[pct-l] Rattlesnakes

[kbrandt at cats.ucsc.edu (Karl Brandt)]

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 CharlieJones@aol.com wrote:

>
> Sorry, THEY pulled the link.
>
> Here's the information from it:
> Look out! Rattlesnake
>
> By: ADRIENNE A. AGUIRRE - Staff Writer
> NORTH COUNTY ---- It's rattlesnake season and as the weather gets hotter,
> people and pets will be at more risk of getting bitten.

That same site has an article that says the Campo and Anza Borrego have
been added to the list of potential airport sites for San Diego.

I'd like to think this was an April Fool's joke but there's also an
article in the San Diego Union Tribune.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20040402-9999-news_7m2airport.html

The locations are described as:

'The newly proposed "Campo Area" lies south of state Route 94 near
Manzanita, Boulevard and the segment that reconnects the highway with
Interstate 8.'

'The "Anza Borrego" proposal is south of state Route 78 just west of the
Imperial County line, but outside the boundaries of Anza Borrego State
Park.'

Both of these would be very bad news for the PCT.

-Karl
*********************************************************************
Karl "Birdman" Brandt PCT97 LT98
http://people.ucsc.edu/~kbrandt/

Friday, April 2, 2004
Last modified Thursday, April 1, 2004 11:20 PM PST

Two desert areas proposed for San Diego airport

By: PHIL DIEHL - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO ---- A consulting firm has recommended adding two desert
locations to the list of sites being considered as a possible new home for
San Diego County's international airport, officials said Thursday.

One site is at Anza Borrego, 95 miles northeast of the present airport,
Lindbergh Field, in downtown San Diego. The other is in Campo, 75 miles
east of the airport.

Both suggestions are only general areas of privately owned property and
not specific sites, said representatives of the Chicago-based aviation
consulting firm Ricondo & Associates.

A recommendation to add the two areas to the seven sites being studied
will be considered when the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
board meets Monday.

Airport officials say Lindbergh Field will run out of runway room between
2012 and 2015, and that the county will lose passenger and cargo traffic
if more space is not found.

The airport, which has only one runway and sits on 614 acres, contributes
an estimated $4.5 billion to the regional economy, according to an airport
authority fact sheet.

The airport authority, a nine-member board charged with airport
improvements or expansions, asked the consulting firm to continue to look
for nonmilitary possibilities because five of the seven sites on the
present list are military bases. They are March Air Reserve Base in
Riverside County; two sites at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San
Diego; Camp Pendleton, north of Oceanside; and North Island Naval Air
Station in Coronado.

The other two sites are an unspecified location in the Imperial County
desert and the existing downtown San Diego airport, which is considered
overcrowded.

"The military bases are not really open to us at this time," said Thella
F. Bowens, president and chief executive officer of the airport authority.
There is no indication that any of the bases will be on the next round of
closures expected in 2005, she added.

The sites still under consideration have been culled from an original list
of 32 possibilities that included the small airports at Oceanside,
Carlsbad and Ramona, which were ruled out as impractical for international
traffic.

Military officials have said it is highly unlikely their bases will ever
be available for a public airport, and local military and legislative
leaders have fought tenaciously against the idea.

San Diego County is an especially difficult place to find room for a
large, new airport, said Greg Wellman, vice president of Ricondo &
Associates. Likely locations are limited by the ocean to the west, Mexico
to the south, dense development to the north, and the expansive desert to
the east.

The county has "a lot of developed land, and what isn't developed is very
challenging in terms of terrain" or with uses already on the sites,
Wellman said, during a news briefing Thursday at the airport.

The new sites were chosen using a computerized "geographic information
system" analysis that placed a template over maps of available land to
determine the most likely spot, based on Federal Aviation Administration
requirements. If the airport authority agrees, Wellman said, the next
steps would be to examine the aeronautical, environmental, accessibility,
and financial issues of the areas, he said.

Any study of either area would have to include the possibility of a public
transportation system such as high-speed rail to get people there from the
western end of the county, Wellman said. Both suggested areas are near the
county's eastern border.

"There is still a lot that needs to be done to test these new potential
areas," he said.

In December, the airport board awarded Ricondo a three-year contract
expected to cost $4.74 million in the first 15 months of work.

Bowens emphasized that any final decision of where to build a new airport
is up to county voters.

"State law says that in November 2006, we are required to put this issue
on the ballot," Bowens said, adding that it's one of the most important
issues the county faces in the next 20 years.

"At some point, you have to decide if you are going to live with a product
that is inferior ... or move ahead," she said.

Contact staff writer Phil Diehl at (760) 943-2314 or pdiehl@nctimes.com.