Transportation: County Finds Objections With Air Commerce Plan
Will the San Diego Air Commerce Center fly?
A vote by the city of San Diego on whether to expand Brown Field into a proposed air cargo facility is still weeks, or even months away. But the county Board of Supervisors went on record July 26 with a 5-0 vote voicing serious concerns about the project.
Backers of the project remain undaunted, however. The following day they opened a San Diego Air Commerce Center “resource center” in the South Bay. The center, off Palm Avenue near Imperial Beach, will provide information on the proposed air cargo facility and the benefits they say it will bring to area residents.
Job-seekers can also use the resource center to look for air commerce center positions that may become available in the future, said Larry Killeen, the air commerce center’s president.
Killeen was disappointed by Wednesday’s vote, but said he would nevertheless push to provide the county with additional information it had been seeking on the project. He was also looking forward to a vote by the City Council, which will ultimately decide the date of the air cargo facility, he said.
County supervisors have no formal jurisdiction over the air commerce center. However, Killeen acknowledged their opposition could create some possible roadblocks toward construction. Expanding the small airport into a cargo facility would require backers to purchase additional land in the unincorporated areas of the county, and the county could possibly move to block the deal, he said.
FAA Approval Jeopardized
Also, with the county joining the cities of Chula Vista, Coronado and Imperial Beach in opposition to the air commerce center, the Federal Aviation Administration could conceivably kill the project, which requires local support, said Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego.
Joan Vokac, chief of planning and land use for the county, cited a long list of concerns over the facility. She said the environmental impact report is inadequate in its description of impacts, and is based on assumptions for which there is no supporting evidence.
There were also concerns that building an air cargo facility could hamper development elsewhere. An expanded runway would require a runway protection zone, which would be incompatible with the proposed state Route 125 and could also force the relocation of a proposed light rail and bus transit center , both of which are crucial to the county’s transportation plans, she said.
The runway protection zone would also swallow up 60 acres of valuable commercially zoned land lying adjacent to the future transportation hubs of Highway 125 and the light rail station. Without this land available for development, the county stands to lose money to pay for infrastructure , amounting to a $7 million to $8 million loss over the next 30 years, Vokac said.
Environmental Concerns
There are also environmental concerns, such as increased traffic, impacts on local wetlands and reduced air quality, none of which is adequately handled in the environmental report, Vokac said.
Opponents of the plan added their concerns during the six-hour session. Coronado Mayor Thomas Smisek spoke in his capacity as an airline pilot in bringing up noise and safety issues.
Planes would sometimes approach the airport in the same direction that other aircraft are trying to take off into, creating a conflict, he said. Other times, due to tail winds and the proximity to Mexican airspace, planes would divert to the north as they circled around, leading to increased noise for Chula Vista residents.
Diane Rose, mayor of Imperial Beach, noted that increased operations at Brown Field could not only affect Navy flight training operations, but could also affect flights at Lindbergh Field and Rodriguez International Airport, as well.
Also, 21 schools are in the proposed flight path for the air cargo facility, she said. It would cost tens of millions of dollars to retrofit these classrooms to deal with the heavier, louder aircraft coming into Brown Field, and class time would still be disrupted, Rose said.
Stiff Opposition
Rose also took air commerce center supporters to task for trying to categorize the opposition as one real estate developer and a handful of homeowners. A broad coalition has lined up against the airport, including thousands of South Bay residents, the cities of Chula Vista, Coronado and Imperial Beach; the U.S. Navy; area homebuilders; the ARCO Olympic Training Center; and all of the area school districts, she said.
Sandy Kahn, managing director for the project, said the air commerce project would be a $1.5 billion investment in San Diego, creating almost 12,000 high-paying jobs and provide almost $1 billion in annual economic impact.
The air commerce center would also be a world-class transportation asset, making the region more competitive as a trading center, and would attract new industries to come to the region, Kahn said.
Killeen echoed that sentiment. The rise of E-commerce has led to an even greater demand for air cargo to deliver purchases and products , even more so than when the project was initiated four years ago, he said.
Such a facility would be greatly compatible with the county’s plans for a high-tech center in the area. It would support existing industry on both sides of the border, and bring new high-tech industry into the area, he said.
Strong Business Support
The proposal is supported by a number of local business groups, including the Otay Mesa Planning and Development Group, the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., and the San Diego World Trade Center, Killeen said.
The San Diego City Council will take up the matter some time within the next few months, pending additional information on the subject.
An August vote is looking less and less likely, said Ric Grenell, spokesman for Mayor Susan Golding.
