DATE: Monday, October 6, 1997               TAG: 9710060061

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN MURPHY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   99 lines

NAVY TAKES VA. BEACH TO SCHOOL CITY LEARNS EXPENSIVE LESSON ON CRASH ZONES; NEW RULES COULD AFFECT STATUS OF SCHOOLS

In 1993, during a series of tense meetings in Norfolk, a federal commission eyed Oceana Naval Air Station for possible closure.

One issue in particular caught its attention: Two elementary schools sat just inside the base's ``accident potential zones'' - areas where off-base crashes are most likely.

Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf responded to the commission's concerns with a promise.

``I took one deep breath and said, `I can tell you that the city would definitely move the schools in order to preserve Oceana,' '' she recalled.

What the city didn't know then was that the Navy had changed its criteria for accident zones years earlier and that the schools would have been outside the zones under the new regulations.

Left in the dark, the Beach committed $21 million to moving Linkhorn Park and Seatack schools.

When the Navy released a study last month that recommended moving up to 180 F/A-18 Hornets to Oceana, the report caught Beach officials unprepared.

Two other schools were now in accident zones.

The latest study was based on new accident and sound zone criteria that had never been shared with the city.

``It was a complete surprise,'' said Robert Matthias, assistant to the city manager and the Beach's liaison to the Navy.

The city based its decision to move schools on the accident zone maps that it thought were still in effect. They were drawn in 1978 and outlined the base's noise and crash zones. According to these maps, Linkhorn Park and Seatack sat inside the accident potential zone.

``We made the decision with the best information we had at the time,'' Oberndorf said.

In fact, the criteria had been quietly updated twice since those maps were drawn for Oceana.

In 1978, the Navy drew Oceana's maps based on accident potential zones that extended from the end of a runway, flaring out from the clear zone and ending where aircraft reached an altitude of 500 feet.

Just one year later, in 1979, the Navy established new criteria for accident potential zones. Under its guidelines, such areas should extend 15,000 feet from the end of a runway, be 3,000 feet wide, and curve to follow the flight path of the aircraft.

In 1988, those rules were updated to include the downwind leg of an aircraft's flight track.

But the Navy never applied either set of newer regulations to Oceana. And the Navy never told the Beach nor its congressional representatives about the rules changes and their potential impact on the base.

So the maps that the city's and Oceana's noise and accident officials relied on for nearly two decades were never updated.

``There was nothing to trigger a change,'' said Herb Josey, a Navy spokesman, in explaining why no new maps were drawn for Oceana.

According to Navy regulations, the noise and accident potential zone maps should be updated ``periodically,'' along with base master plan updates or as part of an environmental impact analysis before a major mission change.

In 1985, Oceana did undergo a master plan update, a study similar to a city's comprehensive plan, in which the base creates a blueprint for land use.

Navy officials said the Navy had considered using the new accident regulations to update the maps at that time, but ruled against it.

Navy officials said that they believed there was no need because the air station's mission and aircraft had not changed significantly since 1978.

Josey said that noise and accident zone updates are not made in ``lock step'' with a master plan update.

The Navy also said there was no need to inform the city of the new criteria.

``I don't think anyone could predict the future,'' Josey said. ``. . . There is always the potential for change in the mission. I don't think anyone could have looked into a crystal ball.''

City officials say they wished they had had this information.

``I think a lot of people are embarrassed by this,'' Matthias said. ``We can't find any who knew definitively about the zones. . . . I think the Navy is still trying to find out what happened.''

The city probably would not have moved Linkhorn Park, had it known about the new criteria, Matthias said.

But the city would still have moved Seatack because its school yard remains in the new accident potential zone, he said.

Work on the new $12 million Linkhorn Park Elementary School on First Colonial Road is about half complete. The city has purchased the land for a Seatack replacement, but has not begun construction on the $9 million facility.

Matthias also pointed out that if the city had the new criteria in 1994, it might also have had to consider moving two other elementary schools that are now in the proposed zones: Brookwood and Plaza.

It is still not known whether the city will need to move those schools. The city has hired a private consultant to double check the Navy's updated accident potential zones and noise zones.

``It's spilled milk. It's time to move on,'' Matthias said of the information gap.

Matthias, however, said the city has learned from the experience.

``What I've learned is that local Navy people are very informed, but as you look further up the ladder more people are isolated and less aware of local issues,'' he said, adding that the Navy has learned a ``painful lesson.'' ILLUSTRATION: OLD CRASH ZONE CAUSES RELOCATIONS

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