Oct. 11--SAN DIEGO -- More San Diego-area residents support building a new or expanded San Diego airport today than did so a year ago, according to survey results released Monday. That support includes most people in North County.
Almost two-thirds of those surveyed said they would vote for a new San Diego airport site or an expansion of the San Diego International Airport/Lindbergh Field, up from 55 percent in a similar survey conducted in November 2004.
"This is a measurement of the public's desire and the need for a solution," said Skip Hull, an economist at CIC Research, which conducted the survey for the public relations firm hired by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
The airport authority manages daily operations at the San Diego airport and has been charged with finding options for expanding or replacing Lindbergh Field, which is projected to be overcrowded by 2015. Voters are slated to decide in November of next year on a site proposed by the airport authority.
Thella Bowens, the airport authority's president and chief executive officer, said the survey results showed the public has a greater understanding that the airport faces "serious capacity constraints."
North County residents showed the strongest support for a new or expanded airport, with 75 percent saying they would vote for such a proposal.
The percentage of those opposed to an expansion or new airport remained at 21 percent, while the percentage of those who said their opinion depended on where a new airport would be located dropped from 24 percent in 2004 to 13 percent last month.
The survey results were released Monday before a meeting of the airport authority's strategic planning committee. CIC Research surveyed 814 registered voters at random by telephone last month. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent, Hull said.
The survey did not ask respondents whether they preferred expanding the current airport or building at a new site, but some who answered the survey questions offered their own opinions on that issue, Hull said.
Of those who said they would vote for a new or expanded airport, 11 percent said they would support only the expansion of the existing airport and 9 percent said they would support only a new site, Hull said.
The airport authority has identified nine potential airport sites, including an expansion of Lindbergh Field and several military bases, including Miramar and Camp Pendleton. The authority has postponed studying the military sites until at least November, when the federal government finishes the latest round of base closures and reorganizations.
The military has strongly resisted the idea of building a civilian or joint military-civilian airport on Miramar or Camp Pendleton. The proposed civilian sites for new airports include locations that are more than an hour's drive from San Diego, including the East County town of Campo, which is more than 50 miles from San Diego and the Imperial Valley desert.
Bowens said the airport authority's board plans to decide on a final recommendation by the end of May or early June.
While 88 percent of those surveyed last month said they had heard something about the search for a regional airport solution, only 32 percent said they knew the issue would be before voters in 2006. However, both of those numbers showed increases from last year, when 82 percent had heard of the site selection efforts and only 21 percent knew it would be before them in the November 2006 election.
<>
News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.
