Otay Mesa Building Ban Buys Airport Study Time

The San Diego City Council on Monday placed a yearlong freeze on more than 11,000 homes slated to be built west of Brown Field while a planning group determines whether the Otay Mesa airstrip can be upgraded to a major regional airport.

The emergency ordinance, approved by a 7-1 vote in its third presentation to the council, takes effect immediately. The moratorium will also affect a small number of commercial and industrial projects.

In a compromise requested by developers and Councilman Bob Filner, the council agreed to allow planning for the homes to continue during the moratorium so that builders will not face delays if they ultimately are allowed to build the 11,195 houses. Commercial and industrial projects that are compatible with an airport and are already in the planning process are also exempt from the ban.

Keeping Options Open

Councilman Ron Roberts proposed the moratorium to keep open the option of upgrading Brown Field, now a small, general aviation airstrip, to a major regional airport that could replace or complement Lindbergh Field. The San Diego Assn. of Governments (Sandag) is considering that alternative in a study financed by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Other options being studied in Sandag’s 12-month review, which just began, are use of Miramar Naval Air Station, building an offshore airport or converting North Island Naval Air Station’s field to civilian use.

Calling the moratorium a “modest step in preserving a possible opportunity,” Roberts told the council for the third consecutive week that “we don’t have the capacity or the potential for developing the capacity at Lindbergh Field.”

The Otay Mesa homes, which 46,000 people ultimately would occupy, would be situated immediately west of Brown Field, in the path of airplane noise if the airfield were upgraded to a regional facility. In addition, some of the land now proposed for homes might be needed to extend Brown’s single runway.

Lindbergh Capacity by 1995

Lindbergh, which has experienced a 63% increase in passenger traffic during the past 10 years, now serves 10.1 million people annually with its single runway. It will reach its capacity by 1995, when it is likely to become one of the 20 most-congested airports in the nation, Roberts has said.

Only Councilman Bob Filner, whose 8th District includes Otay Mesa, opposed the freeze, calling it a “temporary political expedient.” Noting that Sandag rejected the use of Brown Field in 1976 and 1981 studies, Filner said that there is “no reason to believe we will have any change.”

In the previous studies, Sandag turned down a Brown Field airport because the 3,566-foot height of Otay Mountain would make landings by westbound jets too dangerous and because Brown’s proximity to the border puts it too close to Tijuana International Airport.

“This politically expedient moratorium on the residential development will not affect the situation with the airport . . . and I think it’s just a waste of time,” Filner said.

Roberts’ staff has said, however, that advances in instrument technology, a realignment of the runway on a northwest-southeast axis, or agreement on a joint U.S.-Mexican airport might allow Brown to be expanded into a regional facility.

The freeze affects land bounded by Interstate 805 on the west, the Mexican border on the south, Brown Field on the east and the Chula Vista border on the north. Two chunks of land within those boundaries, which are scheduled to house industrial and commercial projects, were exempted.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor and council members Abbe Wolfsheimer, Gloria McColl, Wes Pratt, Ed Struiksma and Judy McCarty joined Roberts in approving the moratorium. Councilman Bruce Henderson was absent. McCarty, who two weeks ago voted against the proposal, switched her position when the ordinance was altered to allow the planning of the homes to continue.

Two weeks ago, the council mustered five votes for the ordinance, one shy of the number needed to approve an emergency ordinance. The council considered the proposal again last week, but postponed a decision to allow the city attorney’s office to revise the language.