Joel Banner Baird

Free Press Staff Writer

Anticipated increases in noise from F-35 jets in parts of Chittenden County beginning in 2020 should be disclosed to property buyers, according to a regional Realtors group.

The new guidelines require a heads-up for sales in neighborhoods likely to become significantly noisier when the jets are deployed by the Vermont Air National Guard, Kathleen Sweeten, executive vice president of Williston-based Northwestern Vermont Board of Realtors, said.

F-35s are louder than the F-16s currently deployed at Burlington International Airport, according to the U.S. Air Force.

The newer plane's presence is predicted to increase the number of people living within zones described by the Federal Aviation Authority as incompatible with residential development.

The Air Guard has stated that it is studying ways to reduce the F-35's "soundprint" over Vermont's most densely populated county.

Realtors are taking reasonable precautions.

"With any real estate transaction, any knowledge of potential issues should be disclosed," Sweeten said in an interview Tuesday. "It would be similar with septic issues — if a seller knew they were having septic issues, they would need to disclose that."

Concerns over louder take-offs and landings aired regularly at public meetings over the past several years while the Pentagon studied sites to base the new plane.

The Air Force settled on the South Burlington base in December. Supporters — including Gov. Peter Shumlin and the state's congressional delegation — have hailed the decision as an economic boon.

In July, opponents of basing the aircraft filed a lawsuit against the decision in U.S. District Court in Burlington.

Earlier: F-35 opponents hope lawsuit will turn tide

The Realtors' decision to acknowledge noise as an issue took shape several months ago, when members of the group requested a study of possible shifts the plane might bring to property transactions, Sweeten said.

A sample disclosure form, prepared by the group's legal counsel, Tom Heilmann and released Sept. 24 in an internal memo, describes shifts in sound-contour lines released by the Air Force's Environmental Impact Statement in September 2013.

Heilmann's document also advises prospective buyers "to review the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) or other available information regarding any decision to purchase the property."

Attached to Sweeten's memo is a list from the Environmental Impact Statement of about 20 "representative locations" in the region where sound levels are predicted to exceed 65 decibels averaged over a 24-hour period — the FAA threshold for residential compatibility.

Among those locations: The Fanny Allen campus of Fletcher Allen Healthcare, and St. Michael's College in Colchester, the Chamberlin School in South Burlington, the Bellwether School in Williston; and the Our Lady of Providence nursing home in Winooski.

Sweeten said real estate agents would rely on general geographic guidelines.

"We are merely making the information available to sellers and buyers," she said. "We don't have an opinion in any way about what the zones are.

"It would be up to the seller and the buyer to do their own research," Sweeten added. "We are not making an assessment or a statement or an opinion at all. It's basically information that we provide to them so they can make their own determination."

Frank Cioffi, president of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation, said Sweeten's organization exercised ample caution and "due diligence" with the disclosure guidelines.

"But," Cioffi added, "I see this as pretty politically driven by people who were opposed to the F-35."

In June, 2013, the GBIC weighed in with staunch support for the local F-35 basing, stating that real-estate prices would not be adversely affected.

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Contact Joel Banner Baird at 660-1843 or joelbaird@FreePressMedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vtgoingup.