RYAN WILLIAMS -- Community Commentary

This letter concerns the El Toro Airport debate. The problem raised by

noise pollution over Eastbluff and the Back Bay by an expanded John Wayne

Airport is real and needs to be addressed. The noise now is horrendous.

Every three to five minutes a plane takes off. If you are outside,

walking your dog, horseback riding, or among a class of students enjoying

the spring sun, all conversation ceases as these planes roar overhead. An

expanded airport at John Wayne, the alternative of no airport at El Toro,

will surely increase the noise and decrease housing prices in the local

neighborhoods.

The opponents of building the airport at El Toro, many of whom would

rather expand John Wayne, seldom discuss noise pollution and its burden

on the citizens of Newport Beach. As it is now, real estate prices

incorporate and reflect John Wayne’s presence. This is true because

buyers of property in Eastbluff understand there is noise associated with

the particular location. This becomes one of many factors in the price of

the property.

Currently, the largest airplane that flies out of John Wayne is a

Boeing 757 and it flies only between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Under some proposals, this will change. Expanding John Wayne will have

two implications. The first regards the size of planes; no longer will

757s be the noisiest and heaviest planes taking off. With larger planes,

some unable to execute the rapid, extremely vertical, stomach-dropping

takeoff, the noise over the neighborhoods will dramatically increase. The

second implication concerns the operating hours of the airport. Overnight

delivery companies desperately want to use the airport. This will

increase traffic, especially during the night, and the now familiar noise

will occur at all hours.

Combining these two factors spells disaster for the local area. When

the airport expands, the price of real estate will dramatically decrease.

The current airport is acceptable because the housing prices accurately

reflect the current level of noise. However, the prospect of expansion is

quite new, and few areas realize what it will do to the cost of their

home. Unless the airport and city attempts to prop up real estate prices

or reconsiders the expanded airport, homeowners and businesses will see

their property values fall thanks to rise of takeoff noise.

* RYAN WILLIAMS is a 1997 graduate of Corona del Mar High School and a

junior at the United States Military Academy. The views expressed here do

not represent the views of the US Military Academy nor the Departments of

Defense or the Army.