Warns Non-Aviation Business Not Part Of Original 1962 Agreement

It's one of the last things you'd expect to see at an airport -- dozens of junkyards and used car lots lining the field on airport property. Yet at San Diego's Brown Field (SDM), that's exactly what you see, and the Federal Aviation Administration has been trying to do something about it.

For years city officials have allowed tenants with no aviation background to occupy leased space on the airport, contending the rental income from the leases is what helps maintain the airport. The FAA sees the use of airport property for non-aviation enterprise as gross misuse of the airport, a violation of the 1962 government grant of the airport to the city, and a reason for the agency to reject federal grant money. As a result, the potentially vibrant general aviation airport is now stagnant as the FAA and the city and state officials attempt to resolve the situation.

In 2006, city officials began the process of evicting the non-aviation businesses on the field due to pressure from the FAA. However, the process halted when Councilman Ben Hueso, who represents the region, helped stop the evictions after being bombarded with complaints from the tenants according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A compromise was formed in April 2006, allowing "right-of-entry" permits for non-conforming tenants to stay on the field. Officials insisted this was only temporary and their business would only be tolerated for one more year.

"We will be specific and totally clear that this is a one-year deal -- end of story," former land-use chief James Waring wrote at the time.

The FAA agreed to the permits, but only as a temporary solution and reinforced the evictions needed to continue for the airport to conform to the 1962 agreement.

According to the Union-Tribune, Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, approached the FAA in March about allowing the junkyards to stay, saying it makes no sense to force viable businesses off Brown Field until the city has more definitive plans for the property.

"You have some pretty incompetent (city) administrations giving out these nonconforming leases for years," Filner said. "Now all of a sudden this has to be reversed even when there are no immediate development plans?"

Ironically the process of planning the future of the airport is why evictions have halted since the 2006 compromise.

In early 2007, three months before the "right-of-entry permits" were set to expire, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced "the first significant new development" at Brown Field since the city took over.

The new plan called for developers to bid on rebuilding 65 acres south of the runway and also to recommend solutions for the whole airport. At the time, Sanders' office acknowledged that most of the non-aviation companies would probably be allowed to stay past the one-year deadline.

All evictions are halted during the development planning process.
 
A $2.1 Million FAA grant application currently under review could be threatened if the evictions don't continue. Sanders blames City Attorney Michael Aguirre for halting the latest eviction process. Aguirre said the Mayor's Office agreed to stop the evictions while planning is under way for the airport.

As a result of the confusion, non-compliant tenants south of the runway are now in legal limbo. Targeted first for eviction, their leases were canceled when the eviction process began, so they no longer pay rent or provide the city proof they are insured against accidents or injuries.

The area where those 17 tenants are located is part of the initial phase of the redevelopment plan being worked out between the city and developer Distinctive Projects Co. Inc. Their plan would add terminals, hangars and offices and a sweeping conference center, hotel and industrial park. Over the next 20 years, Distinctive Projects would redevelop much of the entire 880 acres.

This isn't the first time an ambitious plan has been devised for the future use of the airport.

In the mid-1990s, San Diego officials looked at the historically general and business aviation airport as a potential major air-cargo hub. Over five years, City planners developed the idea, which would have increased air traffic and added 11,000 new jobs. But in 2001, then-Mayor Dick Murphy and the City Council unanimously rejected the plan.

The new plan isn't being blessed by the entire aviation community at the airport however.

Current tenants, such as the San Diego Flight Museum, worry that smaller aviation enterprises may get squeezed out of the airport as the city makes room for bigger enterprises.

"The little guy, I think, is going to get screwed in this deal," said museum President Reg Finch, who already pays 21 cents a foot for his 9,000-square-foot sublease -- up to four times what tenants pay at other municipal airports.

"Why do they have to give the whole airport away?" he said.

FMI: www.sandiego.gov/airports/brown/index.shtml