After leaving the Bay Area in the late 1990s, Nancy Runyon arrived on the Central Coast to “semi-retire” in an old Monterey neighborhood by the sea where if you crane your neck just right from her front porch, “you can see a sliver of the blue,” she told SFGATE. Her 1920s bungalow is near the Monterey Regional Airport. 

This proximity didn’t bother Runyon and her neighbors at first. Nor should it have. After all, their historic neighborhood that overlooks Old Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row and parts of Monterey Bay is a good 4 miles from the actual airport. 

And it’s the same California airport that has been long celebrated for its quaintness and ease — a bygone ad campaign called Monterey “America’s most convenient airport” — as its single terminal offered access to beaches, resorts, golf courses and the beloved restaurant and bar Woody’s at the Airport.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

But around the start of the decade, a seismic shift occurred. The noise of aircraft of every size flying overhead into and out of MRY gradually replaced the ocean sounds and calls of seabirds, Runyon said.

“After the pandemic, it was like all hell broke loose,” Runyon explained. “It was like, ‘This is ridiculous.’ We’re willing to put up with tourists here part of the time, we’re just not used to being bombarded.”

Shops and visitors are visible along Cannery Row in downtown Monterey, Calif., on a sunny day, Aug. 5, 2025.

Runyon said air traffic over her neighborhood went from several planes a day, which was manageable, to a “constant stream” of airplanes. “It progressively gets worse,” she added.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

The cacophony is only growing louder. This year, Monterey Airport saw double-digit passenger growth for the third consecutive year. And earlier in the summer, the airport broke ground on a $200 million project to build a new passenger terminal. 

Concerns over MRY have begun reverberating throughout the neighborhood. Runyon is part of a group of locals who say they’re fed up with the noise issues spurred by MRY’s increased popularity. They found an ally with a newly elected airport commissioner who campaigned on the noise issue.

Hoping to rein in MRY, a proposal would reinstate nearly 50-year-old ordinances that MRY had previously passed — but are unenforced. They would limit airport activity, but the Monterey Peninsula Airport District wishes to dissolve them since they conflict with federal law.

As a crucial vote looms for repealing the ordinances, scheduled for Sept. 17, the neighbors are prepared to fight MRY in court if it means another chance to curb the commotion. 

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“We’re not a proper place for an airport,” Runyon said. “A few planes — no big deal. But........

© SFGate