$900,000 to Lengthen Runway at El Toro OKd

The House of Representatives has approved a $900,000 allocation for planning and engineering a 2,700-foot extension of an El Toro Marine Corps Air Station runway.

Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), whose district contains the base, said the longer runway will move some flight patterns away from high-rises expected to be built in the city.

Pam Engebretson, a spokeswoman for the Irvine Co., said that the company was “pleased” that the extension was being initiated and that it “will assure that the base’s training mission will be compatible with surrounding civilian land uses.”

Concerns Told

Of particular concern, Badham said, were complaints that without the extension the noise level would be too high and the final approach pattern would be too close to the site of Irvine’s first hospital, due to begin construction early next year. The base previously had opposed the hospital’s proximity to jet flight patterns.

“With the extension there will be a slight reduction in noise and certainly less difficulty with the hospital,” Badham said.

In meetings with representatives of the Irvine Co. and the base, Badham established that the noise patterns generated by the base’s landings and takeoffs were higher than they should have been; the original noise studies were based on the assumption of two full-length, north-south runways.

The base does have two north-south runways, but one is 10,000 feet and the other is 6,300 feet. Col. Jerry Shelton, the base’s community planning and liaison officer, said the smaller runway is too short to allow jets to make complete stops. If the main runway is closed, jets must circle the city to use the base’s east-west runways.

To Avoid Irvine Overflights

By extending the 6,300-foot runway to 10,000 feet, jets will not have to fly over Irvine when the main runway is closed. (After the first 2,700-foot extension, an additional 1,000-foot extension is expected.)

Shelton said the extension would not reduce the total amount of jet noise created by the base. But Badham said the extension would “move the noise and accident-potential zone a quarter-mile back to where it should be.”

Total cost of the extension is estimated at $16 million. Badham said planning and engineering studies would be completed during federal fiscal year 1986, with construction beginning in 1987. He said he foresaw no problems in securing funds for the rest of the project.