Insulating Residents From El Toro

Homes under the flight path of the proposed international airport at El Toro should receive sound insulation from the county, a key project supporter said Saturday on the second day of commercial flight demonstrations in south Orange County.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Charles V. Smith made the pronouncement from the deck of a home in Aliso Viejo just after a Boeing 757-200 roared a few thousand feet overhead toward the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The flight was one of two dozen that took off and landed at the base Saturday as part of the county’s effort to test the noise levels of the proposed airport.

“It may be that we have to mitigate these houses,” Smith said after homeowner John Rizzi, a 33-year-old computer consultant, predicted that an airport would cause “For Sale” signs to pop up in the community “like new Web pages.”

Up to now, county officials have said sound insulation of existing homes around the base is unlikely because noise from the jets would fall well below state limits. But after touring portions of Laguna Woods and Aliso Viejo on Saturday, Smith said noise from a Boeing 747 was loud enough that supervisors should consider a mitigation program for some homes.

An extensive soundproofing program around El Toro could add millions of dollars to the $1.4-billion price tag for converting the base into a commercial airport. It cost the county $22,000 to $30,000 to insulate homes in Santa Ana Heights next to John Wayne Airport.

There are several thousand homes under El Toro’s arrival path, though Smith didn’t say how many he thought should be considered for insulation.

Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson, who opposes the airport plan, said there isn’t enough money to mitigate the airport’s noise effect on the surrounding community.

“It’s a step in the right direction to understanding the problem,” Wilson said of Smith’s statements. “But you can’t just throw money at it. . . . You might as well just buy all of South County.”

Supervisors approved spending $1.3 million on the two-day flight test, which concluded Saturday, as a way of proving that the noise wouldn’t be as bad as feared.

Eight commercial airliners landed and took off about four dozen times over the two days.

Compared to Friday’s flights--which were canceled, delayed or redirected during the day’s gloomy weather--Saturday’s flights went off smoothly.

Pilots were restricted to flying only in clear weather because the Marines already removed a navigation system for guiding planes in bad weather.

James Campbell, an aide to Smith, said the test “narrows our focus” as to what areas will experience significant noise if an airport is built.

He said residents in Irvine and Mission Viejo, for example, indicated they were less bothered by planes, which flew relatively high overhead.

Lori and Scott DeStefano said they heard the jets but weren’t that bothered by the noise. The couple put their house on the market a week ago but plan to move to a larger house nearby.

“To be honest, I didn’t think it was that bad, but then my girlfriend called me on the phone and she was standing outside [when a jet flew over] and I could hear it,” said Lori DeStefano, 31, a flight attendant. “We’re not happy about it, but by the time it opens, who knows where we’ll be.”

At the Rizzi residence in Aliso Viejo, however, the noise was a problem.

“You can’t imagine noise like that every three minutes,” said Jeri Rizzi, snuggling 3-month-old Cameron, as the 757 flew above.

For many prospective home buyers, the two-day flight demonstration was a chance to conduct personal noise research for decisions about whether to sell their homes, or to buy new ones.

Discussions at several sales offices in east Irvine, near the airport’s proposed northern runway, centered more on flight paths and altitudes than lot sizes or home upgrades.

John Dade, who earlier put a deposit on a home in the Arborcrest development in Irvine’s Northwood village, drove there Saturday to listen to what his future neighborhood would sound like should the airport be built.

Dade, a Newport Coast resident who voted for the airport during the 1994 countywide vote, said he didn’t realize his new house would someday be “right in the middle of a flight pattern.”

“I was pro-airport then,” he said. “But now I’m not so sure.”

He recalled how the noise from John Wayne Airport aggravated him when he used to live in Newport Beach, particularly the early morning takeoffs.

“Believe me, when they start at 7 a.m., at 7:01 you’re up,” he said.

But Dade’s son, 16-year-old Phil Dade, urged his father to think about how nice it would be “not to have to drive to LAX all the time.”

And the teenager scoffed at the jet noise. “I don’t think it’ll wake me up,” he said.

Jane and Ralph Kenter visited the Arborcrest development to help them make a decision: build a house under the proposed airport’s landing strip, or under one of its takeoff routes. The couple already reserved a lot in Laguna Niguel, but are now considering settling in Irvine.

After scurrying outside the sales office to catch sight of and sound of a passing jet, the Kenters were hardly any closer to making a decision.

“It’s just loud,” Jane Kenter said.

“Try sitting out on your back patio and listen to that every few minutes,” her husband said.

They decided to head back to Laguna Niguel and wait for some more landings.

Saturday’s flight demonstration turned into roadside “listening” parties for some, including the Flashberg family from Lake Forest, who set up lawn chairs and cameras and held binoculars from the shoulder of Barranca Parkway in Irvine.

Dana Flashberg, 16, said she wants to be a pilot someday, and eagerly watched the takeoffs and landings.

“I’m obsessed with airplanes,” she said. “I have to admit it.”

Her mother, Linda Flashberg, said she supported the airport proposal. While the family lives nearby, but not directly under, the flight path, Linda Flashberg said they couldn’t hear any jet noise during Friday’s demonstration flights.

“I don’t think it’s going to get here fast enough,” she said of the airport.

Back in Aliso Viejo, there was little excitement as prospective buyers checked out a 2,750-square-foot home near the arrival path.

Aliso Viejo resident Bill White, a real estate broker, was baby-sitting an open house for sellers who bought a new home in Monarch Beach.

The sellers weren’t home, but their two young children had left a toy “International Airport” assembled and ready for play on the family room table.

“I resent the fact that someone from Los Alamitos can vote to put an airport in my backyard,” said White, referring to the 1994 countywide vote that designated El Toro for a future airport.

“The Catch-22 is that there are great schools here, and it’s a great area for families. Then you have the airport,” he said.

“I question the need for it. You have such a great community here; there are so many other things that could be done” with the base.