SAN DIEGO - It's Miramar. Following a lengthy and contentious meeting, a regional board Monday capped a 3 1/2-year search by voting 7-2 to name Miramar Marine Air Corps Station its preferred site for a new San Diego international airport.
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board voted to place Miramar on the November county ballot in a nonbinding ballot measure, which would support agency efforts to negotiate a purchase or lease of 3,000 of Miramar's 23,000 acres, by 2020, for an airport to replace Lindbergh Field.
Agency officials say Lindbergh traffic is on pace to soar from 17 million passengers last year to 30 million by 2030. And they say the cramped, 661-acre airport on San Diego Bay, the nation's busiest single-runway commercial airport, will reach capacity once 25 million passengers squeeze through its gates.
Military officers, while acknowledging the region faces a daunting challenge in delivering an airport that meets its future needs, have repeatedly and emphatically opposed putting an airport at Mirarmar, where speedy F/A-18 fighter jets train for aircraft-carrier landings by practicing touch-and-gos.
Marine Col. Michael Brooker said following the 5 1/2-hour meeting that the decision was not a surprise, given board comments in recent weeks. He said officers would not campaign for the measure's defeat.
Wishful thinking?
But military officers made it clear Monday where they stood.
"No amount of dialogue or wishful thinking will make this joint-use proposal work," said Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of Marine Corps Installations West, a collection of West Coast Marine bases.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego and advocate for a desert airport connected to San Diego by train, suggested it was a stretch to think a ballot measure, if approved by county voters, would trigger a political chain reaction leading to officials in Washington ordering the Marines to vacate Miramar.
"Your naivete about politics is overwhelming," Filner said, calling the studies a "complete waste" of taxpayer dollars. "There's a federal law against Miramar. All the congressmen from San Diego are against Miramar. And the military is against Miramar."
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, recently introduced legislation barring use of Miramar for a commercial airport. The bill passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate in a few days.
Voting against the ballot measure Monday were board members Mary Sessom and Xema Jacobson. All three of North County's representatives -- Vista Mayor Morris Vance, Bob Maxwell of Oceanside and Bill Lynch of Rancho Santa Fe -- voted in favor.
Sessom, Lemon Grove's mayor, said she agrees Miramar is the best location, but believes it is foolish to pin the region's hopes on the 23,000-acre base. She proposed building a second runway at Lindbergh and shifting cargo and private airplane traffic to smaller county airports, while designating Miramar a potential future airport -- if the base becomes available.
Sessom's alternate measure was voted down, 7-2.
What was adopted was language crafted by board member Paul Peterson of San Diego. It read:
"To provide for San Diego's long-term air transportation needs, shall the airport authority and government officials work to obtain approximately 3,000 of 23,000 acres of MCAS Miramar by 2020 for a commercial airport, provided necessary traffic and freeway improvements are made, military readiness is maintained without expense to the military for modifying or relocating operations, no local taxes are used on the airport, overall noise impacts are reduced, and necessary Lindbergh Field improvements are completed?"
The 'march to Miramar'
Miramar was one of several sites reviewed by the panel. It won out over Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, North Island Naval Air Station, Campo, Borrego Springs, Imperial County and March Air Reserve Base in Riverside.
Miramar backers on the board said the base was best because it offers the most central location at the lowest price, an estimated $6.8 billion. It is only a few miles from downtown San Diego and is in the geographical center of the county's population. And Miramar's price tag compares to $8.6 billion for a Campo airport that would be nearly 70 miles away from downtown, and $18.5 billion for an Imperial County airport that would be more than 100 miles away and require a high-speed rail system.
"We have no other solution," said board member Bill Lynch of Rancho Santa Fe. "We have looked everywhere."
For all its pluses, however, a shared military-civilian airport at Miramar would shower more than 15,000 nearby residents with excessive noise, exceeding the noise levels established early on in the search to narrow the field of candidate sites.
Monday's meeting, attended by more than 200, was punctuated by noisy confrontations between military officers and board members. Backers of the military and backers of a Miramar airport argued mightily. A total of 40 people spoke to the board.
Wearing stickers sporting the words "Stop joint use of MCAS Miramar" on a red background shaped like a stop sign, dozens gathered from nearby neighborhoods such as University City, Scripps Ranch, Tierrasanta and Mira Mesa to protest. They clapped and applauded when speakers criticized the joint-use proposal and booed when a few lauded the authority's plan.
"Please leave our military alone," said Miriam Brown of University City.
A few drove over from Point Loma, which has been enduring Lindbergh's noise for decades, to support the proposed move.
The region's top Navy and Marine commanders ridiculed the choice of Miramar.
"Your process started and ended as a march to Miramar," said Rear Admiral Len Hering, commander of Navy Region Southwest.
Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.
