SAN CLEMENTE : Multicounty Panel Sought on Airport

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) on Thursday called for the formation of a multicounty commission to study the feasibility of building a major commercial airport in the Inland Empire.

In a morning press conference held on an undeveloped ridgeline overlooking Cristianitos Canyon, Packard said federal, state and county officials must work cooperatively to find an acceptable site for a new airport in Southern California.

Packard noted that officials in every county in the Southland are studying a variety of solutions to meet growing air transportation needs. But, he added, there has not been enough regional cooperation.

“We’re all doing this in isolation of each other without a coordinated effort,” Packard said. “I’m looking at the entire airport needs of Southern California. We need to begin to coordinate the site selection process so we don’t work in counterpart, in ignorance of each others’ efforts.”

Packard’s comments came during a tour of Cristianitos Canyon with San Clemente city officials, who have criticized suggestions to build a medium-haul airport in the unpopulated region northeast of the beach city.

Cristianitos Canyon, located less than three miles from San Clemente, is one of five airport sites that are being considered by an ad hoc group that was commissioned by the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The county commissioned the Airport Site Coalition to study possible sites for an airport to serve Orange County residents as part of a settlement over a controversial plan to enlarge John Wayne Airport.

The other South County option proposed by the coalition is in Potrero Los Pinos, a hilly portion of the Cleveland National Forest.

In September, Packard held a similar press conference, condemning the coalition’s inclusion of the Potrero Los Pinos area as a possible airport site.

Packard opposed that plan for environmental reasons. He said that an airport in the national forest would ruin the pristine countryside, one of the last undeveloped areas in Orange County. “As far as I can tell, this (Cristianitos Canyon) is as bad a place (to locate an airport) as Los Pinos,” Packard said. “I don’t see any difference.”

An airport in Cristianitos Canyon would also bring commercial aircraft dangerously close to the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station, the TRW “Star Wars” test facility and Camp Pendleton U.S. Marine Corps base, Packard said.

The tour came less than two weeks after the Airport Site Coalition held its final public meeting at UC Irvine. The coalition also is considering an airport in South Camp Pendleton, March Air Force Base and Norton Air Force Base.