"Airport Land Use: California bill would give countywide commission control over city airport decisions"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

State bill would give countywide commission control over city airport
decisions
By Donna Jones
The Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel


City decisions about development around the Watsonville Municipal Airport
would have to pass muster with a countywide oversight commission under
legislation being considered by the state Senate.

The City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday to oppose Senate Bill 1118, legislation
it said was an attack on local control.

"This is a very dangerous bill. It could take most of your land-use
decisions away from you," City Manager Carlos Palacios told the council
before the vote.

The Senate's local government committee is scheduled to consider the bill
April 2, the final hurdle before a vote by the full Senate.

Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, who introduced the bill in January
after a plane crash that killed five people near the Corona Municipal
Airport in San Bernardino County, is the committee chairwoman.

Negrete McLeod doesn't claim the bill would have saved lives in January's
fatal crash, but she argues the measure would strengthen protections for
airports and the neighborhoods that crop up near them.

But city officials say they stand to lose control of development plans
within two miles of the airport, which would include 80 percent of the land
within city limits.

Councilman Dale Skillicorn said he's always been a friend to the airport,
and as a supporter he couldn't cede authority to a commission controlled by
"people who don't like airports, people who don't like Watsonville." He
reminded the council that the county was once home to three airports.
Watsonville's the only one left.

"This would be the death of the airport as far as I'm concerned," Skillicorn
said.

Councilman Greg Caput was the lone dissenter. He said everyone in the county
has a stake in the airport.

"An [airport land use commission] would help keep the airport viable and
strong," Caput said.


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