Far-distant sites examined for a new airport

DAVE DOWNEY
Staff Writer

The three are the most distant of 18 sites consultants are studying for their potential to replace or work in tandem with Lindbergh Field, which at 526 acres is the smallest metropolitan airport in the nation. With 15 million annual passengers, it is the nation's 27th busiest.

It may sound crazy to some to build an airport more than an hour away from the county's population center, which is described by regional planners as roughly Interstate 15 and Highway 163.

But Ted Anasis, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority spokesman, said authorities want to make sure all bases are covered, that no stone is left unturned, in this current $1.9 million study ---- the latest in a long string of 30 studies dating back to 1955.

At the study's conclusion in late 2003, said interim authority board member Byron Wear, "People are going to ask, 'Have you tried everything else? Have you looked at this? Have you looked at that?'"

Outlying sites

And, so, the authority's consulting team, led by Landrum & Brown, is overturning such far-away stones as:

Under the law that created it, the authority is being asked to do something no body of San Diego County officials has been able to do for decades: Pick a place to build a new international airport or figure out a way to expand Lindbergh Field, and take that plan to the voters for approval in either 2004 or 2006.

Pros and cons

Clearly, Wear said, the sheer distance of all three outlying sites makes them weaker than others, particularly when a principal authority goal is to locate an airport within 45 minutes travel time of the population center.

Another major drawback, regional business leaders argue, is that outlying sites ---- particularly those in Riverside and Imperial counties ---- would siphon away billions of dollars in potential economic gains from a new modern airport.

Anasis said consultants are trying to determine just how much local economic benefit would be forfeited. Obviously, he said, San Diego County would lose millions of dollars in tax revenues by choosing to build outside its boundaries.

Still, those distant sites offer advantages, too.

One is that they would be likely to generate minimal parochial, "not-in-my-back-yard" noise, compared to the avalanche of neighborhood opposition expected to be triggered by the naming of any site in, or on the fringes of, one of the county's communities.

"It's clear that nobody in San Diego County wants an airport in their neighborhood," said Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego.

No NIMBYs

But few people live near the Imperial County and Warner Springs sites.

And although nearly a half-million people live in Riverside, Moreno Valley and Perris, the cities that border March, the base has a long history in the Riverside County communities. It is already on the way to becoming a major cargo airport, and officials say converting it into an international airport serving multiple counties may not be viewed locally as an offensive intrusion.

"It's there, it's available, it's already improved as an airport," said Paul Peterson, a San Diego land-use attorney appointed to the airport authority's permanent board.

Moreno Valley Mayor Pro Tem Bill Batey, an alternate to the March Joint Powers Authority board, said area officials would welcome a San Diego proposal to team up on a project.

In the wake of Orange County's rejection of the former El Toro Marine base as an international airport, Batey said the board is considering adding passenger jets to the mix of cargo traffic.

"To partner up with somebody would accelerate that plan," he said.

"I would not expect a big NIMBY fight," Batey said of his constituents, many of whom commute two hours to Los Angeles. "They would welcome the additional jobs."

Greg Diodati, March Global Port managing partner, said March may not have enough room for the two parallel full-service runways San Diego County officials say they need in a new airport. But the isolated Warner Springs and Plaster City sites clearly would, officials said.

And, while at first blush all three sites appear too far away to be used by county residents, connections to modern rail systems could turn the hour to hour-and-half drive from North County into a 30-minute train ride.

March, for example, is on the route for the statewide high-speed rail line that may one day link San Diego County with Northern California, with stops in Temecula, Escondido and Mira Mesa.

In November 2004, voters statewide will decide whether to approve a $9.95 billion bond to build the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco backbone of the system. The 700-mile system is to be completed by 2020.

Fast trains

Meanwhile, Filner said the federal government may award a grant for construction of a maglev, or magnetic levitation, train on the West Coast. Those are the trains that run on test tracks in places such as Germany and are about to go into commercial operation in China. And, Filner said, perhaps San Diego County could snatch that West Coast grant for a line to an airport.

Building one out to Warner Springs would require going through virgin wilderness.

But Filner said an elevated maglev could be built down the middle of I-8, avoiding new damage to San Diego County's fragile back country, if the airport was built in Imperial County. The line could start in central San Diego, where air travelers could park cars and hop on trains that zip through the Laguna Mountains and down the other side to the desert at 200 mph or more.

"It's doable," Filner said. "The question is, at what cost?"

He acknowledged that it would be difficult to build such a line if the feds didn't foot the cost. And he realizes the site is so far out that many potential travelers might balk at driving that far.

"But, what choice do we have?" Filner said. "We have got to have a better airport. And nobody seems to want it. If Miramar (Marine Corps Air Station) is taken off the shelf, I don't see any other option."

Several military sites, including Camp Pendleton, are on the list of potential sites for a new international airport.

Filner said the desert site would solve more than San Diego's problems; it would jump-start a stalled agriculture-based Imperial County economy that is suffering from one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. And besides, he said, Imperial County officials want it. A county supervisor seemed to practically beg officials to build there during a downtown San Diego conference on growth months ago.

Huge hurdles

While there is plenty of open space to the east, building in the desert is not as easy as it sounds, the airport authority's Anasis said. There would be major environmental hurdles to overcome.

"There's all sorts of snakes, toads, lizards and butterflies that live out there," Peterson said.

Escondido Councilwoman June Rady said Warner Springs is not only in an environmentally sensitive area, it is in the heart of San Diego County's back country of oak and pine forest and close to quaint Julian with its famous apple pies.

"It's so pretty there," said Oceanside resident Janis Rodman. "I can't imagine them tearing it down for an airport."

In fact, Rodman said she'd probably boycott a Warner Springs airport for that reason.

However, Rodman would not be opposed to catching a plane in Riverside. Nor would Rady.

"I wouldn't mind the drive ---- it's about an hour," Rady said. "It's about an hour to San Diego some days."

Neither of the North County women would drive to Imperial County. But if she could hop on a maglev train, Rodman said, "I would do it in a heartbeat."

Still, the interim board's Wear said most will choose to drive, not ride a train, to a new airport. And he suggested that passengers would make that long drive only for long flights. As a result, officials could not close Lindbergh. It likely would stay open, Wear said, for shorter flights to places like San Francisco, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-3529 or ddowney@nctimes.com.

11/17/02