Helicopter Limits OKd in Attempt to Quiet Skies

A North County planning group won a battle to make neighborhood skies a little friendlier and a lot quieter Wednesday when county supervisors voted to toughen the laws governing takeoffs and landings of private helicopters.

“We got what we came here for,” said Albert Frowiss, chairman of a San Dieguito planning group, who spoke before the five-member county panel. The unanimous vote was the final hurdle for a proposed law he and other residents have battled for months to see passed.

Their determination was simple to explain: The age of George Jetson is here, Frowiss says--a time of people zipping around the neighborhood like uncaged birds in their private aircraft. And it was time to take a stand.

You remember Jetson, the futuristic cartoon character who careened about the starry skies in his streamline bubble-top spaceship.

Frowiss and his Rancho Santa Fe neighbors had seen too many private helicopters whizzing about their wealthy North County enclave in recent years. At the controls were irresponsible neighbors, they said, whose airborne vehicles filled the air with a staccato racket.

Frowiss had glimpsed the future. And he didn’t like what he saw.

“The Jetsons live here already,” he said. “All you have to do some days is look up in the sky, or just listen, you’ll find them.”

Rancho Santa Fe residents say that, along with small planes and hot air balloons, the aircraft are a nuisance and an invasion of privacy.

Last month, the Rancho Santa Fe Assn. board of directors voted to ban all helicopters, except for those used for emergencies and special events, from landing in the exclusive 6,000-acre development.

Another community planning group recently expressed fears to the county that a planned hotel-resort near Mt. Helix might one day darken the skies with personal whirlybirds, whisking big city company executives to and from vacation breaks.

Helicopter advocates say the aircraft alleviate traffic hassles for corporate executives who must regularly fly to Los Angeles and elsewhere. And, besides, they say, they’re a lot of fun to fly.

Atlas Hotels Inc., which holds the only major-use permit application on file with the county for a helicopter landing area, failed to return phone calls Wednesday.

“We wanted to impede anyone from flying their toys around illegally and set up some stricter guidelines for any future ones,” Frowiss said. “And these cases come up all the time.

“There’s not that many now. But just one is aggravating. A guy moves into a neighborhood, and he doesn’t know the rules, and, all of a sudden, you’ve got another helicopter headache to deal with.”

Though helicopter owners must now obtain a major land-use permit to land on private property, the new law makes it tougher by requiring at least 5 acres for a landing spot.

The takeoff areas will also have to sit back 200 feet from a property line in residential and agricultural areas, rather than the current 50 feet.

Also, night flights are prohibited unless specified in the use permit. And landing areas that service more than one helicopter must be within 1 1/2 miles of a major roadway to blend the aircraft’s noise with that of freeway traffic.

“The new law puts people on notice that, if they want to build a helicopter landing area on their property, it’s not just like they’re going to be able to pay their money for the permit and have the thing approved,” said Marvin Jones, an associate planner with the county.

“There are a lot of considerations involved the average person might not think of.”

Although the new law applies countywide, its effects will most likely be felt in wealthy neighborhoods, where residents can afford to plunk down $100,000 to $1 million for a personal helicopter.

Frowiss also asked the board to amend the public hearing process for acquiring the necessary major-use permit.

“The present law requires that anyone within 300 feet of a proposed project be contacted for their input before the permit is granted,” Frowiss said. “The difference is we’re dealing with a flying object here that people are going to hear a lot further away than 300 feet.”

Frowiss proposed that people within 500 feet on each side of a helicopter owner’s proposed landing corridor--until the craft reaches an altitude of 1,000 feet--be alerted to the potential permit.