Imperial County officials hope their region can remain on a list of potential locations to replace or augment San Diego International Airport, but they say technical analysts are looking in the wrong place.
A delegation of Imperial County elected officials and other boosters urged an airport board yesterday to consider the advantages of a remote site served by maglev trains that float on a magnetic field -- an idea that has drawn minimal support west of the county line.
"We do have a lot of land," said Orlando Foote, chairman of a committee appointed by the Imperial County board of supervisors to advance the airport proposal.
"We have an absence of a NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitude," he said.
However, Foote said he thinks the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, which is analyzing a barren site in the desert as one of seven locations still under review, should be considering Imperial County agricultural land, which he said would pose fewer environmental challenges.
The site under review at the authority is about 100 miles east of central San Diego, south of Interstate 8 and just east of the current boundary for farming. Foote said the site -- selected because it previously had been considered for air cargo operations -- is "completely inappropriate" because of poor access and its fragile environment, located in an area called the Pinto Wash.
"Perhaps an area that has been farmed would be a much better option," Foote said.
The county has hired consultants to try to pinpoint a suitable location, which would be even farther from San Diego than the site currently being analyzed.
The 20-minute presentation, at the first airport board meeting of the new year, drew little in the way of an immediate response. The agency expects to select by spring an airport option that will appear as a countywide advisory ballot measure in November.
Besides Imperial County, the agency is looking at Boulevard in East County, joint-use possibilities with the military at the Marines' Miramar Air Station, East Miramar and Camp Pendleton, North Island Naval Air Station and the fallback option of making do with Lindbergh Field on its existing footprint.
Before closing off further options, the agency also is looking for possible North County locations where only a single runway could be developed, which would keep Lindbergh open indefinitely.
The desert site hasn't fared well in the review so far.
Analysts concluded that restricted military and Mexican airspace could force some flights to maneuver as far east as Phoenix to line up for approach, adding 30 minutes to a flight from the Bay Area. Last month, consultants said a magnetic levitation train line from San Diego to Imperial County could cost $10.6 billion, not counting any land acquisition necessary for the project.
However, Imperial County supervisor Victor M. Carrillo said there are numerous advantages to an airport at a remote site, boosting the economy of the San Diego/Imperial region and increasing trade through Mexicali. Foote said a joint-powers agreement or some other economic instrument could help ensure that the benefits of an Imperial County site would be shared with San Diego County.
Imperial County voters supported the notion by a 4-1 ratio in a November 2005 ballot question.
Angela Shafer-Payne, vice president of operations for the airport authority, said an agricultural site wouldn't necessarily improve prospects for an Imperial County site. The entire county has challenging environmental issues, she said, with much of the area -- including Pinto Wash -- within a 100-year flood plain that would have to be managed in any development plan.
Quite a shuttle ride
The southwestern Imperial County desert is one of two nonmilitary sites under review to replace or augment Libdbergh Field as a regional airport.
Jeff Ristine: (619) 542-4580; [email protected]
Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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