"Board asks for further review on San Diego airport site"

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Board asks for further review on airport site
By KATHERINE MARKS
The North County (CA) Times


SAN DIEGO---- A board studying locations for a new regional airport
expressed serious reservations Monday about the prospects of an airport in
the Cleveland National Forest, but stopped short of giving the site a thumbs
up or thumbs down.

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority voted 5-4 to have the site
studied by its public working group, a committee of 32 people charged with
evaluating potential airport sites. 

Lindbergh Field is expected to become overcrowded by 2012, and the airport
authority is required by state law to submit an airport site recommendation
for a countywide vote by 2006. Nine sites are in the running for a new
airport, including Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

 
The site in the national forest, known as the Corte Madera Valley site, is
about 45 miles east of San Diego and five miles south of Interstate 8. At
Monday's meeting, East County residents described the site, with its high
altitude, sometimes inclement weather and blustery winds, as a bad fit for a
regional airport. Environmentalists and a spokesman for the U.S. Forest
Service said the site would imperil endangered species and hamper
recreational outlets in the valley.

"I will be looking forward to the day we can officially vote this off the
list," said Oceanside Mayor Terry Johnson, who sits on the board. Other
board members also said each site must undergo the same review process.

So far there are nine sites on the list. It's not clear how long it will
take the committee to evaluate whether Corte Madera, the Cleveland National
Forest site, should be No. 10, said Diana Lucero, spokeswoman for the San
Diego Airport Authority.

In the meantime, the board will "retreat" to Borrego Springs next weekend to
refine the criteria for selecting an airport with the goal of eventually
whittling the list. A number of speakers on Monday said that a numerous
factors should rule out Corte Madera.

David Hogan, speaking on behalf of the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club
and the Center for Biological Diversity, said the far-flung sites the
authority is considering would encourage urban sprawl and harm the
environment and small-town life in rural East County. He said the groups
would also oppose the two sites in Anza Borrego, 95 miles northeast of the
existing airport, and a site in Campo, 75 miles east of the airport that are
also under consideration.

Hogan said putting a regional airport in East County would be destructive
and wasteful.

He described an untamed area that could be too dangerous for airplanes and
for San Diegans who would rely on the airport.

"If these winds could overturn a semi-truck, what would they do to a jumbo
jet?" Hogan asked. "Can you imagine San Diego drivers trying to drive
through snow to get to the airport?"

John Chalker said that taking the project off the list would allow other
communities to ask for potential sites ---- especially those in Campo and
Miramar ---- to be excluded before full reviews were done. Chalker was the
only member of the public ---- 13 spoke in all ---- to say the site should
be evaluated.

"Site discussion early in the process leads to a breakdown in the process,"
he said.

A number of board members agreed with him.

"I believe we have a process we need to go through," said board member Xema
Jacobson, who was in the majority in voting that the committee review the
site.

Mary Sessom, the mayor of Lemon Grove, said that other potential sites had
been kept off the study list. "It makes no sense to add Corte Madera to the
list because my sense is we'll just be pulling it off."

Corte Madera surfaced as a possible airport location after a recently
completed computer analysis of the county's American Indian reservations,
state parks and U.S. Forest Service lands revealed seven more areas where an
airport could be built. Most were in the far eastern and northeastern parts
of the county. Because of environmental and regulatory difficulties, only
the Corte Madera Valley site was recommended for more study.

The other sites currently under review are March Air Reserve Base in
Riverside County; two sites at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San
Diego; North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado; an unspecified location
in the Imperial County desert and the existing downtown San Diego airport.


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