x
Breaking News
More () »

Cost of silence | People near Louisville airport give up some legal rights for insulation

The insulation makes a huge difference, but homeowners are concerned the associated contract could lead to legal headaches in the future.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The QuieterHome Program around the Louisville airport provides a very valuable service to people in the flight path.

The Louisville Regional Airport Authority (LRAA) works with a local contractor to give homeowners noise-resistant windows and doors, which make it easier to sleep at night especially during the busy UPS holiday season.

"If the noise level was a 10 before, I'd say it brought it down to a three," Zack Bayne said, who had his home renovated this spring.

The program has insulated 647 homes in 12 years. It requires almost constant checking-in and approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Supply chain issues have also led to Phase 2 falling slightly behind.

Credit: Travis Breese, WHAS11 News
Some officials agree with the community, the speed of the program is taking longer than expected.

While the program does not cost anything to the homeowner, other than theoretically your federal taxes, there is a legal cost to getting the insulation.

The Muhammad Ali International Airport requires people to sign an "avigation easement" to get this insulation.

It's a document that becomes attached to the deed of the property until the end of time. The document says that a homeowner cannot sue the LRAA for any issues in the future, including injury or property damage, that may arise from aircraft flying over their house.

Credit: Travis Breese, WHAS11 News
The document pictured above is an "avigation easement."

"I tried to cross off portions of it and send it back. They said, 'No, we will not take it,'" Bayne said.

According to aviation experts, these contracts are very standard.

"Ninety-nine percent of airports (that offer sound insulation) use these," Peter Kirsch said. 

Kirsch is one of the top airport lawyers in the country. He has represented over 100 airports in 34 years of work.

"I'm not aware of any airports that don't use them. They may exist, but it's very rare," Kirsch said.

The FAA does not require airports to use the easements, but the airports can make the decision to do so. The FAA also does not provide any direction on how the airports should write their easements and what should be included in them.

"The FAA does not provide sample or template language for avigation easements. The FAA recommends airports work with their legal counsel to determine the avigation easement language," Brittany Trotter said, a spokesperson for the FAA.

The FAA declined WHAS11's request for an on-camera interview.

Credit: QuieterHome Program
Map showing the QuieterHome's area one. The area is broken up into groups, residents in each group will have their home insulated from airport noise at different times.

There is one broad, sweeping clause in the easement SDF uses:

The grantor (homeowner) and any and all subsequent owners of all or any portion of the premises shall, by acceptance of conveyance of the premises, be deemed to have expressly waived and released, and agreed to indemnify and hold the grantee (airport authority), it’s successors and assigns, harmless from and against, any and all claims and demands of any nature whatsoever for injury to persons or property damage, that grantor or such subsequent owner, it’s successors in interest, or assigns, may now or in the future, have arising out of or in any way related to the operation of aircraft within the avigation easement.

"It's very over-arching, and the thing that I think about is, it just encompasses anything and everything," Keith Katz said. Katz also signed the avigation easement and got his windows and doors installed this spring.

While the easement is binding, there are also barriers in place for anyone trying to sue the airport who has not signed an avigation easement.

Credit: Travis Breese, WHAS11 News
Katz lives in the Schnitzelburg neighborhood and had his home insulated in 2022.

According to Kirsch, once the airport comes out with its noise exposure map (measured in day/night level), nobody can sue for noise levels at or below the level identified on the map

"The homeowner would have to prove the levels increased since the release of that map, and that the increase itself was a nuisance or trespass," Kirsch said.

The airspace around an airport is also regulated by the FAA, and brings another set of protection separate from the easement.

“It would be difficult to bring any kind of trespass claim against either the airport or the airliner, because of federal preemption," Sean Paris said, a real estate lawyer in Oldham County.

Paris does not specialize in airports, but he did some research to help with this story.

One lawsuit that Paris could definitely say is off the table -- because of this easement -- is people suing the airport alleging that repeated flights had cracked their foundation or damaged their property.

Both Bayne and Katz do not know if signing this easement will ever come back to haunt them, but there are some lingering concerns.

"Resale values on the home. Will it affect resale values on the home because it is for everyone ever?" Katz said.

Credit: Travis Breese, WHAS11 News
UPS plane lands at the Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF). UPS Worldport operates at SDF, making it the 5th busiest cargo airport in the world.

"You're selling your airspace. You're allowing them to bombard your airspace with as much stuff as they can manage," Bayne said.

The LRAA declined FOCUS's request for a follow-up interview about easements but did send a statement.

"The QuieterHome Program is multifaceted and an avigation easement for those homeowners voluntarily choosing to participate is part of that process in exchange for complimentary sound insulation," they said. "It serves as an acknowledgment that aircraft may operate in the normal course of business within the FAA-approved airspace over their property."

To read their full statement, click here.

Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.

Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.  

Before You Leave, Check This Out