Regional SFO Airport Coordination/Airplane Noise

Background

Palo Alto is impacted by three arrival routes into San Francisco International Airport (SFO). These routes have had an ongoing negative health impact on our community and intensified due to the implementation of the Federal Aviation Administration’s NextGEN Initiative. The City is committed to working with our citizens, Congress, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), SFO, SFO’s Community Roundtable, neighboring city and county agencies, regional airports, noise groups, and all stakeholders associated with air traffic in Silicon Valley to find solutions which restore the quality of life of our community. The City has dedicated staff time, hired expert noise and aviation consultants, outside counsel and federal legislative consultants to advocate for our goals and assist with community education efforts. Staff and community members are continuing to evaluate San Francisco International Airport's (SFO) proposed Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) for its potential impacts on airplane noise over Palo Alto.

Correspondence

January 23, 2026: City Submittal of Additional Documentation in Support of the City's Appeal of the SFO Development Plan.(PDF, 698KB) The City of Palo Alto reluctantly pursues this CEQA appeal of SFO’s Recommended Airport Development Plan (RADP). Palo Alto would much prefer to devote its energy toward a collaborative resolution with SFO over its noise and other environmental concerns, including permanent, continuous noise monitoring in Palo Alto and implementation of limited reasonable (and realistic) operational changes to mitigate noise impacts suffered by Palo Alto residents. After Palo Alto filed its appeal letter on December 19, it attempted to schedule a meeting with SFO management. Those attempts were not successful, leaving Palo Alto with no choice but to pursue the present appeal.

December 19, 2025: City of Palo Alto Appeals SFO Development Plan Approval(PDF, 1MB): The City of Palo Alto has appealed the San Francisco Planning Commission’s November 20, 2025, decision to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the San Francisco International Airport's Recommended Airport Development Plan (RADP), as outlined in Planning Commission Motion No. 21870. The appeal asserts that the FEIR inadequately addresses environmental impacts such as noise and air quality due to its reliance on future growth assumptions rather than current conditions, conflicting with CEQA requirements. The City submitted timely comments during the public comment period and has copied these appeal materials to the Environmental Review Officer. Additionally, the City contests the San Francisco Airport Commission's December 16, 2025, approval of the RADP, stating it prematurely relies on the non-final certification of the FEIR, violating both CEQA Guidelines §15090(b) and San Francisco Administrative Code §31.16(b)(3). The City insists the Airport Commission set aside its approval pending resolution of this appeal.

November 20, 2025: Submitted in advance of the SF Planning Commission Meeting: City of Palo-Alto Objecting to Certification of FEIR for SFO Airport Development Plan(PDF, 401KB) 

September 28, 2023: Communications on FAA Review of the Civil Aviation Noise Policy(PDF, 465KB)

Community Meetings

The City of Palo Alto hosted two community meetings with SFO in 2021. Staff contracted ABCx2, LLC, a consultant with aviation flight pattern expertise, to review available information on the proposed GBAS innovative approaches and identify potential risks and benefits regarding airplane noise.

The consultant’s draft final report is available here.(PDF, 16MB)

A third GBAS community meeting was held on April 25, 2022, watch the meeting here. To submit comments or questions, email SFO.GBAS@flysfo.com.

Following the April 25, 2022 GBAS community meeting, Palo Alto sent a letter to SFO. The letter(PDF, 414KB) addresses SFO’s failure to consider input from Palo Alto and Palo Alto community members before submitting GBAS Innovative Approaches to the FAA and requests that the Innovative Approaches be withdrawn. It also requests uninterrupted noise monitoring in Palo Alto and the City’s engagement in addressing SERFR noise and Group 2 Innovative Approaches. This response from SFO to the City was received on June 17, 2022.

For more, visit https://bit.ly/FlySFO

The most recent community meeting was held on Monday, July 17, 2023. View the recording of this meeting here.