Taxpayers oppose Miramar measure
By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | ∞
SAN DIEGO -- A regional tax-watchdog group voted 12-8 Wednesday to oppose a November ballot measure that, if approved by voters, would give the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority the green light to negotiate a deal with the Marines to put a commercial airport at Miramar.
The board of directors for the San Diego County Taxpayers Association barely reached the group's own 60 percent threshold for taking stances on such measures, as five members abstained, said Lani Lutar, president and chief executive officer. She said the board reached its conclusion after the group's staff spent more than 300 hours researching the issue in recent months.
Several other community and business groups plan to take stances on the controversial ballot measure in coming weeks.
On Nov. 7, county residents will get an opportunity to weigh in on the matter, which will appear on the ballot as Proposition A. The airport authority studied sites for a potential replacement for Lindbergh Field for 3 1/2 years before selecting Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in June. And the authority is asking county voters to endorse their plan to attempt to negotiate between now and 2020 a lease or purchase of 3,000 of Miramar's 23,000 acres.
The Marines have said repeatedly that a commercial airport is not welcome there, and that any such operation anywhere on Miramar would compromise their mission. The military says such an airport would dangerously mix commercial airliners and tactical fighter jets.
But the authority maintains that cramped, one-runway, 661-acre Lindbergh Field will run out of room to handle San Diego County's aviation traffic sometime within the next two decades. More than 17 million passengers passed through Lindbergh's gates last year and more than 30 million are forecasted to fly in and out of the airport by 2030.
Lutar said the county's taxpayers would get a better deal if the authority focused instead on getting the most out of Lindbergh, by exploring a second runway at an angle to the existing one and moving private plane and air cargo traffic to other county airports ---- moves that could boost capacity by 25 percent.
Lutar said the authority does not believe that sharing Miramar is feasible.
"Since any form of joint use is an impediment to the Marines' ability to 'train as they fight,' approving a commercial airport at Miramar is the equivalent of asking them to leave," she said, warning San Diego County could lose a huge economic engine.
Lutar asserted that the authority has failed to tell residents voters who would bear the potential $2 billion cost of relocating military operations.
Not true, said Bill Lynch, an airport board member from Rancho Santa Fe.
"That $2 billion would be part of the approximately $8 billion cost to build the airport at Miramar," he said.
Lynch called the idea of shifting some airplane traffic away from Lindbergh and squeezing more capacity out of the airport "at best a very short-term Band-Aid."
In another objection, the taxpayers suggested that the authority is not providing a realistic airport proposal.
"Instead, voters are being asked to sanction up to 14 more years of dialogue and delay, with no promise that the discussions will prove to be fruitful," Lutar said.
The bottom line, said Lynch, is the authority found no feasible private site.
"We wished we could have found a nonmilitary site, but there isn't one within 60 miles," Lynch said. "The good news is this airport authority has not committed money to some stupid idea like putting the airport out in the desert or sticking it out in the ocean."
-- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.
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Carter wrote on Aug 31, 2006 1:42 PM: Hey NCT, have you at any time published a list of the areas that have been considered for a new airport? Would you publish it again. I can tell you right now that the not-to-bright people who propose to take on the DOD will fail. There is a possibility that the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority are looking for an easy way out, and hope the voters in November will say NO thereby bailing them out. Whose money are they wasting anyway? People in the county have been attempting to put a civilian runway at Miramar since the 1950s and have failed. They should take a look at the area east of Rancho Santa Fe and west of I-15 just north of state highway 56. Then all they would have to do is fight the NIMBY attitude by that little city. And there is the problem - everybody wants a new airport but nobody wants it in their back yard. In addition Miramar represents a great deal of real estate values owned and listed by the DOD. And of course, the value continues to grow along with real estate values here in the county. Now, you might buy it from them and help lower the National Debt.
Carlton wrote on Sep 19, 2006 11:53 AM: The US Air Force has shared Hickham airstrips with the Honolulu airport for decades, along with F-15 fighter squadrons. All the Marine Corps fighters will move to Yuma AZ within a decade, and more loud helos will arrive from Camp Pendleton.
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