Packard Sets Own Agenda in Hunt for Orange County Airport

Rep. Ron Packard, a member of the powerful House aviation subcommittee, vowed Wednesday to fight three sites soon to be recommended by an Orange County citizens’ panel as potential locations for a new regional airport.

In an apparent preemptive move, Packard (R-Carlsbad) hosted a meeting of several local congressmen in Washington, during which they agreed to draft broad guidelines for the location of any future airport. Packard said there was general agreement among the congressmen that a regional airport should be located in less populated and less mountainous areas of Southern California.

San Bernardino County’s George Air Force Base, which is due to close, was discussed as a strong candidate for a future airport, Packard said. The congressmen also discussed moving all air cargo and overnight mail service to Norton Air Force Base, also in San Bernardino County and slated for closure, he said.

Packard represents a district that straddles San Diego and Orange counties and includes all three sites expected to be named in a final report from a citizens’ task force. The sites, already named in a draft report, are Potrero Los Ninos, a plateau east of San Juan Capistrano; Cristianitos Canyon, east of San Clemente, and south Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.

Although the congressmen would play no direct role in selecting the sites, they could assist in getting federal funding for the airport as well as steering it through the federal regulatory process. Packard, for example, serves on the aviation subcommittee of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, which oversees the Federal Aviation Commission.

“We think we could lay the ground work for a regional airport plan that the local people could then run with,” Packard said.

“We do not want to take over in any sense the local responsibility of selecting sites for an airport, but we certainly don’t want to be in a position of saying, ‘No, don’t put it here and don’t put it there,’ and then not be in a position to help find a solution,” he said.

Packard, who has previously expressed displeasure with the potential airport sites named in the citizens’ task force draft report, said he would oppose federal funding for them.