What’s Much Too Much for Many Is Not Much to Some

It was barely 7:30 p.m. and only one test flight had roared over her Rancho Santa Margarita home, but Belinda Christensen had heard enough.

“When it went over, I just thought, ‘I’m moving,’ ” said Christensen, 44, who was making dinner with her husband when the plane drowned out their conversation. “If we were talking on the phone, we’d have to wait a minute. If we were watching television, you’d have to turn it up a few notches. This is no way to live.”

Across South County on Friday, people’s attention was drawn to a cloudy sky as the county embarked on its long-awaited and controversy-shrouded demonstration of what commercial flights might sound like going to and from a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which is set to close in less than a month.

Many did not like what they heard. And saw.

Residents living on a Laguna Niguel hillside were startled by how close to the ground the descending planes came.

“We’re within tennis ball-throwing distance from them,” said Gail Brunell, 42, who lives on Niguel Summit, about 1,800 feet above sea level. “We were outside and it just felt like you could reach out and touch the plane.”

Some, though, were surprised by what they perceived as quieter-than-expected jets. And some who were undecided about the airport said the demonstration didn’t push them into either camp.

“I don’t like it, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be, either,” said Colleen Gyiraszin, 38, who was sitting at Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch on Friday night. “Then again, you have to think about this kind of air traffic times a hundred.”

Tania Barton, 40, of Laguna Hills, said she was worried less about the sound than the possible repercussions of an airport.

“What about the strip clubs that are going to move in?” she said. “What about the traffic? What about the pollution? What about the congestion?”

And what about complaints? David Gross, 46, of Laguna Beach said that when he called the noise abatement number for El Toro complaints, the voice mailbox was full.

“I find it amusing that they don’t have live human beings there to take complaints after they’ve spent all that money,” Gross said.

Calls to Supervisor Charles V. Smith’s office also were answered by a recording saying that the mailbox was full. Gross said he fears that when the complaint calls are tallied, the count will not be accurate because only a limited number will have been registered.

“It’s frustrating, and it’s unfair to people,” Gross said.

James Campbell, Smith’s aide, said the voicemail system can handle only a limited number of calls, and that he expected to clear the machines this morning.

“We’ll definitely take note of what’s said by the constituents,” he said, “But remember, we got 50 constituent calls [Friday] morning to tell us how horrible it was, and no planes went over.”

In Irvine, though, at least two people found the noise surprisingly light. Jennie Murphy and Dick Samstag were in Meadowood Park in Northwood to videotape flights and check noise levels with a hand-held monitor.

The couple sat quietly as the first flight took off over their heads about 5:45 p.m., moving higher toward the Santa Ana Mountains to the north, then banking to the west.

“I thought it would be louder, didn’t you?” Murphy said as the plane trailed off into the evening.

In Dana Point, incoming planes flew over a surfer-studded beach and the crowded Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel. Terri Moore of Irvine, who was tending bar at a small courtyard pool at the resort, said, “They already got their toll road. That seemed like enough. First they take the land. Then they take the air. What are they leaving us?”

Times staff writers Scott Martelle, Jean O. Pasco and E. Scott Reckard contributed to this report.