Moratorium on Building ‘Hazards’ to Planes Urged

Prompted by growing concern over high-rises in the Lindbergh Field approach, the San Diego Planning Commission on Thursday unanimously recommended a moratorium on construction of buildings that might constitute hazards to the safe operation of the airport.

The action, if approved by the City Council, would prohibit issuance of building permits for projects that have been classified by the Federal Aviation Administration as hazards. According to the FAA, a hazard is anything that would “impact air navigation aides, runway thresholds, minimum flight altitudes, airport utility and the future operation of the airport.”

Planning Commission Chairman Ron Roberts called the situation “a house of cards” that “could fall on us at any time.”

“I don’t feel comfortable,” Roberts told the commission. “There has to be an immediate stop to any potential hazard.”

The commission also recommended that the city establish a committee of representatives from the city, the San Diego Unified Port District, the FAA, the San Diego Assn. of Governments (Sandag) and private developers to examine long-term solutions to the problem.

FAA and port officials said increasing construction obstructing the glide-slope path may eventually turn Lindbergh Field into a commuter airport.

Elly Stanson, air traffic technical specialist for the FAA, said the FAA would like to see the buildings around Lindbergh Field remain “status quo.” She said that further construction in the approach to Runway 27 could exceed the runway’s navigable requirements.

John Wilbur, chief engineer for the Port of San Diego, said Runway 27, the airport’s busiest, handles 88,726 takeoffs and landings a year. He said that changes in 1970 to FAA regulations governing minimum slope requirements reduced the effective length of the runway by 1,200 feet.

With “any further loss of runway space and derogation of use, (Lindbergh Field) could become a commuter airport,” Wilbur said.

The 7-0 vote for the moratorium came despite Assistant City Atty. Fred Conrad’s recommendation that the city instead exercise its power of eminent domain to purchase “airspace easements” from people whose property lies within the glide-slope of aircraft landing at Lindbergh’s Runway 27.

“I cannot say, with any degree of certainty, that we can enact regulations without the possibility of inverse condemnation,” Conrad said, explaining that placing a moratorium on building heights in favor of one competing user of the land (the airport) over another (the property owner) could subject the city to lawsuits for damages.

Eminent domain “is an immediately available means of dealing with the concerns,” Conrad said. “State law specifically allows for the use of easement of space above a property owner’s property. If we try to regulate (height limitations), we will be enacting invalid regulations or at least inverse condemnation.”

The Planning Commission did not take action concerning buildings that only constitute an “obstruction.” An obstruction is an object that penetrates the airport approach zone, but “does not have a substantial adverse impact to the safety and use of the airport,” Stanson said.

Many buildings, including most of the downtown high-rises, are classified by the FAA as obstructions to the airport. Stanson said, however, that no structures are listed as hazards.

The FAA calculates this by use of an “imaginary plane”--an inclined plane, which begins at the runway and extends outward and upward at the rate of one foot for every 100 feet away from the airport.

If a proposed construction penetrates that imaginary plane, the developer must submit its plans to the FAA for review. If the FAA classifies the object as an obstruction, the FAA can require that it be marked and lighted. All obstructions are mapped by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for distribution to pilots.

The city has several ordinances that govern construction in airport approach zones. However, “the ordinances are invalid and are not used,” Conrad said.

Under California Public Utility Code Section 21659, which took effect Jan. 1, construction of a building deemed to be a hazard could not begin without first obtaining a permit from the state Department of Transportation.