Pentagon clips airport authority's wings

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Saturday, May 14, 2005 10:34 PM PDT ∞

Up in the air. That may be the best way to describe the search for a new airport site after the Pentagon recommended Friday that military operations continue at bases the San Diego County Airport Authority is eyeing for a new facility.

The authority is searching for a site to accommodate a dual-runway airfield to replace downtown San Diego's aging and increasingly crowded Lindbergh Field.

Its list of potential sites is now at nine, winnowed from an original list of 32 when the authority, established by the Legislature in 2001, took over operation of Lindbergh and began its site search in 2003.

Five of the nine sites still on its list are military bases. They include Camp Pendleton, two sites at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, North Island Naval Air Station and March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County.

The Pentagon shot down the likelihood of any of those sites undergoing a transformation to a civilian airport. Its recommendations, in what is the fifth round of nationwide base closures authorized by Congress since 1988, now go to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which is unlikely to add any local base to the suggested closure list.

To add a base, seven of the nine commissioner must agree. Past commissions have added few bases to the Pentagon's recommendations.

The chances of a joint-use airfield, combining military and civilian commercial and cargo aircraft, also is remote.

So what now?

The authority still has sites in Borrego Springs in the far eastern area of San Diego County and an unspecified desert site in Imperial County on its list of civilian sites.

Earlier this month, however, both sites were recommended for elimination because each is more than a 60-minute drive for many county residents.

If the authority's nine-member board eventually eliminates Borrego Springs and Imperial County, the remaining civilian options are the Campo region in the southeastern part of the county, or expanding Lindbergh Field.

Lindbergh is forecast to be out of room to handle projected increases in cargo and passenger demand in about 15 years. It is now the nation's busiest single-runway airport.

The prospect of adding a second runway by taking over the Marine Corps Recruit Depot that adjoins Lindbergh appears to be moot. The Pentagon's base closure recommendations keep the depot as the Marine Corps' West Coast recruit center, a facility that trains about 20,000 enlistees each year.

Cunningham proposal

U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, pledged Friday to work with the authority as it moves toward an airport recommendation. The state law that established the authority requires that a recommendation go before county voters in November 2006.

Cunningham, a highly decorated, Vietnam War-era Navy pilot, former Top Gun flight instructor and member of Congress since 1990, said he wants to reopen consideration of using Brown Field near Chula Vista for a cargo airport. Previous proposals to move cargo operations there were eventually abandoned.

"The battle's been fought with the airport authority that wanted to study all those military sites," Cunningham said, referring to the authority's once set, but now abandoned, plans to begin examining area bases this month. "I will now assist the airport authority with its search and propose putting a cargo airport at Brown Field and dredging out the harbor to expand Lindbergh."

Cunningham, who sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, had vowed to do everything in their power to keep the military at Miramar and the recruit depot. Hunter is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy said Friday that he was pleased with the Pentagon's recommendation to keep Miramar operating as a Marine Corps air base, adding that the city does not favor it being used as a civilian airfield.

"It is unlikely there would be any kind of civilian airport operations there," Murphy said.

Pressure on the authority

The nine members who make up the board of the airport authority succumbed to pressure from state and federal lawmakers earlier this year and agreed to refrain from any discussion or study of military sites until the Base Realignment and Closure Commission completes its work.

Attempts to get any comments about the Pentagon's recommendations were met with a "no comment" Friday.

Board member Robert Maxwell of Oceanside said that responding tersely was the instruction given all board members by airport Chief Executive Officer Thella Bowens.

Maxwell said that he anticipates the June meeting of the authority board will concentrate heavily on the remaining civilian sites.

Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, chastised the authority board for its plans to eliminate Imperial County. Filner and an Imperial County supervisor appeared before the board and said there was widespread support in that county for an airport.

Filner, whose district includes Imperial County, envisions building a high-speed train that would whisk people from San Diego to an Imperial County airport.

Construction of such a train is estimated to cost as much as $10 billion or more, while construction of a new airport would cost somewhere between $1 billion and $10 billion, according to the airport authority.

Filner said the authority's plan to drop Imperial County was short-sighted. He contended the authority needed to be more creative in its thinking and envision an airport that would serve the entire region for the next 100 years.

The next authority board meeting is set for Wednesday but its agenda does not include any discussion of new airport sites.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

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