Packard Opposes Wilderness Site for New Regional Airport

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) looked at the rocky hills and mountains, and shook his head.

“I can’t imagine anyone proposing this area for an airport,” he said. “This place simply should not be built into an airport. It would ruin the wilderness area and would be extremely expensive.”

Packard on Friday made an inspection visit to Potrero Los Pinos, an area of the Cleveland National Forest in South Orange County that is among three sites recommended earlier this summer as possible locations for a new regional airport. The other two are Camp Pendleton in San Diego County and Norton Air Force Base, soon to be closed, in San Bernardino County.

Potrero Los Pinos is the only Orange County site among the three top recommendations. It is also the most isolated. Situated 25 miles east of San Juan Capistrano and about two miles north of Ortega Highway, Potrero Los Pinos is currently the location of an Orange County conservation camp for rehabilitating young lawbreakers.

It is in a remote area of the federally owned Cleveland National Forest, about a mile from the Riverside County line. The rugged Santa Ana Mountains encircle the area.

Packard said he opposes building an airport either at Camp Pendleton or at Potrero Los Pinos. “An airport would destroy the military training mission at Camp Pendleton,” Packard said. And he said the proposed area in the Cleveland National Forest “is a totally unacceptable site.”

A group of South Orange County elected officials accompanied Packard on the tour, including San Juan Capistrano Mayor Gary L. Hausdorfer, City Manager Stephen B. Julian, and two Dana Point City Council members, Michael Eggers and Judy Curreri. All strongly oppose building an airport anywhere in South Orange County.

At issue is a proposal for a new landing field to supplement John Wayne Airport. The site proposals were made July 22 by the Airport Site Coalition, a private group formed by the County Board of Supervisors to analyze possible new airport locations. An alternate site recommended by the group was in Cristianitos Canyon near San Clemente.

Municipal officials from South Orange County have generally denounced the Cleveland National Forest and Cristianitos Canyon recommendations.

San Juan Capistrano’s Hausdorfer said Friday, “An airport in this area is not politically, sociologically or economically feasible.”

Julian added, “Part of the quality of life in this area is having green, undeveloped areas nearby. An airport would destroy that.”

Dana Point’s Curreri represented her city on the Airport Site Coalition. She said she opposed the Potrero Los Pinos site recommendation because “it just doesn’t make any sense to me to take something as rugged as this and try to make it a flat site.”

Packard is on the aviation subcommittee of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee in Congress.

Federal authorizations for airport spending flow from that subcommittee, and Packard made it clear that he would fight to block any funds for an airport either at Camp Pendleton or in South Orange County.

“Actually the Public Works Committee would laugh its head off if it got a recommendation for funds for building an airport in these mountains,” Packard said. “The cost for an infrastructure to support this airport would be absolutely prohibitive in my judgment.”

Packard said Norton Air Force Base appears to be the best alternative for a new civilian, regional airport.

He said there are indications the residents of San Bernardino would favor having a new airport to make up for the economic loss of the Air Force base.