FAA Plans Its Own Study of El Toro Airport

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that the agency will conduct an independent evaluation of whether a commercial airport is suited for the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In her first public comments on the El Toro plans, Jane F. Garvey said her agency will hold public hearings in Orange County next year on the environmental impact of the proposed airport on surrounding neighborhoods. It will weigh factors like noise and the availability of other travel options, she said.

The review, to be completed by the end of 2000, is separate from environmental studies currently being conducted by the county and the Department of the Navy.

“The FAA historically has not been very vocal at these early [planning] stages,” Garvey said during a meeting with Times editors and reporters. “Generally, our role is in technical expertise, [but] some of our environmental folks are getting more involved.”

However El Toro turns out, she warned that Southern California needs to make room for more air travelers as demand for flights and destinations increases.

The FAA administrator pledged that the agency’s review will provide broad leeway for examining the airport’s impact, including safety concerns and worries that jet noise will make neighborhoods and schools unbearable.

For example, she said, officials should consider the impact of noise from each jet landing or departing, rather than evaluating only noise averaged over a 24-hour period--the current standard under federal law.

The review also should examine other transportation options in the region, including freeways, rail lines and other airports, she said. The time it takes to get to any of the area’s airports also should be considered.

“You have to think beyond the boundaries of the airport,” she said. “For the passenger, the trip doesn’t begin at the gate, it begins when you leave your house.”

Garvey’s comments heartened airport foes, who noted that the county cannot proceed with its building plans until the FAA gives its approval.

“We’re very pleased that the FAA is not going to just buy the county’s politically motivated environmental studies,” said Leonard Kranser, one of the leaders of the anti-airport effort.

However, he said, it remains to be seen whether FAA staff responds to Garvey’s direction, including her promise to expand the noise review. Though every environmental study is required to propose ways of mitigating impacts such as noise, South County residents “don’t get too excited” about efforts to ease the impacts, he said.

“Until they figure out a way to soundproof schoolyards, patios and parks, we would rather not see an airport at all,” Kranser said.

County officials are ready to work with the FAA once they submit a final master plan for the new airport, which should be adopted in May, said Ellen Call, the county’s El Toro spokeswoman.

“We expect that the FAA will conduct a thorough environmental review and we look forward to working with them,” she said.

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Communities around El Toro aren’t the only ones fighting proposed airport growth. Residents around Los Angeles International Airport, for example, are battling an expansion plan there and are demanding that other airports assume more of the travel load.

“One of the great challenges we have, and we haven’t cracked this code, is how do you balance the needs of the national aviation system with local concerns,” Garvey said. “We have a natural tension, and it’s not unique [to El Toro]. We’ve seen it at San Francisco; we’re seeing it at Boston.”

Federal noise law passed in 1991 makes it extremely difficult for local governments to restrict airline operations, including night-time curfews. In return for getting curfews curbed, carriers spent millions to fly the quietest aircraft available.

Garvey said the FAA cannot impose curfews unless an airport first justifies its request through a comprehensive study, which no airport has yet attempted. She wouldn’t comment on expected requests for a curfew at El Toro and an extension of John Wayne Airport’s existing curfew, which expires in 2005.

But she said there are other mitigation measures that can be taken to protect nearby residents from noise, including restrictions on the use of runways and soundproofing programs. She said federal money can be used to help insulate homes even outside the highest noise zone.