Toronto’s mayor is appealing to the country’s new transport minister to act on behalf of residents, who have been complaining for four years that the noise of Pearson-bound jets is interfering with their quality of life.

“I believe with a newly elected federal government there is an opportunity to take a new look,” John Tory wrote to Minister Mark Garneau on Feb. 16.

The mayor’s letter asks Garneau to review the flight paths implemented in 2012 by Nav Canada, which some residents claim send 40 per cent of inbound Pearson flights over their neighbourhoods.

“As this flight path is concentrated and aircraft operation runs 24 hours a day, residents find little reprieve from the strong aircraft noise through the day and night,” said Tory.

But in his response, obtained by the Star on Thursday, Garneau suggests that Nav Canada and the airport have followed the rules and responded appropriately.

“Transport Canada’s experience has shown that noise issues are most effectively addressed at the local community level,” wrote the minister.

A midtown residents’ group, Toronto Aviation Noise Group (TANG), says its complaints have fallen on deaf ears with Nav Canada, the company that owns and operates Canada’s civil aviation navigation service.

“As a result of deregulation in the 1990s, Nav Canada has responsibility without accountability to citizens for the impact of any changes in flight routes that they make. We want our new government to rein them and provide accountable oversight,” said TANG spokeswoman Sandra Best.

Although midtown neighbourhoods are suffering, the flight path cuts right across the city, she said.

For some residents, “More than a staggering 86,000 planes pass over their homes every year,” according to Best, who said the situation will worsen as Pearson grows busier.

Nav Canada says planes have always flown over residential neighbourhoods but a new rule around the required turning radius has shifted the flight path about two kilometres south so different residents are affected.

Nav Canada Spokesman Ron Singer said the change was made to satisfy requirements that ensure aircraft have enough space to execute safe turns when heading into Pearson.

“The former location of that flight path was also over a residential area and the altitudes in that area were slightly lower than they are today,” he said.

Singer stressed that the residents’ complaints have been heard.

“We have met regularly with complainants and community groups to discuss current operations and options,” he said, citing a community engagement process designed to lessen the impact of the noise.

“But Pearson is the busiest airport in the country and the safe management of air traffic in the region can and does impact several residential areas. There are no easy solutions however we believe the items we are currently consulting on will result in an improvement,” he said.

The noise bothers some residents more than others, said Councillor Jon Burnside (Don Valley West). But, he said, the midtown residents aren’t NIMBYs.

“They recognize a big city needs airplanes. We just want (the noise) shared. They don’t expect it to be eliminated. We just don’t like the fact that it’s concentrated over a small area. All these painful things that live in the city need to be shared,” he said.

Nav Canada says it is looking at six potential noise mitigation solutions, including changes to overnight and weekend flight paths and runways and, new technology that could reduce noise during aircraft descent.

Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins, MPP for St. Paul’s, has also written Ottawa saying he is “troubled by the health concerns expressed by hundreds of community members.”

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which runs Pearson, says there are limits to managing the noise of airplanes in a big city but it is trying through a noise management program “ensuring we operate in a manner that balances the public demand for more air travel with impacts on our neighbours.”

TANG has been an active participant in the airport’s community engagements, said GTAA vice-president Hillary Marshall.

Don Valley West area noise complaints have dropped, she said. In 2014, there were 1,360 complaints from 49 residents in that riding. Last year, that declined to 547 complaints from 33 residents.

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Overall, however the number of complaints rose to 24,530 last year from 14,740 in 2014, although the number of complainants dropped to 877 from 1,162.

“We have made some positive progress but understand that we have more to do,” said Marshall.

Pearson is the only airport that makes its Community Noise and Environment Committee meetings public, she said. The GTAA is also looking at where to add new noise monitors around the region and has added a web tool that allow the public to track flights and file complaints online.