Seal Beach : New Housing a Hit With Families at Naval Station

Steve and Liz Smith were amazed when they got their first look at their new home on the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. They expected the standard, drab housing the military usually provides enlisted personnel. What they saw looks more like a new condominium.

“It’s beautiful,” said Liz, as her husband, a third-class petty officer, stocked the refrigerator. Steve, 29, is a former fireman who re-enlisted in the Navy last September, after a seven-year absence.

“I was thinking there won’t be a separate dining room (but the house) is so huge,” she added.

The Smiths and their 7-year-old daughter, Alana, are among 114 families moving in on base during the first part of May. Another 86 families are to start moving in in June, said P. L. Brady, base housing director.

In the past, a few people have lived in family housing on base and sailors have bunked in barracks, but Brady said the new housing is part of a program for junior enlisted personnel, those ranked from E-4 to E-6.

The two-bedroom, 950-square-foot attached houses, on four streets and a cul-de-sac, are solar heated. They are surrounded by tennis, volleyball, badminton and handball courts and a softball diamond. They were built by Actus Corp. of Napa at a cost of $58,000 each, excluding land costs, said Diane Olshefsky, a quality-control inspector for the construction company.

The weapons station has been the site of demonstrations against storage of nuclear weapons on the base. The Navy has never confirmed or denied that nuclear weapons are stored at its Seal Beach site.

Steve Smith said he has not had time to think about whether nuclear weapons are stored at the base. The housing is one-fourth mile from the main gate and is separated from the rest of the base by a fence.

“If there’s ever going to be a big war, its going to be a nuclear war, anyway. I would rather be one of the first to go than see all the suffering,” he said.

Lynn Olson, 24, lives down the street from the Smiths. While her husband was aboard ship off San Francisco for two weeks, she was stuck with the moving chores, she said. Their 4-year-old son, Jeremy Neil, chatted with moving men as Olson talked about being a Navy wife.

“It’s hard, real hard. You have to be by yourself a lot, know how to handle a situation by yourself. I had a hard time dealing with it at first. If you’re not used to (it), you can’t make it in Navy life,” she said.

Joanne M. Yeo, Seal Beach city clerk, said the city is putting together a “welcome aboard” party for the new residents on June 15 at 11:30 a.m.

After city officials make brief welcoming statements, the newcomers will be treated to hamburgers, hot dogs and soft drinks and entertainment by clowns, Yeo said.

Yeo said the families have been given information packets introducing them to the city’s schools, libraries and other services, and a reception committee was formed to represent social, service, business and religious groups, the City Council and other residents.