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McClellan-Palomar Airport: FAA Grant Enforcement?

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Did county’s Palomar landfills violate FAA grant requirements?

The Issues

For nearly two years, we have been waiting for the FAA to explain:

  • Trash Dumping. Did the FAA consent in writing to the County of San Diego dumping about 800,000 cubic yards of trash in 30 acres of McClellan-Palomar Airport canyons over a 14-year period?
  • Trash Dumping Interim Safety Risks. If so, on what basis since dumping trash both (i) endangered Palomar Airport runway operations by attracting birds to the trash heaps just 1,000 feet away from aircraft using the airport and (ii) violated the FAA Grant conditions that preclude use of airports for non-airport purposes without written Secretary of Transportation permission.
  • Trash Dumping Extraordinary Costs and Permanent Safety Risks. Why would the County of San Diego be eligible for future FAA grants to extend its 4,900-foot runway up to 800 feet over the now closed landfill when by dumping trash, county has (i) increased the cost of extending the runway by more than 1,000 percent, (ii) created a safety hazard by exposing increasingly larger aircraft to the landfill methane gas collection system that lies 4 to 7 feet below the Palmar runway east end, and (iii) violated the FAA grant conditions?
  • IPERA. How is the FAA complying with the federal Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act when the County of San Diego applies for future FAA grants to extend and/or relocate the Palomar runway?

  [Read more…]

McClellan-Palomar Airport: The Truth?

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On October 10, 2018, the county Board of Supervisors (BOS) adopted a 20-year plan for McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport in Carlsbad and certified an EIR.

A month later, the citizens group Citizens for a Friendly Airport (see c4fa.org) filed suit challenging the county decision. A suit verdict is likely in mid or late 2019. Issues the court may have to wrestle with include:

  • Accuracy of County Project Description. In public presentations, county staff repeatedly said the purpose of extending the Palomar runway up to 800 feet was to increase aircraft safety, not to attract more aircraft. Yet several supervisors approving the Palomar Master Plan (PMP) glowingly noted Palomar’s ability to act as a “reliever” airport for overflow Lindbergh traffic.

One question for the court would be: Did the county engage in a “bait and switch” – analyzing low levels of Palomar use in the EIR, while encouraging higher use levels with Lindbergh diversions?

  [Read more…]

Garbage In, Garbage Out: Supes Ready to Vote Based on a Failed Staff McClellan-Palomar Airport Analysis

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The San Diego County Board of Supervisors  (BOS) cannot decide wisely when it relies on poor staff information.

Need an example?  Look at the BOS October 10, 2018, McClellan-Palomar Airport, Agenda Item.   Palomar is in the city of Carlsbad.

County staff recommends that the Board approve a 20-Year Palomar Master Plan (PMP) to spend up to $112,000,000 to extend the 4900-foot runway up to 900 feet and to relocate the runway about 100 feet to the north before 2036.     [Read more…]

An Open Letter to the New FAA Administrator: Mr. Dan Elwell

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Editor’s Note: North County residents want some honest answers about the County of San Diego’s desire to expand McClellan-Palomar [CRQ] Airport (Palomar) by extending its sole 4900-foot runway to 5700-feet and moving it north about 100 feet. They suspect the county has been playing fast and loose with Federal Aviation Administration regulations and can’t get answers from the federal government.

Dear Mr. Elwell:

Congratulations on your appointment as the new Acting FAA Administrator. Your history as a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate; as a long-term American Airlines pilot; and your FAA prior positions involving safety and the environment all suggest that you have the credentials to right the FAA’s sinking ship.  Thank you also for your service in Operation Desert Storm.

We write because we believe the FAA Western Pacific Region (WPR) Office does not comply in good faith with the FAA February 2016 Community Involvement Policy.   [Read more…]

McClellan-Palomar Airport Expansion: An Independent Analysis?

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Brother: Can you spare a name?

I worked for the government for thirty years. I’ve read thousands of staff reports. They are strange creatures. All about Mary Poppins and cheeriness; seldom about doom and gloom. Darth Vader is a galaxy away. Why is that? How does the government make an informed decision without a balanced report in front of it?

And, what happens when you ask to see an independent analysis – not just the rosy predictions of handsomely paid consultants hired to do the bidding of politicians enlightened by lobbyists desiring predetermined results, possibly shuffling campaign cash among the politicians?   [Read more…]

North County’s McClellan-Palomar Airport 2018 – 2038 Master Plan Environmental Impact Review

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Has the San Diego Water Board Provided the County Helpful Comments?

In January 2018, the County unpacked its 2018 – 2038 McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport Master Plan (PMP). Also, its sister Programmatic EIR (PEIR). The San Diego Water Board (SDWB) commented, but inadequately.

The PMP Purpose

The Board of Supervisors has a simple but complex question before it: Should county by 2038 spend $112 million to move and lengthen the Palomar 4900-foot runway by 800 feet to annually handle 30% fewer aircraft than county handled before?   [Read more…]

Supervisor Bill Horn’s McClellan-Palomar Airport Retaining Wall: $12 Million for 60 Feet?

