ORANGE COUNTY VOICES NOISE : Marines Need to Move Tustin Copter Facility : Development near the air station makes its operations incompatible with the area.

Living next door to the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro and the Tustin helicopter base, as the city of Irvine does, creates unique problems. The situation challenges the ability of the City Council and me as city manager to protect the rights of residents to live peacefully in relatively quiet surroundings, and at the same time remain supportive of the national defense mission of the Marines, who were here long before the city.

Over the years, we have worked hard to build good relations with the Marines. We are neighbors, but we have very different interests. MCAS El Toro is a major military air base with high performance, and extremely noisy jet fighters. Irvine is a rapidly growing and primarily residential community. Normally, entities such as these are less than compatible. So differences are going to occur, and we must do our best to work them out.

Having a good relationship where we can maintain an open dialogue has helped make it possible for Irvine and the Marines to coexist peacefully, respect each other’s turf and work closely together on issues of conflict. Our ability to do that has steadily improved since 1980, when the city and the Marines entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that recognized the need for mutual cooperation. The memorandum addressed a wide range of issues. Under it, some of the things the Marines agreed to included working with the city to mitigate adverse impacts of base operations, adhering to takeoff and landing patterns that minimize noise impacts on surrounding communities, and keeping the city and its residents notified of changes in operating procedure.

In turn, the city agreed to work with the Marines on land planning affecting the base, to advise them of proposed new developments and, among other things, to waive restrictions in times of national emergency.

Since the signing of that document, open dialogue has helped lead to the extension of Jamboree Road through the base, adjustments in planning that have benefited all parties, and the realignment of the “Browning Corridor” used by helicopters operating out of MCAS Tustin to minimize residential neighborhood overflights. Eighteen months ago, the city also formed the Helicopter Overflights Task Force, made up of residents, city staff and Marines. The Task Force’s findings and recommendations, presented to the City Council Feb. 13, addressed a variety of issues, including better public notification of helicopter activities and establishment of navigational landmarks to help keep pilots away from residential neighborhoods. The cooperative work of the task force represents an important step in helping mitigate the noise impacts of helicopters operating from MCAS Tustin.

Recognizing, however, that helicopter overflights still represent a continuing disruption, the Marines need to eventually consider relocation of the helicopter operations at the MCAS Tustin facility, which has been in operation since the 1930s. Development around that site has made it incompatible with the area.

In-depth discussions to encourage early relocation have been initiated by the city. If the Marines agree to move, they will need to be compensated fairly for the base property. Presently, however, they have no plans to relocate--but we hope that they will consider this alternative.

Discussions on relocation will no doubt present major challenges. So, too, will the Marines’ recent draft study of projected aircraft noise levels. The study, known as the Air Installations Compatible Use Zones program, or AICUZ, establishes a noise “footprint” within which certain types of development cannot occur. Unlike previous AICUZ studies, which have been used for 10 years as the basis for the city’s land planning, the draft study incorporated a new methodology that extended the size of the footprint to include areas previously believed to be outside the AICUZ boundary. Consequently, the draft report threw years of land planning into doubt.

The city recognizes that the Marines are concerned about continued encroachment of development around the base. We want to address these concerns as well. However, the sudden use of a new methodology resulting in a larger footprint has raised questions in many people’s minds. Raising further questions were reports that the computer model used to create the footprint ignored actual test data that showed noise levels to be less than noise presently being experienced on the ground.

We believe it is important to establish criteria for noise projections that will stand the test of time and allow the community to plan for the future. But we don’t want this or any single issue to dampen a largely positive relationship. Irvine and the Marines have a solid history of cooperative dialogue, and in some cases, a sharing of interest. Neither we nor the Marines, for instance, ever want to see full or even joint commercial use of MCAS El Toro. We have worked as the closest of allies in protecting this shared interest.

In other words, we have found a way to coexist peacefully and work together. Like two old neighbors, we have our differences, but we each keep coming back to borrow a cup of sugar.