'Quiet' Zones Home to Jet-Noise Complaints

By JEAN O. PASCO

Feb. 18, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Colleen and Phil Smoot live on Balboa Island in Newport Harbor, a place where boat horns and sea gulls would seem the obvious culprits for occasionally jarring the seaside tranquillity.

Yet, the first number on their telephone’s speed dial is the noise complaint office at John Wayne Airport.

“We try just to call when it’s really annoying, when you have to stop conversation,” Colleen Smoot said.

Their problems with loud jets are the very concerns that South Orange County residents have about a proposed international airport to replace the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Anti-airport residents point to complaints like the Smoots’ to argue why the county’s assurances of a “quiet” new airport ring hollow.

“Why are people four to six miles from the airport complaining about noise that the county says shouldn’t bother them? For good reason,” said Len Kransner, who operates an anti-El Toro Web site.

The Smoots live four miles away from the John Wayne runways in an area that is supposed to be quiet. In fact, nearly all the complaints last year came from areas deemed quiet by county planners, according to a Times review of noise reports at John Wayne Airport.

The bulk of the calls came during summer months when people spend more time outdoors and keep their windows open, airport noise analyst Al Brady said. The complaints dwindled in winter months.

The Smoots, in particular, have been diligent, so much so that they accounted for about 40% of the 1,916 noise complaints logged at the airport last year. On some days, they called a dozen times to notify the airport of loud noise from departing jets. But they say their complaints simply reflect those of their neighbors as well.

“We just want to preserve a record and make sure everyone is following the rules,” said Colleen Smoot, who moved with her husband to Balboa Island in 1984 from Tustin.

Airlines that violate the airport’s strict noise limits are fined. No fines, though, were levied in 1998, county officials said.

Relatively few noise complaints came from Santa Ana Heights, a neighborhood that starts about 1,500 feet from the end of the runway from which planes usually depart. However, new homes were barred there 14 years ago because average noise levels exceeded the state limit of 65 decibels. Remaining homes were soundproofed at county expense.

Residents living outside the 65-decibel zone don’t qualify for the same protections.

Still, it isn’t average noise that causes people to complain about jets at John Wayne Airport.

Most of last year’s complaints were triggered by individual departing flights that caused noise monitors to spike into the high 80- to low 90-decibel range. Comparatively, a motorcycle 25 feet away generates about 90 decibels.

“Single-event levels are high, and that’s what people react to, not an average of noise,” said Kransner, who also analyzed John Wayne Airport noise complaints. “When the phone rings in the middle of the night, it’s no less annoying.”

Meg Waters, spokeswoman for a coalition of South County cities, said residents near El Toro weren’t happy, either, about occasional military jets, which are about 10 times louder than commercial jets.

“The only magic to 65 decibels is that, if you’re outside [the zone] you don’t get soundproofing money for your home,” she said. “It has nothing to do with quiet.”

While residents focus on the intermittent roar that shakes the dishes, it is average noise levels on which county planners and state regulators base their decisions.

State noise law regulates airports, freeways and other noise generators based on sound averaged over 24 hours, which factors single bursts of noise along with longer periods of relative quiet. The averaging is called the Community Noise Equivalency Level or CNEL. Homes are not allowed within the 65-decibel CNEL zone unless soundproofed.

In addition, John Wayne Airport keeps track of how much noise each aircraft makes, called the Single Event Noise Exposure Level. The longer the noise lasts, the higher the SENEL reading goes. The airport must keep track of the sound each jet makes so it can enforce noise limits. It also maintains a night-time curfew among other restrictions.

South County residents view John Wayne Airport as a model for the noise levels they could expect and the protections they deserve. But it’s unlikely they will be able to get similar protections because the airport’s restrictions are contained in a 1985 court agreement--and those restrictions are scheduled to expire in 2005.

The proposed El Toro airport, meantime, is planned for commercial jets departing an average of every five minutes around-the-clock. Flights would land every nine minutes.

County planners insist that strict noise limits like those at John Wayne Airport aren’t necessary at El Toro.

They argue that the vast stretches of the 4,700-acre, mostly undeveloped base, are the best protection against noise. About 2,000 acres are planned for the airport, which by 2020 would serve about 24 million passengers a year.

John Wayne Airport, on the other hand, sits on about 500 acres and serves about 8 million passengers a year.

For jets arriving at El Toro, the nearest homes to the runway--about two miles away at Leisure World in Laguna Hills--would escape the loudest noise, which would be confined to undeveloped land.

According to noise studies released in December, Leisure World would experience the highest average airport noise, at 64 decibels. Noise in Aliso Viejo, also under the arrival path, is expected to be 62 decibels.

For jets departing El Toro to the east, the closest homes would be six miles away in Rancho Santa Margarita. Jets leaving to the north would be 12 miles from the first homes in Anaheim Hills.

“The bottom line is that the vast majority of Orange County’s 2.6 million residents, north and south, will experience little or no noise from the new airport,” El Toro airport planning manager Courtney Wiercioch contends.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Noise Zone

Most noise complaints generated by John Wayne Airport last year came from areas miles away, in neighborhoods deemed quiet by the county. Faced with much more air traffic at the proposed airport at El Toro, south Orange County residents fear that their so-called quiet areas will resonate with the sound of aircraft 24 hours a day.

Fourth quarter 1998 complaints by area

Balboa/Corona del Mar: 50%

Westcliff: 13%

Tustin/Orange: 9%

Costa Mesa: 7%

Eastbluff: 4%

Santa Ana: 3%

Santa Ana Heights: 2%

Other areas: 12%

****

Total 1998 complaints

Jan. 1-March 31: 332