The debate over flight patterns at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport continued last week with Howard County petitioning the Federal Aviation Administration to take action to reduce noise in the area.

County Executive Allan H. Kittleman said the sound of low-flying airplanes has disrupted the lives of people around the airport.

“Even programs at our Robinson Nature Center have been negatively impacted by the noise, and that facility is 10 miles from the airport,” Kittleman said in a statement.

In the petition, Howard County argues that the FAA violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, portions of the Department of Transportation Act and FAA policy in implementing new routes under its new GPS-based NextGen system in 2014. The new system came with navigation procedures that resulted in lower flight paths.

The petition comes just days after the FAA ended its participation in a community roundtable group that had been created to discuss the issue of noise created by the NextGen system.

In a statement, the agency cited “pending litigation” as its reason not to continue the talks. Last month, Attorney General Brian E. Froshfiled a pair of petitions asking the agency to readjust flight paths to reduce the noise.

Gov. Larry Hogan had directed Frosh to file the petitions on behalf of upset neighbors of BWI and Reagan National airports who were displeased with airliners flying lower over their homes.

Howard County Councilman Jon Weinstein said the FAA’s withdrawal from the roundtable gave the county no option but to pursue legal action.

“Dealing with the FAA has been a nightmare since the noise issues started,” Weinstein said.

“The county has protested these new routes for three years now, and despite our good-faith efforts to work with the FAA, we’ve made no progress,” said Council Chairperson Mary Kay Sigaty in a statement. “There has been continued obfuscation, obstruction, and a lack of any meaningful action.”

FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto said in a statement that the FAA plans to resume its conversations with the state and the roundtable once the legal and administrative petitions are resolved.

The FAA’s $35 billion NextGen system, which employs satellite navigation and advanced digital communications to direct flight paths, has been implemented at 30 of the nation’s largest airports, the agency says.

The agency has billed the system as “a monumental, historic shift to modernize the U.S. air transportation system” to reduce time, save fuel and improve safety. But its implementation has brought complaints about noise at airports around the country.

The issue of airport noise came up last week when state officials approved a $60 million renovation and expansion project at BWI. The state Board of Public Works voted 2-1 to fund the project, but Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, who make up the board, all voiced concerns about low-flying jetliners.

Franchot said he cast the board’s lone “no” vote against the project to try to send a message to the federal government.

Hogan said he agreed on the issue of noise — but not with Franchot’s vote against the airport expansion. The governor said “this project today has nothing to do with the flight patterns. To hold up this project would be a disaster in my opinion.”

Baltimore Sun reporters Michael Dresser, Colin Campbell and Luke Broadwater contributed to this article.

ctkacik@baltsun.com