LAT: Airport Plan May Pit Navy Against San Diego Civilians

[question everything]

From the Los Angeles Times

Airport Plan May Pit Navy Against San Diego Civilians

The military rejects the notion of joint use of its facilities, but Miramar may be a replacement site for Lindbergh Field. A report is due today.
By Tony Perry
Times Staff Writer

May 15, 2006

(snip)

For half a century, (San Diego) civic leaders have said the region's economic future is imperiled by an airport that is convenient to downtown but woefully undersized. But finding a site for a new airport is an exercise in NIMBYism. Now a consensus appears to be coalescing around the idea that, if San Diego is to replace Lindbergh Field, the new airport will have to be at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, North Island Naval Air Station or Camp Pendleton, all of which have runways and lots of open space.

(snip)

Some local officials believe that, if the public endorses, say, Miramar, the military will cave in or Congress will order the military to accept the joint use concept, which is in limited use at other military bases. So when (Navy Secretary) Winter visited here, part of his mission was to convince the locals that they are wasting their time on Miramar, North Island and Pendleton. The debate will only "create a lot of collateral damage between the Navy-Marine Corps team and the citizens of San Diego," Winter told several hundred members of the San Diego Military Advisory Council assembled for breakfast at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, where the roar of planes from Lindbergh could be heard.

(snip)

While San Diego has fiddled, other areas have built airports that can accommodate international passenger flights and large-scale cargo flights. Lindbergh Field is a quarter of the size of airports in Oakland, St. Louis, Cleveland and Tampa, Fla., each of which serves regions of about the same size. Lindbergh Field, with 200,000 arrivals and departures annually, is the busiest one-runway airport in the country. At some point, it will reach capacity. Hemmed in by the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Lindbergh lacks room for a second runway or a longer one. At 9,400 feet, the runway cannot accommodate planes bound for the markets or tourist destinations of Asia. In theory, five locations are still in the running. In addition to the three military sites, authority members have identified vacant land near the rural communities of Boulevard and Campo and a spot in the Imperial Valley desert. The former is 69 miles from downtown San Diego, the latter 104 miles, making the chances of public acceptance of either site somewhat remote.

(snip)

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is not waiting for the November vote. He added language in the defense spending bill approved last week that would ban civilian use of any local military airports, earning him a rare rebuke from the editorial page of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

(snip)

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-airport15may15,1,6960998.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

[MindPilot]

1. We. Do. Not. Need A. New. Airport. Period.

San Diego is not a hub, we do not have enough international flights to support one. One of the attractions of San Diego is that downtown airport literally minutes from the Embarcadero and the train station. Air, land and sea all in once nice convenient package. They want to help somebody? Get some high-speed rail between here and LA.

[slackmaster]

3. BLASPHEMY!

How dare you voice a forbidden opinion?

[MindPilot]

6. Sorry. It slipped out. Won't happen aga...Uhmmmmgh.

The developers want that land so bad they can taste it. I'd be willing to bet that if they get their hands on the airport, MCRD would be next on the auction block and voila! Ladies and Gentlemen, your city's next gift to professional sports, a beautiful downtown stadium!!

Disclaimer: "Due to our total ignorance of traffic patterns, and complete indifference to the needs of the citizenry, we suggest you walk or bike to downtown as all thoroughfares are now permanently gridlocked."

[question everything]

5. LA does not want more travelers, either

but Ontario and San Bernardino International and Palmdale do.

A high-speed rail to these airports would be great. Plus, building it will provide many good paying jobs that cannot be outsourced.

And it is almost too late to secure land as the Inland Empire is growing fast.

[musiclawyer]

2. Put it in Tijuana

Set up a secure separate trolley line, etc...Probably not more difficult than any other option

[slackmaster]

4. TJ already has an international airport

A nice one.

[lindisfarne]

7. I've been baffled by the housing development allowed around SAN

Whereas other cities are buying up neighborhoods to address complaints of airport noise, San Diego allowed a huge housing development literally adjacent to the airport. It seems as though the city has already decided there will be an airport somewhere else.

And the comment about Lindbergh Field being blocked in by the Marine Depot and thus, larger planes to Asia can't come in. Larger planes to Asia go to airports within 2 hours of Downtown San Diego (and within an hour of Northern San Diego). San Diego doesn't need them. (I'd love to hear the outcry of the people living around Miramar regarding the noise: although the Miramar noise is not inconsequential, it's not anything like a jet landing/taking off every minute on average. Of course, they can route the traffic mainly over the corridor out to UCSD which consists of mainly rental properties and their right to not being exposed to noise and air pollution is far less important - that's what the military does now.)