I think the question most people try to ask themselves when buying in OH is not whether you can live with pesticide, but whether it's a lesser evil than the other potential health hazard in another village.
I believe when you research into every Irvine community, you will find something undesirable. So is the only answer moving out of Irvine? Or CA all together?
So what can we do as residents?
I think having the whole community petition the orchard owner to go organic is a good idea. But what if that leads to him being unprofitable and closing down his operations? What if we lose the orchards that actually makes this village unique and comfortable? Maybe a happy median could be made.
Im guessing we would need to find out who the owner is, what type of pesticide he's using, gather related health studies of the type of chemical and method he's using, and petition the city or the owner directly to switch to an alternate method. Since this all sounds very costly, would we involve the HOA to fork any legal bill? Then it means we probably will need to raise the HOA dues. Will we be able to get enough support to increase the dues for such an endeavor?
Having a sick child and watching them suffer is horrible. I'm sorry your family is dealing with that. I remember always being sick when I was still very young living overseas. When I moved to the U.S. my allergies disappeared. Hopefully changing the filters frequently and having some air purifiers in the house will help him.
Also I find that a lot of us pump the AC continuously during these hot summer days. It always feels very good for our whole family, including our little ones' nose when we shut off the thermometer and let some "fresh" air circulate through the house.