Carlstadt – Mayors and other officials fed up with airplane noise will gather here tonight to develop strategies in their ongoing fight to make Teterboro Airport a quieter neighbor.

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said he hopes more will be accomplished than the rehashing of the same complaints about one of the country’s busiest small – or so-called general aviation – airports.

"Unless we all agree to put money into a legal fund to protect our residents, this is just going be another meeting," Lonegan said. "I want studies on the impact of these fumes and sounds."

Representatives from 13 towns, including Teaneck, Hackensack, Woodcliff Lake, and Hasbrouck Heights, were invited to attend the meeting at 6 p.m. in the Carlstadt Borough Hall at 500 Madison St.

The Carlstadt Council decided last week to hold the meeting, partly in response to news that a group formed last week to lobby against a curfew and other changes that would limit traffic at Teterboro. That group argues that small airports boost the state’s economy and should not be forced to curtail flights.

Carlstadt officials said they want to bring about a solution to problems they said have gotten worse over recent months. They said an environmental impact statement is needed, and they reiterated their support for a curfew that would ban night flights.

"It’s really becoming a health issue," said Carlstadt Councilman Dennis Ritchie. "There’s all kinds of black soot scattered throughout the town."

Carlstadt officials said residents have complained of the black guck, which they believe is residue from aircraft fuel, being on awnings, automobiles, and in swimming pools.

Greg Trevor, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the airport, said he couldn’t comment on the fuel complaint because he said it could be apart of litigation. But he said the agency is committed to being a good neighbor.

He said the Port Authority is working with airplane manufacturers and the federal government to build quieter planes.

Local residents complain that there is more jet traffic. Trevor said that’s true, but that there is no additional noise because the pilots are in Stage 3 aircraft, the quietest available.

Trevor said Teterboro Airport has been a pioneer in trying to reduce the noise. He said 68 planes are banned from landing or taking off because the aircraft exceeded the noise limits three times in a two-year period.

Trevor also said the Port Authority is spending $120 million to soundproof 73 schools in New Jersey and New York, including the Bergen County Technical Schools in Teterboro, St. Francis School in Hackensack, and Jackson Avenue School in Hackensack.

Teterboro has instituted "voluntary" curfews, but Trevor said courts have ruled that night curfews interfere with interstate commerce.

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