New Airport for San Diego County

Selecting A Site for a New Airport in San Diego County

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority Board tells us that LAX "is not a long-term solution for San Diego." That being the case, and since the present system has been satisfactory, why not just build another LAX out in the desert? That certainly relaxes the need to be close to San Diego population centers and obviates any sort of high-speed transit such as maglev.

Maglev is unnecessary. In any case, it is too expensive, too disruptive and too slow. Security would be a real problem; it would have to be conducted at the maglev terminal. In order to avoid another check at the airport, the airport would have to be separated into checked and unchecked areas since some access would be by road.

We would get to the new airport the same way we get to LAX; we would fly there. In fact, with a little advance planning, we should be able to set up a county-wide system of flights from all our small airports: Montgomery, Brown, Aqua Caliente, Borrego Valley, Fallbrook, Gillespie, Jacumba, Ocotillo, Palomar and Ramona. In any case, Lindbergh would stay intact. It is essential to downtown access and our tourist industry and could continue to handle West Coast flights. We could add new fields near Miramar and other places. Taking advantage of new technologies for ATC, we should be able to make all this work. Getting to the new airport would be a lot faster and more convenient than with a maglev track with only two or three stations.

What kinds of planes would handle this local traffic? There are small planes, STOL aircraft, sky-scooters, air cabs, helicopters or whatever that could do the job. The smaller commercial jets, of 100 or so passengers from Lindbergh would be in the mix.

Funding for the new airport might come in large part, from our Indian tribes if they were permitted to build and operate casinos not too far from the passenger terminals. Slot machines inside the passenger terminal could be restricted to bars where one has to be at least 21. The politics of operating gambling off the reservations might not be insurmountable when the benefits are looked at. Any problems with sacred lands would also be eased. Other possible sources of funding are the developers of the airport infrastructure.

When we vote in November, it would help if the board would present us with a vision for the new airport, not just a location. What would we be getting? Airports necessarily have infrastructures. What would that look like? For example, consider the following. The airport has three runways about a mile apart running, of course east and west. The two southern-most are for commercial traffic and the passenger terminal is just south of those. The north runway is for general aviation and freight traffic. Going north from there are, in turn, the usual freight and general aviation facilities, warehouses, shopping malls, and then residential apartments, condos and detached homes. Going south from the airport are, in turn, the casinos, an amusement park, an RV park, a car racetrack and an ATV area. The board should be talking to all those involved in these operations, especially the Indian tribes.

Call it LAX II, Las Vegas West, Desert Disneyland, or whatever, it is a plan. If there's a better one let's see it. To gain voter acceptance, the board needs to present us with a vision, not just a designated site. This might seem to be outside their charter, but in order to select a site, the whole picture must be considered.