Edison Buys Homes of 2 Critics of Noise : Redondo Beach: The men had repeatedly complained about the power station. The utility bought their townhouses but didn’t make the offer to other owners.

Facing repeated complaints about noise from its Redondo Beach power plant, Southern California Edison has taken the unusual step of buying the homes of two of its chief critics.

William Benko and Richard Gould say their homes, townhouses across the street from the power station, were bought by Edison last month after Benko appealed to John Bryson, the utility’s chairman and chief executive officer, for help.

An Edison official described the purchase as an attempt to end controversy about noise from the 1,310-megawatt plant on Harbor Drive.

“We just kind of thought it would be best for our company, the city and everybody concerned if we purchased those (townhouses),” said Walt Dougher, Edison’s regional affairs manager.

Benko and Gould, who have since moved elsewhere, say the purchase has spared them many a sleepless night. But the deal doesn’t sit well with others at the seven-unit townhouse complex who say they too suffer from power plant noise but were not given the option of selling their homes.

“Apparently, they were sworn to secrecy by Edison,” said Gloria Distifeno, secretary of the complex’s homeowners association. “I think they should have made the same offer to everyone here at the complex. There are only seven units, and we are all affected.”

Distifeno was planning an association meeting on the issue Thursday night that was to include an attorney the group has retained and an official from Southern States Realty, an Edison subsidiary that handled last month’s purchases.

Edison, however, does not appear bent on buying more homes. “We have no plans at this time to do that at all,” Dougher said on Thursday.

The utility’s purchase of Gould and Benko’s townhouses comes amid efforts by Redondo Beach to prosecute Edison for violating its noise ordinance. A similar attempt failed in 1989 mainly because of flawed noise measurements, but city officials say their evidence is better this time around.

The newer case, scheduled to go to trial April 29, was triggered by complaints filed by Benko and Gould in September and hinges on sound measurements taken outside their townhouses at 515 N. Elena Ave.

Benko and Gould alleged that when they and other residents moved into the newly built units last summer, the Edison station was operating at low capacity and not making much noise. Soon after, they say, the plant boosted its output--and life at the complex took a turn for the worse.

“I don’t think I slept one full evening,” Benko said. “The noise tended to escalate after midnight and go on until 5 a.m.” Benko and Gould have also complained about vibration and soot from the plant.

The pair made such complaints repeatedly to City Council members and Edison officials last summer and fall.

Benko says he first asked Edison to buy his townhouse in a letter sent in September to Howard Allen, then the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. Edison officials had his and Gould’s homes appraised, he said, but later said they were not interested.

But Benko says wheels started turning in January after he wrote to Bryson, Allen’s successor.

“We got word from somebody that if we put the house on the market and notified the city attorney that we didn’t want to participate in the lawsuit, that we’d have a buyer,” he said. He declined to say who gave him that message.

City Atty. Gordon Phillips this week acknowledged receiving letters from Benko and Gould, but says they do not undermine the city’s noise case. The withdrawal of their complaints does not change the fact that excessive noise from the plant was measured at the complex, he said.

Benko and Gould say that within two weeks of putting their homes on the market in early February, they got a call from Southern States Realty, a Long Beach company that handles relocation for Edison employees. Though Gould declines to discuss details of the purchase, Benko says he recovered the original $380,000 purchase price of his townhouse as well as closing costs.

He denies that Edison asked him and Gould to keep the purchase secret: “The reason we kept quiet was because we thought we might lose the deal. It had already fallen through once before.”

Dougher said Edison did not require Gould and Benko to notify the city it was dropping its noise complaints as part of the transaction. “I can tell you there were no deals made,” he said.

Instead, Dougher said, Edison simply hoped the move would help create a climate in which it could settle its differences with the city. As part of that effort, Edison also offered to provide $250,000 for noise-proofing homes exposed to high levels of noise from the plant, he said.

Dougher said such moves were aimed at encouraging Redondo Beach leaders to consider changing the city’s noise ordinance last month as a first step toward dropping its noise case.

Under the proposal, future noise measurements would be made at Edison’s property line instead of off-site, where other noise sources may be present. Although city leaders plan to consider such a change, they decided last month against doing so until after taking Edison to court.

“It appeared at the time that this (purchase) might help in the resolution of the entire noise issue,” Dougher said Thursday. “ . . . Unfortunately, things haven’t worked out that way.”

Distifeno says residents remaining at the North Elena complex feel uncomfortable with that state of affairs. She acknowledges that Benko and Gould did virtually all the legwork in bringing the townhouses’ noise problem to the attention of Edison and city leaders.

But the two men should have negotiated with Edison on behalf of the entire complex, she said--particularly since Benko’s wife, Andrea, was president of the condominium association and Gould was vice president. Distifeno, however, mainly faults Edison, saying the company should ensure equal treatment for all those affected by its plant.

“I’m continually being awakened during the night,” she said. “And the pollution is unbelievable. My windows are sticky and gooey and the screens are awful.”

Such problems, Distifeno added, have done major damage to property values: “Now are we asked to simply forget about the hit we are going to take in the pocketbook?”

For Gould, the purchase was a simple matter of the squeaky wheel--in this case two of them--getting the grease: “Benko and I were the ones that yelled and screamed while everyone else was in their cocoons.”