City to Limit Building Size Near Airport : Aviation: Council approves height restrictions for buildings east of Lindbergh Field.

Seeking to avoid the construction of another Laurel Travel Center, long considered a nightmarish obstacle for pilots approaching Lindbergh Field, the San Diego City Council voted Tuesday to impose severe height restrictions east of the airport.

Under the new guidelines, up for a final vote in 30 days, new construction must fall at least 50 feet below standards set by the Federal Aviation Administration. Two major residential developments will be exempt from the restrictions because they were planned long ago.

Restricted is a 15-square mile area bounded by the southern edge of Mission Hills to the north, Golden Hill to the east, the southern edge of Balboa Park to the south and the airport to the west.

Pilots who land commercial aircraft from the east into Lindbergh Field must negotiate a steep descent over downtown San Diego while avoiding buildings that, from some angles, block the view of the runway entirely.

New Councilwoman Valerie Stallings had such concerns about the problem that she boarded a jet and made the approach into the airport this weekend, a maneuver she called “scary.”

“Having flown it and talked to a lot of people, the (restrictions) are worth it and in the long run, we’ll have a much safer airport,” she said.

The height limits vary according to how close the buildings come to the runway. For example, the six-story Laurel Travel Center, which stands 56 1/2-feet tall, would have to be reduced by 17 feet if the new restrictions had applied.

Parkwest Plaza, one of the two projects that have been ruled exempt, is to include 55 residential units, as well as retail, bank and office space. Located on a block bounded by 5th and 6th avenues and Laurel and Maple streets, the structure is to be 152-feet high. The restriction would have forced the building to stand only 102-feet high.

Laurel Park Plaza, the second project with an exemption, is to have two residential towers, one 100 feet high and one 130 feet high. The structure is next to Mr. A’s Restaurant, bounded by 4th and 5th avenues and Laurel and Kalmia streets. Mr. A’s also exceeds the limit.

The council voted 8 to 0 for the height limits and 6 to 2 in favor of the exemptions for both projects. Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer dissented.

“It’s very important that we safeguard the city’s liability,” Wolfsheimer said. “But more important than that, (we must safeguard) the lives of the people who . . . come here as travelers or residents or visitors.”

Ironically, the FAA has never had a problem with the Laurel Travel Center and granted it a “no hazard” determination when it was built in the mid-1980s. And the federal agency has not requested that the City Council add its 50-foot buffer.

But council members say they want the added level of safety, even going so far as to begin discussions with the owner of the Laurel Travel Center to buy the building. Pilots say that the structure, which one has described as an “accident waiting to happen,” blocks their view of the runway.

Councilman Ron Roberts, in whose district the airport lies, said he has spent two years trying to create an “obstacle-free zone” at the end of the runway.

Roberts said he and officials from the San Diego Unified Port District are negotiating with Sandy Kahn, president of Kent Holdings, the partnership that owns the building, about purchasing the center.

Commercial pilots have been lobbying for years to get the height restrictions in place and especially like the idea of the city acquiring the Laurel building.

“Even with a 50-foot (or even a 100-foot) buffer, unless some previously built structures and terrain are removed, the approach to runway 27 still has problems,” Charles K. Guy, a representative of the Air Line Pilots Assn., wrote in a letter to the city. The association includes more than 44,000 pilots representing 43 carriers.

But not everyone has been happy.

“I’ve had a couple of (property) owners in here hollering at me,” he said. “But in 30 days, there will be no exceptions and no question.”