Austin approves temporary helipads during F1 weekend

Residents' main concern was the noise from the frequent trips the helicopters are expected to make throughout the U.S. Grand Prix race weekend and the lack of public input.

In opposition to the 901 S. MoPac site, members of the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association sent a resolution Oct. 28 to City Council urging council members to deny the applications.

Though the temporary helipads were approved, council members responded to the public's discord by amending the city code to limit the number of takeoffs and landings as well as directing City Manager Marc Ott to make recommendations to further amend the code relating to permanent and temporary helicopter-related facilities by March 31.

"I think that it's important that we all think about the big picture here, because our city has been a great host for tourism, and we like tourism," Councilwoman Laura Morrison said. "It's good for our economy, and we like having guests come to our city, but we are reaching a tipping point. If we change to a city where it's so impactful for us to have tourists in our city, we're going to become like I have heard Mayor Bloomberg once say: 'New Yorkers hate tourists.' What can we do to fix that?'"

Mayor Lee Leffingwell said though he agreed that the ordinance does need to be evaluated and amended to adequately address new situations such as Formula One, he disagreed with the idea of taking immediate action on the topic.

"I think approval of [immediately amending the city code] would send a bad message," Leffingwell said. "First of all, it has absolutely no effect on what's going to happen [during F1 weekend]. But we do need to make some changes, and it needs to be done in a thoughtful process."