Grand jury credits San Diego mayor for Brown Field cleanup plan

Grand jury credits mayor for Brown Field cleanup plan
Non-aviation tenants are getting evicted
By Jeff McDonald
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

2:00 a.m. February 24, 2009


OTAY MESA — The city of San Diego has not fully complied with federal rules since acquiring Brown Field, but after years of neglect, the current mayor has done a good job putting the airport back on track, according to a county grand jury report released yesterday.

The municipal airport just north of the U.S.-Mexico border was granted to the city almost 50 years ago on the promise that it remain an airport, with only aviation-related uses.

Since the early 1990s, the city has allowed a spate of wrecking yards and other non-aviation businesses on various parts of the airfield – largely because it needs the rental income.

In recent months, the city allowed three such businesses to remain three more years, but handed eviction notices to 14 others, the grand jury said, and is pushing a major renovation at the site.

“Under the city's current political and operational leadership, significant progress is being made to remove the non-aeronautical-use tenants,” the grand jury wrote.

The non-aviation sites can be costly, the grand jury noted. Cleaning up the site of a former recycling and compost business has so far cost $300,000 and could take as much as $500,000, the jury said.

In a formal recommendation, the grand jury said the mayor should require current tenants to pay into a fund that would finance future cleanup costs.

“The cleanup will either be paid for by the (airport) enterprise fund or a state grant,” said Darren Pudgil, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders. “We're not going to touch the general fund.”

The Federal Aviation Administration, which has warned San Diego for years that the businesses have to move, said it is satisfied with the pace of evictions, but the city must keep at it.

“We expect to see that progress continue, and we're working closely with the city on planning and logistical issues related to their Brown Field development agreement,” FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said in prepared remarks.

Sanders, who pledged to clean up Brown Field during his 2005 mayoral campaign, is moving forward on a plan to build a new terminal, a hotel and conference center, condos, and retail and office space.

But some smaller, flying-related tenants have complained they have not been allowed to extend leases that would enhance the airport.

Jeff McDonald: (619) 542-4585; jeff.mcdonald@uniontrib.com

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