STUART, Fla. — Martin County residents living near Witham Field are still waiting for soundproofing a year after WPTV first aired their complaints.
Last year, we showed you how airport traffic is increasing,another example of the growth we're experiencing on the Treasure Coast.
However, more planes taking off and coming in means more noise for those who live nearby.
In reaction, over the past several years, airport officials have been trying to mitigate airport noise and launched a study in 2021 to tamp it down even further.
"We can't sit on our porch anymore," homeowner Ellen Hammon told WPTV's Kate Hussey in 2023. "The noise level has increased tremendously."
The Stuart resident lives right next to the airport.
According to the 2021 report, at one point, as many as 223 residents a year were complaining about the noise.
Since November 2023, county officials said 89 others made additional complaints about the noise.
"There's an increase in traffic that's tremendous," Hammon said. "Here comes one landing here now."
Last year, Andrew McBean, the interim airport manager in Martin County, told Hussey the airport was implementing the Federal Aviation Administration's sound insulation program.
The idea is to insulate the homes of residents affected by noise exposure.
WATCH: Homeowners ask for soundproofing as airport traffic increases
"Insulation in the attics and the walls to kind of bring the noise level down to what's acceptable to those citizens," McBean said.
At the time, McBean said out of the 47 residents who applied for soundproofing, only eight were approved because of the program's strict guidelines, leaving 39 denied.
The eight that were approved still hadn't received insulation, according to McBean.
"We can't move forward with those eight homes or advocate for the other homes until the FAA gives us approval," McBean said in 2023.
Now, a year later, county officials told Hussey the 39 that were denied, including Hammon, still haven't received approval, and the eight that were approved still haven't received their insulation.
"But that does not mean the airport will stop advocating for those homeowners," said McBean.
County officials said they have now gone back to the Federal Aviation Administration to have them reexamine the information of the homes that got denied, and are hoping more get accepted.
For the eight that were approved, the county is now in its design and planning phase, and plans to award a bid to a contractor in 2025.
The airport manager added the airport has also implemented a voluntary curfew from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., which county officials said as of this year, 98% of all aircraft follow.
Still though, documents show 388 airplanes that flew in and out of the airfield in September 2024 did not follow the voluntary curfew.
"It's a muffled roar going over your head and it wakes you up," said Hammon.
For more information on the soundproofing program, or to make a complaint to the county, click here.
