Agency to tell voters where it thinks new airport should be built

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, December 28, 2005 9:20 PM PST ∞

The question of whether San Diego's Lindbergh Field can continue to serve the region's airport needs will land squarely in the lap of county voters before the end of 2006.

The agency that runs the 612-acre, 77-year-old airfield is required by law to come up with a plan to expand the single-runway Lindbergh, build a dual-runway airport somewhere else or pitch a proposal to share or take over a county military base's airport.

"I think people have come around to accept that with the current air traffic and at the rate it is growing that there is a need for a new airport," said Robert Maxwell, an Oceanside resident and one of nine directors of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. "People understand that we just can't go on at Lindbergh the way it is. If we do, we are going to seriously constrict air transportation and economic growth of the region."

The authority was created by the state Legislature in 2003 to assume control of Lindbergh from the Unified Port of San Diego and to come up with a recommendation by 2006 that addresses the region's longterm air needs.

The agency started with a list of 32 potential new airport sites and has imposed an April deadline to come up with its recommendation. Whatever a majority of the panel decides will go before county voters in the form of an advisory vote in November.

Where to go


In the last year, the authority has winnowed that list of 32 sites down to a handful.

Expansion of Lindbergh remains a possibility but would face major obstacles, starting with vehement opposition from nearby Point Loma residents. Lindbergh is hemmed in by Interstate 5, the bay and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, creating a host of problems with the idea of adding a second runway.

Expanding Lindbergh wouldn't solve the problem of not being allowed to have any overnight departures or arrivals, a restriction on Lindbergh because of the nearby residential neighborhoods.

Also still on the list is a site near Campo in the southeastern portion of the county and an Imperial County site just over the San Diego County line off of Interstate 8. Borrego Springs in the far eastern portion of the county is nominally on the list, but is not getting any further study.

Enter the military. After agreeing not to talk about any military sites despite the state legislation that created the authority calling for it to consider military airfields, three county bases are now front and center in the airport search.

Oceanside's Camp Pendleton, North Island Naval Air Station just west of Lindbergh, and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in northeastern San Diego are now being studied for civilian and shared civilian-military airports.

The authority bowed to political pressure early in 2005 and agreed not to discuss the military bases until the conclusion of a nationwide base realignment and closure process. That process ended this fall with no county base closures.

Now, despite objections from the Marine Corps and Navy, the authority has put the bases in its sights.

Authority board member Mary Sessom said that while the bases must be studied, she doesn't believe a military site is the solution.

"I'm not convinced that we can ever pry a base site away from the military," Sessom said.

Maxwell said that focus groups and others who have targeted Miramar because of its central county location and existing freeway access have a valid point and that a proposal involving a base could emerge.

"The Marines and Navy have made their positions very clear, but we are committed to the bases and we could come up with one or more proposals involving them," Maxwell said.

Planes, trains and automobiles and boats


Pressure for the authority to consider a remote desert site comes primarily from U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, whose 51st Congressional District includes the largely agricultural and largely undeveloped Imperial County.

Voters in Imperial recently gave overwhelming approval when asked in an advisory vote if they supported a new airport being built in their county, and Filner is pushing a high-speed train powered by magnetic levitation as the way to connect the site to San Diego.

Filner's effort got nearly $1 million through a congressional transportation bill to study a train line between San Diego and Imperial, and the results of that study will go before the authority in February or March when it prepares to cut down its remaining site list.

The congressman argues that the authority needs to be visionary in its thinking because no one wants a new airport built near them and that the military is unwilling to give up its property.

He has appeared before the authority board numerous times to make his case, also suggesting that a high-speed rail line could link San Diego with Arizona and provide a new way to move goods between the city and points east.

The Campo site does not call for linkage via train, but would be more than an hour's drive for a majority of county residents. The area also lacks sufficient water and utility service, requiring a major investment of about $10 billion for those items along with high-speed rail alone, according to a recent authority report.

The cost of a high-speed train and other utilities related to an Imperial County airport is even more, pegged at more than $13 billion in the authority's report.

A North County site?


Sessom has pushed the authority to reconsider sites in North County that could serve as what she calls a "supplemental" airport to Lindbergh. She said she envisions a single, 12,000-foot-long runway that could serve as the airport for international and cargo flights, leaving Lindbergh open as the region's domestic flight air field.

In January, the authority staff is supposed to come up with a list of sites that could be considered as possible supplements to Lindbergh.

Authority officials say that despite a slow recognition among county residents of the need for a new airport, most are coming around to the idea.

The authority says that continued increases in passenger and cargo flights will render Lindbergh at capacity with no room to handle more within about 15 years.

If county voters ultimately give their OK, a new airport would be built with a combination of federal grants and existing airport revenues derived from concessionaire contracts, leases with airlines and a small, existing "passenger facility charge" tacked on to every airline ticket.

No local tax dollars would be necessary for construction of the airport itself, but local taxes would be needed for transportation and utility needs. Although the authority has not put a price tag on construction of a new, dual-runway airport, the cost is generally estimated at about $5 billion. Construction would take years, another reason the airport issue will be on the ballot in 2006.

John Chalker, a San Diego businessman who heads up a group called Alliance in Support or Airport Progress in the 21st Century, said the benefits of a new airport will far outweigh the costs.

"The importance is the economic benefit that a new airport brings to the region and its economy," Chalker said. "The airport at Lindbergh is already constrained and will be more constrained as we go forward, and if we don't meet the demand for air travel and cargo in the region that will negatively impact the economy and the tax base that the county and city rely on."

While his group of San Diego chamber members and business leaders does not have a preferred site, Chalker said it would be likely to line up in support if the authority comes up with a recommendation it agrees with.

"We're coming down to the wire where a tough decision that will affect this region for decades to come needs to be made," he said. "It's very important that we have good, open, factual debate and put personal prejudices aside and do what's best for the region."

In the air


During the next three months, authority staffers and consultants plan to hold a series of meetings with Navy and Marine Corps officials to analyze whether any base can become a shared airfield. That process is expected to include a study of whether a new airport can be built in the eastern section of Miramar Marine Corps Air Base.

That study is expected to be complete by late March, about the same time the study of a high-speed rail connection to Campo and Imperial County will be completed.

In early April, the authority board will take all of that information as well as the renewed look at a possible supplemental site in North County as it further winnows its site list and arrives at a recommendation.

North County residents looking for more information have two opportunities in the next few weeks. A town hall will take place in Oceanside on Thursday, Jan. 12, at a time and location to be announced. A week later on Jan. 19, another town hall will take place at Vista City Hall starting at 6 p.m.

Plenty of other background information is available on the authority's Web site, http://www.san.org. Look for the Airport Site Selection link to that information.

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

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