Clear Path to Airport

Sometimes the public and its representatives get themselves into a bind when decisions based on one set of criteria wind up influencing seemingly unrelated matters in the future. A case in point is the question of moving San Diego International Airport from Lindbergh Field, an issue that carried considerable sentiment during the 1970s.

Sites near Brown Field on Otay Mesa, at Miramar Naval Air Station and at Sorrento Valley were suggested as alternatives to the downtown airport.

The effort was pushed by Pete Wilson, then the city’s popular and potent mayor, as well as by residents of Loma Portal, Point Loma and other neighborhoods that suffer from the noise caused by jetliners taking off and landing. But the proposed sites all were either technically or politically flawed, so the campaign to move the airport failed. Not even the 1978 crash of a PSA jet in North Park could give impetus to the effort to move the airport.

So, the airport is destined to be downtown for the foreseeable future. But its future as a major airport is not totally assured.

As downtown San Diego and nearby areas develop, competition has arisen between the space needed for high-rise buildings and the clear path required to land jetliners. Commissioners of the San Diego Unified Port District, which owns the airport, and the airport manager want land in the flight path preserved from high-rise construction. Already, the Federal Aviation Administration has made changes in the Lindbergh Field flight path to accommodate buildings that have been constructed.

The FAA has no authority over what buildings are put up, but it can change the operations at the airport, including shortening the usable length of runways, thereby making Lindbergh Field off-limits for larger planes. The conflict ultimately could be one between having a viable metropolitan airport and having high-rise buildings on the north side of downtown. The danger in allowing high-rise construction in the flight path is that San Diego’s airport could become simply a commuter stop for smaller planes shuttling passengers from other regional airports. Lindbergh Field would become a mere appendage to Los Angeles International.

That would make San Diego a much less inviting place to live and work, and it would be a major blow to the tourist industry.

San Diego must have a vibrant commercial airport, and if the price is limiting tall buildings in the flight path, it is one that has to be paid. Height limits have been placed successfully on buildings along the coast for aesthetic reasons. It is up to the City Council to do the same to protect the airport.