Pendleton’s Plan for Copter Strips Upsets Neighbors

Plans for two new 3,000-foot runways at Camp Pendleton to handle up to 430 helicopter takeoffs and landings daily are stirring opposition by San Clemente residents who say the noise will drive them out of their homes.

The two strips will be built at the northwest corner of the base--about 3 1/2 miles from San Clemente, just east of Interstate 5. They are needed for the overflow of helicopters diverted to Camp Pendleton by the closure of the Tustin and El Toro bases, a Marine Corps spokesman said Friday.

The first strip, a grass field, should be completed by next March, said Michael Collier, civilian project manager. The second strip, which will be paved, will be operational in 2003, he said.

Although the new strips are intended only for helicopter use, Collier said the military cannot guarantee that fixed-wing aircraft will not use them in the future. However, Camp Pendleton’s existing air field, located at the southwest corner of the base, is not used by airplanes, he said.

Some San Clemente residents learned of the construction plans in August, one month after the Pentagon gave final approval to the project. They said the Marine Corps waited until the last moment to announce the project.

Dan Walker, a leader of a local opposition group, accused the Marines of deliberately keeping residents in the dark about the project and refusing to release details. About 400 San Clemente residents met with Camp Pendleton officials Tuesday night, he said, but nothing was accomplished.

“There was no news from the Marines,” Walker said. “They’re going through with their basic game plan to build the landing strips. They refused our request to have a town meeting in San Clemente and scheduled one at the base instead.”

Collier said planning for the new runways began in 1992, before the closures of the Tustin Marine Corps Air Facility and El Toro Marine Corps Air Station were announced, but their need was actually recognized 25 years ago.

“The skies over Camp Pendleton are becoming more crowded and dangerous,” said Collier. “The safety issue was first recognized back in the 1970s. The closing of El Toro and Tustin exacerbated the issue when their helicopters were moved to Camp Pendleton.”

The camp’s air base cannot safely handle the 180 helicopters assigned there, he said. Of those, 43 aircraft were previously stationed at the two closed Orange County bases.

According to Collier, the site for the new strips was chosen from 12 locations that were studied, 11 at Camp Pendleton and one at the Twentynine Palms Marine Base. Until recently, the land in the base’s picturesque San Mateo Valley was used as a rifle range.

The west end of the valley, which is leased as farmland, is visible from Interstate 5 just north of Basilone Road.

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Collier said military planners projected that 40 to 50 helicopters will use the two strips every day, five days a week, so pilots can practice takeoffs and landings. He said about 430 takeoffs and landings will be performed daily.

Plans call for the strips to be used mostly Monday through Friday, 250 days a year, but Army, Marine and Navy reservists will occasionally use them on weekends.

Flight training on the base normally ends at 5 p.m. Monday and Friday and at midnight on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, according to Marine spokeswoman Capt. Kim Miller.

None of the aircraft will fly over San Clemente, Marine officials said; all flight routes will start and end to the south of the planned runways.

However, that is little consolation to Walker and other San Clemente residents who oppose the facilities. He said that residents who live in the Sea Ridge Estates, Mystery Ridge, Presidential Heights and other nearby developments already get an earful of Marine training every day.

“We can hear the Marines when they do physical training in the morning, yelling and shouting,” Walker said. “We can hear their everyday activities very well.”

The San Mateo Valley is like a natural amphitheater, where every sound is amplified, he added.

Walker helped organize the community for Tuesday’s meeting. But he says the politicians in Washington who planned the base closures are equally to blame.

“When the base closures were planned, they failed to consider the impact it would have on other communities like ours,” Walker said. “The helicopters were sent from El Toro to Camp Pendleton, but nobody thought how we might be impacted. I’m not sure if it was a political error or if they considered it and decided we were expendable.”