The idea of adding a second, parallel runway at Lindbergh Field to accommodate a projected increase in the county’s demand for air travel and cargo hauling should be taken off the table as far as an airport planning committee is concerned.
The San Diego Regional Airport Authority’s four-member planning committee on Sept. 26 voted unanimously against a notion that a second, parallel runway at Lindbergh could be built if part of Point Loma’s Midway District was annexed and razed.
The committee’s decision was based on findings that 18,800 residents of the area would have to be relocated almost four times the 5,000 limit that shot down other sites taken off the list of possibilities earlier in the process of identifying sites suitable for relocating the airport.
The full nine-member board is expected to adopt the committee’s recommendation at an Oct. 3 meeting.
Without using any land at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, a second, parallel runway option would have torn out the ipayOne Center, formerly the San Diego Sports Arena; the Midway Drive post office; and the Liberty Station redevelopment project on property that once was the Naval Training Center. Property on Rosecrans Street northeast of Nimitz Boulevard would also have been affected.
However, keeping the regional airport at Lindbergh Field is still a possibility, particularly since additional gates may be added to help meet increased demand.
Another solution, yet to given additional consideration, is the idea of laying out runways in a V-shaped configuration. But that option would not allow for jets to perform simultaneous takeoffs and landings considered a must-have for an airport of the future.
Included among the list of possible relocation sites are five active military installations, including: Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, Camp Pendleton and North Island Naval Air Station. None made the Base Realignment and Closure BRAC list and they are not currently being studied. A site in the Imperial County desert also remains on the short list of possibilities.
Connie Lewis
