Vote Sets Up a Dogfight Over Use of Air Station

Airport officials Monday voted to endorse the idea of a civilian airport at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, setting up the biggest clash between the civic leadership and military brass here in decades.

The military insists that joint use of the airport would be dangerous and undercut training and readiness.

But the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority voted 7 to 2 to send the issue to a countywide public vote in November. The vote would provide marching orders for public officials to begin pressuring the military to retreat from its opposition.

Bill Lynch, a member of the airport authority’s governing board, said simply, “Miramar isn’t just the best choice, it’s the only choice.”

But Navy Rear Adm. Len Hering said the authority’s consultants, which said joint use was feasible, failed to show “even the most basic understanding of how the military operates on the land and in the air.”

The authority, by state law, is assigned the politically difficult task of finding an alternative to Lindbergh Field, which is considered too small to accommodate the economic needs of a growing region. Although convenient to downtown, the airport has just one runway and no room for a second.

The choice of Miramar has failed to win much support at City Hall. Mayor Jerry Sanders has said he cannot support the idea because it seems destined to fail unless the Marine Corps changes its stance, which is unlikely.

City Council President Scott Peters said the airport authority was like the fellow who continually is spurned by the girl of his affections but decides to send out wedding invitations anyway.

Still, history suggests that the public likes the idea of an airport at Miramar, a location more central to the county’s population centers. In 1994, 52% of voters favored the idea in a countywide advisory vote.

But since 1994, the base has shifted from the Navy to the Marine Corps, which uses it for its F/A-18 and helicopter squadrons. Also, the federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the base.

A group opposed to trying to pressure the military on the Miramar issue has already formed in opposition to the November vote.

But the local newspaper and a sizable number of civic leaders think Miramar is not just a good idea but a vital one if the county’s economy is to avoid stagnation because of the lack of a second runway.

“Once all the rhetoric is finished, I think it will be a very close vote,” said Mike Stepner, former city planner and city architect.

The search for a new airport site has been an issue for more than five decades. The airport authority considered dozens of sites but most were either too far away or too close to residential areas, officials said.

Miramar, with 23,000 acres, was considered the best site in the county, according to consultants hired by the airport authority.

One of the obstacles faced by the airport authority is a change in federal law written by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Hunter attached an amendment to a recently passed defense spending bill that bans use of any military base in San Diego County for a civilian airport.

Relations between military brass and civilian leaders are generally cordial in a region where the military is a major economic and historic factor.

But during Monday’s airport authority meeting, Marine Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert and authority member Anthony Young, also a San Diego City Council member, engaged in a testy exchange.

Lehnert accused the authority of engaging in a “march to Miramar” from the beginning of its work three years ago.

Young, who voted in favor of Miramar, bristled, saying he was doing what was best for his constituents.