PANEL TO EXAMINE EFFECT OF NAVY TESTS ON PLEASURE BOATING.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

In a decision praised by worried homeowners, the California Coastal Commission agreed Tuesday to study whether defense system tests using low-flying Navy Lear jets would interfere with coastal recreation.

Under a plan now under review, the jets would fly as close as 1-1/2 miles from the coastline.

The Navy wants to conduct the flights - or mock attacks - in conjunction with the $100 million Surface Weapons Engineering Facility at Port Hueneme, which simulates shipboard defense systems.

However, the tests have raised the ire of beachfront residents in Silver Strand, an unincorporated area near Oxnard. The residents say the flights would be dangerous and noisy.

Jets would fly at speeds of more than 325 mph, sometimes flying as low as 100 feet above the water. The flights would stretch as far south as Point Dume, said Marilyn Bryant of the Silver Strand Legal Defense Trust Fund, which represents property owners.

The commission members voted 8-2 at their meeting in Carmel to follow the revised recommendation of their staff and consider whether the low flights would hinder recreational boating.

The staff originally had found the flights would not impact pleasure boating.

But the Navy released a supplemental environmental impact report stating that some flights may come as close as 500 feet to boats offshore. Then, the commission staff changed its recommendation and urged the Coastal Commission members to study the flights further.

``There was a lot of concern about the sound impacts of the project,'' said Tom Crandall, commission deputy director.

Homeowners who traveled to the meeting were ecstatic about the decision. They have been fighting the test flight plan since it was announced in 1992.

``I think it's sensational. We're very happy,'' Bryant said.

Navy officials were unavailable for comment late Tuesday.

The Strategic Weapons Engineering Facility at the Navy's Port Hueneme Construction Battalion Center is designed to test shipboard offensive and defensive systems. It was built at a cost of $9 million and packed with $89 million in electronic gear. It allows engineers to test equipment during simulated battles and to train equipment operators.

The Navy says having the tests at the weapons facility saves taxpayers $13 million a year because tests at sea would require extensive support from Navy fleets.

The Port Hueneme Division Naval Surface Warfare Center is asking the Federal Aviation Administration for a ``special use airspace'' to allow military-operated jets to penetrate the normal three-mile coastal airspace barrier.

The Navy hopes to begin the test flights by the end of the summer.