North Whidbey resident Becky Spraitzar said a “hush house” on Whidbey Island Naval Air Station is one potential solution to aircraft noise complaints.

In response to feedback from Spraitzar and others, legislators are pressing the Navy to consider funding a hush house, a hanger designed to mask on-ground engine noise.

“Community members from Whidbey Island and the San Juan Islands have shared with me their concerns about the noise from the Growlers at NAS Whidbey,” said Rep. Rick Larsen in a joint statement with Sen. Patty Murray Wednesday.

“Senator Murray and I have listened and are asking the Navy to help out by building a hush house, which would muffle engine noise from testing and maintenance on the ground and direct it away from communities.”

Spraitzar said she’s pressed legislators and Navy leadership for a hush house for years. The Navy is conducting an Environmental Impact Statement on the EA-18G Growlers and are gathering public comment through Jan. 9.

“I’ve put that down on in every EIS comment I’ve written,” said Spraitzar, a founding member of Concerned Island Citizens. “That’s one thing that would really help a lot on the north end.”

Spraitzar said some of her neighbors who live closer to base are in a “horrible situation.”

“When they do their run-ups, which they do overnight, they’re very loud and it goes for a long period of time,” Spraitzar said.

“They’re having a hard time here.”

Larsen was criticized by some for not being responsive to anti-noise constituents’ complaints about Navy jet noise.

In October, Larsen took heat at a town meeting on Lopez Island from residents who called the jet noise “degrading, humiliating and disempowering,” according to the newspaper Journal of the San Juan Islands.

Hush houses have been used successfully at other bases to mitigate jet testing noise, such as at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia, according to Mike Welding, NAS Whidbey public affairs officer.

Impacts of constructing a hush house, and its noise dampening potential, will be examined in the EIS, according to Lisa Padgett, U.S. Fleet Forces Command project manager for the study.

However, the EIS will simply inform a future decision that would be made and funded on a facilities level, Padgett said.

Considering a hush house was always on the Navy’s radar but will be given “renewed attention” due to the requests from legislators and the public, said Padgett.

“Construction of this facility is a reasonable step to minimize the impact that planes from NAS Whidbey have on the surrounding area,” Murray said.