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Sometimes, you just have to shake your head and ask, What was he thinking? Today, the “he” is San Diego Board of Supervisor Bill Horn.

Here is today’s specific question: Did the McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport consultant add a massive $12 million retaining wall to the 2018 Palomar Master Plan so Bill Horn could add 60 more feet to the Palomar runway?

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The County of San Diego operates eight county airports (but not the San Diego International Airport). Palomar is one county airport within the city of Carlsbad in North County. At a cost of $700,000 in 2013, county asked a consultant to study whether the runway could be stretched from 4,900 feet to 5,800 feet.

The county archives are yet to tell us why a 900-foot extension was picked. Though this article may provide some clues.

  [Read more…]

An FAA FOIA Request Update: 218 Days and Counting and No End in Sight

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Foolishly believing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) makes timely decisions, a friend and I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FAA on July 29, 2017. Why? To gather info to comment on the County of San Diego 2018 McClellan-Palomar Master Plan.

We asked for the records showing what the FAA knew about the County of San Diego opening three landfills on McClellan-Palomar Airport for a 14-yeard period in the 1960s and 1970s.

Why this request? Because the County of San Diego has received more than $30 million in FAA funds and agreed to FAA grant conditions. And the County now wants at least $70 million more to extend and relocate its Palomar runway 800-feet. One FAA grant condition says: Don’t use airport property for non-airport purposes.

We also asked for an FOIA fee waiver. The feds charge for records unless an FOIA fee exemption applies. Two exemptions should apply. Reporters with a demonstrated history of informing the public of community issues qualify for an exemption. FOIA fee waivers also apply when records are requested that further a significant public interest.

One week after our request, the FAA West Coast FOIA office denied it. On August 3, 2017, we filed our appeal with the FAA in Washington, D.C. As of March 9, 2018, the FAA official position is: We’re still reviewing the issues.   [Read more…]

Carr, Geraci Believe a Democrat Can Top Waldron in the 75th Assembly District

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By Rick Mercurio / Alianza North County

Two democrats are gearing up to challenge incumbent republican Marie Waldron next year for the 75th Assembly district, which has traditionally been a safe seat for conservatives. Waldron is currently serving as the Assembly’s minority floor leader and is in her third two-year term after serving 14 years on the Escondido city council.

Eric Carr and Alan Geraci hope to harness the political activism that has been sweeping the nation, including North County, and turn that energy into an electoral upset.
The 75th encompasses Escondido, San Marcos, Valley Center, Fallbrook and southern Riverside County.   [Read more…]

Palomar Airport: The November 16 PAAC Meeting

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Dracula Rises Again

At the well-attended November 16 meeting of the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee (PAAC), one of the PAAC members resurrected one of the County of San Diego’s favorite draconian questions: If you bought a house knowing an airport was in the area, why are you complaining? Ignore the noise. Endure the traffic congestion. Don’t breathe until you are far enough away. Brush the soot off your car. And do it graciously.

That was the gist of what a San Marcos mobile home park resident was told when she asked why aircraft had to fly so low over her mobile home.

With apologies to Jack Nicholson in the movie “A Few Good Men,” the county sentiment seems to be:

“I [the county] have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man (woman) who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I [the county] provide, then question the manner in which I provide it. I prefer you said thank you, and went on your way … I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!”  [Jack Nicholson, as Colonel Jessup]   [Read more…]

Why Does the FAA Charge to Find Records That It Already Must Find?

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Dodging Public Record Requests

Four months ago, San Marcos and Carlsbad residents asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to produce records related to the expansion of McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport in Carlsbad. The FAA replied: Sure, just pay $545 to $745 so the FAA can retrieve them.

Did the FAA follow the law, its own regulations, or common sense?
  [Read more…]

FAA: ‘Trust Us, You’ll Learn to Love Tiny Airline Seats’ and Other Nightmares

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July gave us another court case rebuking FAA secrecy and arbitrary decisions. In Flyers Rights Education Fund, Inc. v. FAA, the D.C. United States Courts of Appeals told the FAA to again review whether skinnier, narrower, claustrophobic aircraft seats created passenger safety hazards.

Flyers Rights argued that shoehorning passengers into cramped seats risked passenger health before and after crashes. Restricted blood flow caused by cramped seats, they said, might lead to deep leg thrombosis — a condition caused when blood settles in the circulatory system, as often occurs in the lower limbs during long flights and especially among the elderly.  After a crash, restricted seats might slow escape from the aircraft as sardined and confused crash victims fight to escape darkened and possibly smoky aircraft aisles.

The court agreed that the FAA had presented enough information to reject the thrombosis claim but concluded that the FAA had failed to present evidence that smaller seats did not compromise passenger safety.   [Read more…]

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