'Buy us out,' say residents boxed in by Sanford runways: Residents say noise, vibration makes homes unlivable, unsalable

When Kathleen Iosue feels her house start rumbling, hears her glasses clinking and sees the big mirror on a wall near her kitchen jiggling, she knows what it means: Another jet is taking off from Orlando Sanford International Airport, just a few thousand feet from her yard.

"You feel everything vibrating," said Iosue, 67. She has even glued knickknacks on to shelves to keep them from falling during takeoffs.

Less than a mile away, James McDonnell had the same problem until the roar of jet engines forced him to move last year.

"I know a plane is taking off because all the china starts rattling," said McDonnell, who still owns the airport house. "That happens several times a day. … And if I'm watching a movie, I have to pause it, wait about a minute and then start it playing again."

Iosue and McDonnell moved to the neighborhood years ago, when the area was mostly pastureland and the Sanford airport was much smaller. But in the past few years, the airport has expanded, trapping their homes between its two lengthened runways.

Now they want the Sanford Airport Authority to buy their houses and land. McDonnell filed a lawsuit in 2011 against the airport, claiming the constant noise has made it impossible for him to sell his home on 5 wooded acres.

"I'm saying, 'For the love of God, take my property,'" said McDonnell, 64, raising his voice as an Allegiant jet thundered over his house last week. "It's intolerable to live here. … It just wears you down."

Last year, McDonnell had enough and moved into a Kissimmee home once owned by his wife's family.

Larry Dale, the airport's chief executive officer, said he could not comment on residents' claims because of pending litigation. But he said the airport cannot buy the properties, including McDonnell's, because they're not needed for the airport's expansion plans.

"We can't just go out and buy property because someone asks us to," Dale said. "We need to have a need. … We're not just rolling in dough."

About a dozen homes lie between the runways at the east end of the airport.

Dale pointed out that Allegiant is adding Airbus A320s to its fleet. They're quieter than the older McDonnell Douglas MD-80s used by Allegiant.

On Aug. 30, Seminole County Chief Circuit Judge Alan Dickey threw out McDonnell's lawsuit, saying that he has moved away from the airport. However, that decision has been delayed while Dickey rules on whether he should give the case to another judge. A motion filed by McDonnell's lawyer claims that the judge should recuse himself because a conversation between Dickey and Dale in the courthouse lobby showed that the two men "had a long-standing, friendly relationship."

The Orlando Sanford Airport, just south of Lake Monroe in Seminole County, has nearly 300,000 takeoffs and landings a year. Only Allegiant offers regularly scheduled domestic passenger service there, but the airport also handles charter flights from overseas.

This year, the airport is expected to have 2 million passengers. That's a big difference from the early 1990s, when it had barely 50,000 passengers a year and 225,000 flights — half of them from small planes at the old Comair Aviation Academy.

During the past 10 years, the airport has bought 72 acres to extend its runways for handling bigger planes. The shorter southern runway was extended in 2008. The extension of the northern runway was completed in March.

McDonnell bought his wooded property on Beardall Avenue in 1998 for $114,000. The land is covered with large trees draped with Spanish moss.

"I can't sell my property. ... It used to be a great place. But now it's not anymore."

He's asking that the airport buy his property based on an appraisal ordered by the court. A recent appraisal done for McDonnell showed his property is worth about $772,000, but an appraisal conducted for the airport came in at about $400,000. The Seminole County property appraiser, meanwhile, shows a taxable value of $166,000.

Jim Hill, 68, has lived on Beardall Avenue since 1979. He learned to fly small planes from the airport when it was much smaller.

But today, like others in the neighborhood, he is kept awake at night by the noise of the airport's big planes. Mechanics regularly rev planes' engines to test them, he said.

"They work on them all night. They'll run those engines for an hour. One day, they did it at 3 a.m., another day at 1 a.m. And it rattles the windows and keeps us awake."

Hill also wants the airport to buy his 100-year-old house and land, which is dotted with large oaks.

"There is no way we could sell it to anybody," he said.

Iosue, whose home is next to the southern runway, said she also is kept awake by bright-red runway lights that blink into her bedroom at night.

"When we first moved here [in 2000], we had some little planes fly by, and it was cute," Iosue said. "But now we worry about the future. I mean, would you buy this house?"

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