County provides input to county airport land use plan

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors authorized the submittal of the County of San Diego’s comments on the draft San Diego County Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan.

The 5-0 vote April 12 not only approved the staff-recommended comments but also requested County Counsel to research legal remedies if needed.Under state law a jurisdiction’s land use policies must be consistent with an adopted airport land use compatibility plan, although a jurisdiction can override the airport land use commission with a two-thirds vote if the necessary findings are made.

The issues of greatest concern to the county reside in the language of the proposed plan rather than in the stated intentions of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, which is the airport land use commission for San Diego County.“We are very amenable to working with the county,” said Thella Bowens, the president and chief executive officer of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Airport land use commissions prepare compatibility plans in a county with at least one public airport and review land use plans and development proposals, along with certain airport development plans, for consistency with the Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan.The Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan focuses on a defined area around each airport, which is known as the Airport Influence Area.The Airport Influence Area differs for each airport and is established by several factors including airport size, operations, configuration, and the noise and safety impacts on surrounding land uses.Within the Airport Influence Area, the Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan limits certain types of land uses and residential densities as well as establishes mitigation such as height restrictions, noise level requirements, and aviation easement dedication.An airport land use commission is permitted to develop height restrictions on buildings, specify future uses of land, and determine future building standards including soundproofing adjacent to airports.

“They really are designed to protect the airport itself,” Bowens said of the plans.

County staff interpret the draft plan as granting greater leniency for residential use while providing more restrictions for commercial and industrial use.“The impact of what is being proposed in this compatibility plan is, I think, in conflict with the best interests,” said Supervisor Greg Cox, whose district includes unincorporated Otay Mesa, which is likely to be in the Brown Field influence area.

“The plan is far too restrictive on the valuable commercial and industrial development,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob, whose district includes several airports.“It’s not aggressive enough in restricting residential development, places of worship, and school development.”

Bowens hopes that the actual implementation won’t match the county’s interpretation of the plan.“What we’re trying to do in our plan is discourage residential uses,” she said.

The language of the draft plan requires all discretionary permits within an Airport Influence Area to be sent to the airport authority for review.The wording “ministerial permits” includes building permits. “It certainly would hold up people who are just trying to get a simple building permit,” Jacob said.

Bowens said that the intent of that was to ensure that large project permits, as well as general plan or zoning amendments, are brought to the airport authority for comment.“We don’t want to see ministerial permits,” she said.

Under a strict interpretation of “ministerial permits,” even permits for fire victims to rebuild, which the county has sought to streamline, would be subject to airport authority review.“I think this is just ludicrous to even suggest this,” Jacob said.

“It certainly challenges all 58 counties’ constitutional authority for land use,” said Supervisor Bill Horn.

“It’s not their prerogative,” Jacob said.“They are not directly elected by the people.”

State legislation which took effect on January 1, 2003, created the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.The airport authority has three designated functions:to review possible sites to replace San Diego International Airport and determine a replacement site, to manage San Diego International Airport, and to develop updated airport land use compatibility plans.

The San Diego Association of Governments had previously been the airport land use commission for San Diego County.SANDAG had approved and adopted compatibility plans for eight public airports in the county: San Diego International Airport, Brown Field, Montgomery Field, Oceanside Municipal Airport, Gillespie Field, Palomar-McClellan Airport, Borrego Valley Airport, and Fallbrook Community Airpark.The Ramona Airport compatibility plan had been created but was never officially adopted.

The airport authority’s Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan will update plans for those nine airports and create plans for the other three public airports — the Ocotillo, Jacumba, and Agua Caliente airfields — along with the four military airports in San Diego County. Of the four military airports, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar already has a compatibility plan; new plans would be created for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Naval Air Station North Island, and Naval Air Station Imperial Beach.

The county owns and operates eight of those airports.Two of those, Gillespie Field and Palomar-McClellan Airport, are in incorporated cities and the remaining six (Fallbrook, Ramona, Borrego, Ocotillo, Jacumba, and Agua Caliente) are in the unincorporated portion of the county.Gillespie Field, Palomar-McClellan Airport, San Diego International Airport, Brown Field, and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar are in incorporated cities but have airport influence areas which may affect either land under county jurisdiction or land with county facilities, and Camp Pendleton’s influence area also includes land under county jurisdiction.

“We need to take a hard look at what’s going on,” said Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.

The airport authority’s draft plan was released on March 7.The County of San Diego obtained staff comments from the Department of Parks and Recreation, the County Airports and Land Development divisions of the Department of Public Works, and the General Plan 2020, Regulatory, and Multiple Species Conservation Program divisions of the Department of Planning and Land Use.