"Oceanside staff recommends airport operator"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Oceanside staff recommends airport operator
Airport association and neighborhood group have a different favorite
By CRAIG TENBROECK
The San Diego (CA) North County Times


OCEANSIDE ---- City staffers have picked a favorite among the three
companies vying to operate and renovate the Oceanside Municipal Airport.

But representatives of a neighborhood group and a pilots association who
participated in the interview process said Friday that they prefer a
different applicant.

Ultimately, it will be up to the Oceanside City Council to decide who will
run the facility which is north of Highway 76 near the San Luis Rey River.

The city-operated airport has been the subject of debate for years. While
many private pilots rave about the airport and have pushed to keep it open,
neighbors have fought its expansion and critics have called it a money
drain.

After years of back-and-forth, the council agreed in 2006 to look for a
company to take over the airport and upgrade hangars, offices and other
structures.

Three companies answered the city's call: Los Angeles-based Airport Property
Ventures; Santa Monica-based American Airports Corp.; and CMTS, a Culver
City-based group that put together a six-company partnership called Airport
Operators International LLC.

CMTS was ruled out because its plan requires the city to chip in for
infrastructure improvements, a city report states.

On Wednesday, city staff will recommend that the council authorize
negotiations with Airport Property Ventures, which proposed a 50-year ground
lease, with two 10-year options. That company's experience lies mostly in
the development of large airports, a city report states.

The politically active Oceanside Airport Association, a group of pilots and
airport supporters, will endorse American Airport Corp., because it has more
experience with small airfields, said association Vice President Gordon
Nesbitt.

The company manages six airports, five of which are in Los Angeles county, a
city report said.

"They got glowing recommendations," Nesbitt said.

That said, Airport Property Ventures could probably do a "reasonable job,"
Nesbitt said.

American Airports Corp. proposed a 40-year lease with two five-year
extensions. The company says it would build a 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot
airport administration building and seek master lessees to build aircraft
storage hangars on the north side of the property.

Citizens for a Better Oceanside, a neighborhood group that has opposed the
airport's expansion, also prefers American Airports, President Ron Stewart
said.

"They've had more experience with smaller airports, so they're more
concerned about the neighbors," Stewart said.

Oceanside stands to pocket far more from Airport Property Ventures, the city
report states. That company's revenue-sharing proposal would net Oceanside
roughly $11 million during the first 25 years of the agreement, a city
report states.

American Airport's proposal would generate roughly $7.4 million for the city
over 40 years, the report states.

The council will discuss the airport at 5 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 300
N. Coast Highway.

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