Irvine : Height for Proposed Medical Center Upheld

The City Council has upheld a Planning Commission zoning review that would permit the proposed Irvine Medical Center a maximum height of 118 feet.

The proposed hospital, which would be less than two miles from runways of the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro and would be under some of the base’s flight paths, has been a source of concern for the Marine Corps.

The 4-1 vote Tuesday supports the Planning Commission’s earlier approval, which had been appealed by Councilman Larry Agran, who argued that the structure’s height and proximity to the air station would constitute a hazard.

During nearly two hours of public hearing before the vote, Agran presented a short videotape depicting an airplane crashing into a building in Sacramento several years ago.

Among the speakers at the hearing was Marine Brig. Gen. William Bloomer, commander of the air station, who argued that the location chosen for the hospital--just outside the so-called Golden Triangle at the intersection of the 5, 405 and Laguna freeways--will subject patients to excessive noise and place them at an extraordinary risk in the event of a crash.

“The Marine Corps is not opposed to a hospital . . . but the present site is of great concern,” he said. “I would not want a member of my family in a hospital located in the direct flight path of a jet base.”

Although the Federal Aviation Administration has ruled that the hospital’s location poses no risk and Pentagon studies indicate that the hospital’s proposed location is compatible with air traffic patterns near the base, Bloomer said the site is in the path of about 2,000 flights a year by particularly large aircraft laden with jet fuel.