On Monday, June 5, the board for the San Diego Regional Airport Authority approved a committee recommendation to put MCAS Miramar on the Nov. 7 ballot as a replacement site for Lindbergh Field.
The search, which has included millions of dollars worth of studies spanning more than three years, has been a contentious one. Players on all sides who have vested interests in various site options have had their say in the media and at board meetings.
Throughout the site selection, the airport authority has engaged the public on the alternatives through a mix of public speaking, outreach and workshop events. At board meetings, though, suggestions have come forward from private citizens during the public comment period. Despite far-flung proposals for offshore, floating airports or use of land near the south bay, these two have received the most attention from the board.
The Secret SiteSince 2002, a group of private citizens known as the Airport Trust has engaged the airport authority on viewing what they said was an undiscovered site that would meet most of the thresholds for a new airport.La Jollan Leon Campbell, an attorney representing the trust, said the site was discovered in 1999 and registered as a trade secret. Campbell has said the site would satisfy most of the authority’s criteria in terms of “ultimate results,” but conceded it would incorporate some “breakthrough ideas,” of which some may conflict with certain criteria.
Although Campbell remains mum on the site’s specifics, he has said that it was not in the ocean or on military land, was within 45 minutes’ driving distance for 60 percent of the county’s population and no one would be displaced.
However, the airport authority has refused to review the site because of preconditions a trade secret would have on a meeting between the two parties. For starters, the airport trust has always maintained that while airport officials are welcome to view the secret site for free, they would be prohibited from discussing the private trade secret in public. And if the site were chosen, the trust would specify an annual payment of $10 million or 5 percent of the new airport’s gross revenues for 95 years, whichever is greater.
The airport authority has refused to view the site because of the preconditions they feel amount to a closed-door meeting.
“That’s not the way the airport authority does business,” authority spokeswoman Diana Lucero said in a separate interview.
But Campbell disagrees and has taken the trust’s case all the way to the state Supreme Court ” where it now stands ” arguing the authority has a ministerial duty to review all sites, regardless of their status.
The court isn’t expected to decide the matter until later, but although the authority has selected Miramar, the schedule doesn’t faze Campbell.
“They’re not obligated to live with that vote,” he said. “We do have time on our side.”
East MiramarJay Shoemaker’s concept isn’t a trade secret; in fact, he and an ad hoc group of private citizens have been working to have it front and center.
The concept, presented to the airport authority in April, would move the authority’s Miramar civilian concept to the east side of the base and one mile south behind a naturally occurring ridge, providing a natural shield for the neighboring Scripps Ranch area.
According to Shoemaker’s study, the revised concept would significantly alter the noise contour to have a minimal impact and reduce the amount of earth grading. The concept also rotates the approach for the two runways, which theoretically allows aircraft to miss all obstructions and approach well north of Santee.
Included in his package is a redevelopment concept for Lindbergh Field, which calls for Venice-style canals in a park-like setting that would synch with much of the bayfront’s development in an effort to attract more tourism dollars.
For more information, visit www.moveairport.com.