Aurora – Air Force officials have told Aurora that the flying mission of Buckley Air Force Base is threatened by a plan to allow homes “directly under” the flight pattern of F-16 fighter jets.
“We are getting more and more boxed in because of development,” said John Spann, chief of public affairs for the 460th Space Wing at Buckley. “There is an issue out there that we need to tell the City Council that they need to protect Buckley.”
In a letter last month, base officials warned the city that if residential encroachment continues, Colorado Air National Guard’s flying mission at Buckley could be at risk.
Losing the jets would be a hard hit for the base, which is also home to the 460th Space Wing. The base as a whole is estimated to provide more than $1 billion annually in economic impact to the region.
Nevertheless, an investment group is seeking a zoning change to allow more than 1,000 homes on 200 acres in a development called Murphy Creek North, about three-quarters of a mile from the Buckley runway.
The area is currently zoned for research and development. Aurora’s planning commission advised against the zoning change.
The issue has become a wrest ling match between two of Aurora’s favorite groups – Buckley Air Force Base and developers. Members of the neighboring Aurora Gun Club also are fighting the zoning change.
The U.S. Air Force will urge the City Council at its Aug. 28 meeting to deny the request because base officials don’t want to hear more complaints about jet noise.
The base has about 18 F-16s and supports the largest combat flying mission in the Rocky Mountain region. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the F-16s are loaded with weapons and on 24-hour alert, said Col. Trulan Eyre, commander of the Colorado Air National Guard’s 140th operations group.
The jets fly Tuesdays through Fridays and one weekend a month. They turn to reposition themselves for landing about 1,700 feet above Murphy Creek North, Eyre said.
The jets generate about three complaints a week from the 5,000 residents of Murphy Creek, say Buckley officials, who anticipate more complaints as the base gains aircraft, or as the F-16 is phased out for the more powerful F-35.
The issue of homes being built around Buckley has reached the office of U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., who has urged Aurora to restrict any residential development around the base “that would impede flight operations at Buckley,” said Sean Conway, Allard’s chief of staff.
“Many of these facilities were built in remote areas outside of urban areas,” Conway said. “Over the years, urban encroachment has descended on these installations and have compromised their missions. When you have urban encroachment, you have to go somewhere else.”
It happened at Lowry Air Force Base.
Encroachment forced the base to close its runways in 1966, moving planes to Buckley. In 1994, Lowry closed altogether, a victim of base realignment.
Buckley has been open since 1942 and was the auxiliary airfield for Lowry Army Air Field, where aircrews for the B-17 Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers were trained.
The 5,740-acre base was an outpost on high, empty plains. But those plains aren’t empty anymore. Aurora projects 80,000 additional residents will live along the E-470 corridor within a decade or two.
Development on Buckley’s western side and the opening of Denver International Airport already have forced the Air Force to change how it flies. The base closed its east-west runway in the early 1990s, and jets now use the north-south runway and perform vertical takeoffs – rocketing immediately to 15,000 feet. They land using a spiral descent that concentrates the noise around the airport, Eyre said.
But Fred Mould bought his house near Murphy Creek when the jets flew out of the east-west runway. Now, they fly over his home as they prepare to land.
“When the planes come through here … all life ceases until they pass,” he said. “You cannot hear, cannot talk on the phone, your TV won’t go loud enough. It becomes unbearable.”
Aurora has worked to make sure residents and Buckley can coexist, said Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer. Development is planned to restrict any homes in areas where the average daily noise is louder than 60 decibels – roughly the level of a hairdryer or a quiet lawn mower. That’s more strict than federal mandates.
In 1998, Aurora’s master plan for the E-470 corridor preserved areas to the east of Buckley, forbidding homes to be built but allowing for commercial uses.
In the Murphy Creek development south of the runway, homes were allowed because they were far enough away – in the 55-decibel range. But all homes have double-paned windows, thick insulation and air conditioning.
Homeowners were told at closing that they were moving next to an airfield.
“They’re loud,” said Danny Devlin, who has lived in the development since it opened. “But I enjoy watching them.”
Michael Sheldon, attorney for the developers, said Murphy Creek North homeowners will know what they are getting into.
“We’re going to put notices on deeds,” he said. “They will say, ‘You live near this airport. They have military planes. They can be noisy. Be advised that you live in this environment.’ It can be compatible. We can coexist.”
Tauer said the city will not hurt Buckley’s flying mission.
“I hope that we can find something that works with the Air Force and keeps the city vibrant,” he said.
Kevin Hougen, president of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, said the city should be careful.
“My concern is 20 years from now,” he said. “It would be a real shame 20 years from now to lose the 140th or lose the possibility for more advanced aircraft.”To make its case, Air Force officials have brought the mayor and developers to the site while the planes fly overhead.
“We want to be friendly about this,” said the Air Force’s Eyre. “We understand that you can’t hold back progress. … We aren’t drawing a line in the sand, but we need to make people aware: You buy here, you develop here, this is what you’re in for.”
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
