Hearings to scrutinize airport authority; Lawmakers to explore restructuring, eliminating Lindbergh Field's operator

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Tuesday, September 19, 2006 9:49 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- As a vote on the Miramar ballot measure approaches, state lawmakers from San Diego County are preparing to determine if the regional airport authority should be restructured, dismantled or kept the way it is.

Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, said Tuesday that area lawmakers have scheduled a pair of all-day sessions for October and November to hear from the public and public agencies on how well or poorly the fledgling agency is doing, and to explore what can be done to manage the region's airport operations better.

"We want to go in and see if this is working out," she said, in a telephone interview.

Kehoe said that, depending on what comes out of the hearings, she may propose legislation in early 2007.

The Legislature has the authority to change or retain the airport panel's structure.

One possibility would be to change the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority's two-tiered board structure, which features three full-time paid members and six volunteers, Kehoe said. Another possibility would be to scrap the authority and give the airport responsibility to another agency, such as county government or the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional transportation body, she said.

Airport spokeswoman Diana Lucero said the agency welcomed the review.

"The state Legislature tasked the authority with three major responsibilities: To operate Lindbergh Field, to act as the airport land-use commission for San Diego County, and to plan for the future air transportation needs of the county," Lucero said. "And in all of these areas, we have succeeded."

At the same time, Kehoe said, the hearings will not provide a forum for people to air opinions about the Nov. 7 ballot measure which, if adopted, would back the airport authority's bid to obtain 3,000 of Miramar Marine Corps Air Station's 23,000 acres by 2020 for a commercial airport.

"We're not going to hear about whether Miramar works, or whether it would be better to build a maglev (train) out to Plaster City (in Imperial County)," she said.

The nonbinding advisory measure will appear on the ballot as Proposition A.

The measure is the culmination of years of study of potential sites that included remote locations in Imperial County, near Campo in southeastern San Diego County and in Riverside County, a North County site along the southwestern edge of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base near Oceanside, and closer-in sites at Miramar and North Island Naval Air Station.

In June, the authority board voted 7-2 to recommend that Miramar be placed on the ballot, against the strong objections of San Diego County's deeply entrenched military community.

The Marines have stressed repeatedly and emphatically that a commercial airport won't work at Miramar. The Marines say they need virtually all of the base's land to train, and they suggest that mixing airliners and fighter jets in the skies over central San Diego would seriously compromise safety for airline passengers and military pilots alike.

On the other hand, the authority maintains that, if a new airport is not built, Lindbergh eventually will be bogged down.

More than 17 million passengers passed through the airport's gates last year, and 30 million are expected to fly in and out of San Diego by 2030, according to the regional agency's projections, which are disputed by an outspoken UC San Diego economist. The authority maintains that one-runway Lindbergh, if it continues to serve as the region's airport, won't be able to accommodate more than 25 million.

The authority spent its first year ---- 2002 ---- getting organized and laying the groundwork for the Jan. 1, 2003, transfer of Lindbergh from the San Diego Unified Port District, its former owner, to the new agency.

Then in 2003, the airport authority launched its site search.

When the authority was conceived, Kehoe said, it was decided that at some point, the Legislature should review the activities of the authority and determine if changes should be made. She suggested this fall is an opportune time for that.

Kehoe, who will co-chair the hearings with Assembly Minority Leader George Plescia, R-La Jolla, said she has doubts.

"I'm not sure that all is working out in a cost-efficient way and in an effective way," she said.

As well, Kehoe said, she is not sure whether it was best to forge a new agency. She noted that the authority was an unexpected outgrowth of the state Regional Government Efficiency Commission debate in 2001 that set out to explore ways to consolidate agencies.

"We were looking at how to flatten, streamline and simplify regional government," she said.

The intent of the regional government debate aside, airport officials stressed that county residents are getting their money's worth.

"Airport operations are safe, secure and efficient," Lucero said. "We're also very strong financially."

Lucero said the authority is operating on a $128.2 million budget for the fiscal year that runs through June 30, 2007, with a $43.3 million reserve.

"We are always open to suggestions on how we may better provide for the air transportation needs of this region," she said.

-- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.

Legislature hearings on the future of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority

9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 10, at the Balboa Park Club, Balboa Park, San Diego.

9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 17, at the new Caltrans building in Old Town, Taylor and Juan streets, San Diego.

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