General Hospital, and another helipad proposed to be sited on the yet-to-be constructed University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Mission Bay Medical Center, helicopters may soon be in the air somewhere close-by.  

The Mission Bay Medical Center, which is scheduled to open in 2014, will consist of a 289-bed hospital serving women, children and cancer patients. The helipad would be used for hospital-to-hospital transports of patients – particularly children and pregnant women – suffering from critical conditions.  It’s proposed to be located on the rooftop of one of the outpatient buildings, approximately 140 feet above ground.  UCSF expects to average 1.4 helicopter transports a day, with as many as three transports on busy days.

The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared for the proposed helipad found that the facility would induce significant environmental impacts, principally due to noise.  As a result, UCSF prepared a Supplemental EIR (SEIR), which included a residential sound reduction program (RSRP).  The noise study contained in the EIR relied on two different metrics. The first showed that helicopter noise would be contained on the hospital site and the adjacent campus. The second indicated that noise impacts would spill one block south of the Medical Center, covering an area roughly between Mariposa, 18th, Illinois and Indiana streets. Using that data, UCSF developed a contour map showing the extent of the helicopter noise under two scenarios.

Under the RSRP, mitigation funds would be made available to residential property owners who are located within an area two blocks past the larger contour. UCSF estimates that roughly 250 residences are located on the blocks touched by that contour. The funds could be used for sound reduction measures, such as acoustical windows and doors, weather stripping, skylight insulation and ventilation improvements, as determined on a case by case basis.  Those funds would be available only if noise levels were at leeast 80 decibels with the windows closed in sleeping areas, as measured by a UCSF sound consultant. Property owners would have up to one year to apply for the funds.  The contour map will be redrawn after the helipad is operational based on actual helicopter noise.  UCSF also intends to establish an ad hoc community group to manage disputes.

The helicopters will have to abide by a prescribed flight path, unless safety precautions require a diversion. The primary approach and departure path will be from the east along 16th Street, which is considered to be the least disruptive flight pattern.

Only two comments were made at a public hearing held in February to present the SEIR.  UCSF sponsored a number of community meetings in late-2008, in which community members provided suggestions on the RSRP.   Barbara Bagot Lopez, UCSF’s Community Relations Associate Director, explained that the few public comments generated by the SEIR were due to the extensive work that had already taken place in the community to find a reasonable solution to potential helicopter noise.

Still, residents remain concerned about possible noise impacts on their health. At the hearing one speaker cited a study showing that helicopter noise can have adverse health affects, even if people are able to sleep through it. She stated, “The mitigation you are offering is really, really not adequate.  People really do not want to address the fact that these noise levels are harmful to residents and people exposed to this kind of event.”

Richard DeWilde, who lives with housemates on 18th Street, near the new hospital site, isn’t as concerned about the helipad.  According to DeWilde, “We don’t view two to three helicopter trips as an imposition compared to the other noise in the area, like traffic from the overpass, the Muni train, the Hells Angels and recent construction.”  DeWilde thinks that UCSF’s mitigation efforts are significant, particularly since the university is generally exempt from local planning requirements.  And, according to UCSF, most hospitals don’t consider noise impacts or offer mitigation measures for helipads.  “They did the test flight and none of us even heard it,” DeWilde added.

The SEIR is expected to be approved by the University of California Chancellors this month.

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