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MCAS Miramar Joint Use

The San Diego Regional Airport Authority has proposed replacing the current airport at Lindbergh Field with a joint use Military/Civilian airport at MCAS Miramar. There are several alternative proposals, but this is the most likely site to be recommended. The airport site recommendation will be placed on the ballot for a countywide vote in November 2006. There are two possible locations for joint use at Miramar: 1) a runway just south of Miramar Road; and 2) a double runway in East Miramar (east of I-15). The Marines are strongly opposed to either location and have been making presentations at community groups to explain why joint use at Miramar is incompatible with continued military use of the site. In January 2006, The Mira Mesa Town Council adopted the following motion regarding this issue:

"The Mira Mesa Town Council is opposed to joint use of MCAS Miramar as a civilian airport and is opposed to inclusion of joint use at MCAS Miramar as an option in the Airport Site Selection Program to be presented to the County for a vote in November 2006. Our opposition is based on the fundamental incompatibility of the military and civilian operations at Miramar.

"MCAS Miramar is strongly opposed to joint use and has presented the reasons clearly at multiple public meetings. The incompatibilities are severe enough that joint use would likely lead to eventual abandonment of military use of Miramar. The Mira Mesa Town Council supports continued military use of Miramar. We stand together with MCAS Miramar, as well as the other communities surrounding Miramar, to strongly oppose joint military/civilian use of MCAS Miramar."

We expect other communities to adopt similar resolutions. The resolution adopted by the Tierrasanta Community Council is listed below.

TIERRASANTA COMMUNITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION NUMBER 03-2005 (ch-1)

FINDINGS OF FACTS AND CONCERNS REGARDING POSSIBLE MILITARY AND CIVILIAN "JOINT USE" OF MCAS MIRAMAR

WHEREAS, continued Federal control of MCAS Miramar will be maintained for the foreseeable future now that BRAC 2005 has concluded; and

WHEREAS, with the conclusion of BRAC 2005, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (SDCRAA) has stated an intention to examine in earnest the several military sites-including MCAS Miramar (east and west)-as possible locations for the next San Diego International Airport (SDIA); and

WHEREAS, the SDCRAA has been directed to recommend a location for the next SDIA in order that the public may vote on this matter in the November 2006 general election; and

WHEREAS, all indications are the SDCRAA is likely to produce the recommendation that the next SDIA should be located at MCAS Miramar via a "Joint Use" agreement that would permit simultaneous military and civilian flight operations; NOW, THEREFORE;

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Tierrasanta Community Council established the following to be Findings of Fact regarding the possible Joint Use of MCAS Miramar by a civilian airport:

1. Joint Use is feasible when military and civilian operations are compatible, but for a variety of reasons this is not the case for MCAS Miramar:

2. The incompatible types of flight operations discussed above make Joint Use impossible without causing either a degradation in the Marines' ability to train pilots or interruptions to the business of the scheduled airlines. Joint Use of MCAS Miramar given the Marines' training requirements could only occur if the airlines would permit frequent interruptions to scheduled flight operations, and this would be disruptive to the airport and its passengers. Alternately, Joint Use of MCAS Miramar given the needs of a future SDIA could only occur if the Marines' training requirements are subordinate to civilian flight operations, which would severely degrade the military's training mission in preparing pilots for the Global War on Terror. Joint Use of MCAS Miramar would result in an untenable balancing of wholly incompatible needs: the needs of military flight training to ensure the combat readiness of Marine Corps aviators, versus the need to ensure uninterrupted civilian arrivals and departures to maximize airline and airport revenues.

3. Any future SDIA requires a second full-length runway separated by 4,300 feet from the existing runway (the second runway is needed to provide the added capacity for the predicted level of operations in 2030). At MCAS Miramar, a second runway must lie to the north of the existing 11,000+ foot runway (because it cannot be built on the existing landfill that lies to the south). A runway 4,300 feet to the north would put it on top of the current military housing at MCAS Miramar and also on top of a section of Miramar Road. In addition, FAA safety regulations would require the elimination of a significant portion of southern Mira Mesa (houses & schools removed, buildings lowered, etc.) in order to provide the required safety and protection zones. Accordingly, there is no suitable location for a second runway at the existing MCAS Miramar (west of I-15).

4. If East Miramar were proposed then the two runways would have to be built on highly topographical lands. The canyons in East Miramar run generally north and south, but due to prevailing winds the runways would have to be built primarily east and west. This would mean the hills would have to be cut down, and the canyons filled in, to produce sufficient flat surface on which to build dual 11,000+ foot runways. In addition to extraordinary cost for all the required earth moving, this would cause massive and irreparable harm to the sensitive and endangered species contained in East Miramar. There could be no possible environmental mitigation to account for the significant elimination of protected habitat due to the amount of largely unimproved land that would be disturbed in such an undertaking.

5. Base security would be severely compromised by a continuous and unregulated flow of civilian people, vehicles and aircraft onto or in close proximity to the remaining military facility.

6. Military operations currently are 5-days a week, with limited flights during the weekend, occasional flights at night, and very few flights after midnight. Civilian operations would, by FAA mandate, be 24-hrs per day and 7 days a week.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, based on the above Findings of Fact, the relocation of SDIA operations to MCAS Miramar would result in a disastrous reduction in the Marines' ability to prepare military aviators for combat in defense of United States interests at home and abroad; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, based on the above Findings of Fact, the relocation of SDIA operations to MCAS Miramar would result in significant and seriously disruptive consequences to the community of Tierrasanta, including: increased noise, increased vehicle traffic, increased pollution, increased incursions into the surrounding protected habitats, and elimination of the community's character as an "Island in the Hills"; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the above Findings of Fact make Joint Use of MCAS Miramar impractical, infeasible, unwise and completely detrimental to the interests of national security, regional prosperity and the homeowners of Tierrasanta; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Tierrasanta Community Council altogether and unreservedly rejects as short-sighted and counterproductive any possible future report by SDCRAA that might propose the MCAS Miramar Joint Use option to the County for a vote in November 2006.

This resolution was adopted by the Tierrasanta Community Council during its meeting on November 16, 2005, by the following unanimous vote:

Yeas: 16 Nays: 0 Abstentions: 0

Eric Germain President, TCC