Golding Makes Another Pass at 2nd-Runway Issue

Attempting to clarify her position on the future of Lindbergh Field, County Supervisor Susan Golding said Monday that a second runway might be necessary at the cramped airport but probably not for years to come.

At a morning news conference held on a street corner overlooking the airport, Golding called for more rapid expansion of Lindbergh, including a new terminal and better street access needed to keep the airport operating during the 15 to 20 years that she claimed will pass before a new South Bay airport is opened.

Golding, who is running for mayor of San Diego, appeared to endorse a second runway at a March 9 forum in Rancho Bernardo, then retreated from that position under heavy criticism from one of her rivals, San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts, a leader in the attempt to move the region’s airport to the international border area.

Golding told a La Jolla audience Thursday that she never called for a second runway. She said she was referring to a study that explored the idea as part of an overall expansion.

Roberts claimed the runway alignment explored in that study would send noisy air traffic over Pacific Beach and La Jolla, require the closing of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and worsen an already unsafe situation.

Monday, Golding said that a second runway might indeed be necessary 10 or 15 years from now, adding that the specifics of its alignment would be open to debate.

Golding also criticized Roberts for failing to live up to a promise to remove the six-story Laurel Travel Center from a site at the foot of the runway. She also said the City Council had recently approved “four other tall buildings . . . in the flight path of Lindbergh.”

In imposing height limits on the area east of the airport last month, the council exempted two residential developments, consisting of three buildings, from its own new restrictions. The towers will range from 100 feet to 152 feet high.

None of the three buildings is in the Lindbergh flight path, aides to Roberts said.

As for the Laurel Travel Center, about which pilots have long complained, Roberts said that, if Golding “took a few minutes to review the record before calling a press conference about it, she’d know that I’ve worked harder than anybody to get that building down.”