Local officials have agreed to a new pact that aims to boost planning and coordination for future road and transit projects in the neighborhoods around San Diego International Airport, including plans to connect the airport to the trolley.

The pact, called a "memorandum of understanding," sets protocols for how four local agencies will share information, use the land they control, share costs, seek environmental approvals and collaborate in other ways.

In addition to accelerating progress on key projects, the pact may reduce traffic congestion around the airport and ease access to the facility, the agencies said.

The four agencies are the city of San Diego, the Port of San Diego, the local airport authority and the county's regional planning agency – the San Diego Association of Governments.

The city became the fourth and final agency to sign the pact on March 9. The other agencies had approved the deal at separate meetings during February.

"It's critically important that our agencies work together in a meaningful way to make it easier and faster to travel around the region, especially when it comes to finally connecting our trolley system to the airport," Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a new release.

Last fall a panel of regional leaders focused on connecting transit to the airport unveiled several proposals that are still being analyzed. They include a direct trolley connection and creating a central mobility hub for the region.

While the new pact mostly focuses on cooperation, it also includes some "dispute resolution" language for times when the four agencies can't come to consensus.

The four agencies also agree to share data, traffic analysis and other technical studies and forecasts.

The pact also calls on the airport authority to use its best efforts to get Federal Aviation Authority funding and approval for several projects, including a plan to renovate and modernize Terminal 1 as outlined in a recent agreement with commercial airlines.

Officials called the pact binding but flexible, noting that much of the language avoids hard mandates and focuses on individual agencies making their "best efforts."

But one area with hard mandates is the requirement that agencies give up areas of land they control in the public "right of way" if necessary to accomplish projects, including the trolley connection to the airport.

Councilman Mark Kersey said the agreement has been a long time coming.

"It's great to see the region all on the same page," he said.

Matt Harris, director of government relations for the airport authority, praised all the agencies for diligently working out the details of the pact.

Port spokesman Ron Powell said the pact shows a notable spirit of regional cooperation.

"We are better in San Diego when we work together," he said.

Coleen Clementson, a director of planning and land use for SANDAG, praised the pact for making it clear what needs to happen for a direct transit connection to the airport.

"This really lays out the road map to get something the region has been talking about for some time," she said.

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