Palomar Airport Expansion: County's Sanitized Records, 173

Regular readers know that county and Carlsbad abhor the word “expansion.” Why? Carlsbad MC §21.53.015 requires Carlsbad voters to approve airport expansions.

Neither Carlsbad nor county wants to say that the proposed McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport

• runway relocation and 800-foot extension,

• terminal relocation and reconfiguration,

• retaining wall construction,

• construction of airport-serving facilities east of El Camino Real (including long-term airport passenger parking), and

• conversion of the airport to serve more FAA-rated C & D aircraft

expand the airport’s capabilities. Nor that voters have any say in the Palomar expansion. After all, spending $125 to $ 150 million shouldn’t concern voters. [Prior Patch articles have discussed the expansion issue in depth. See Article #s 170, 168, 167, 165, 160, 148 – 150.]

Taking a page from comedian George Carlin’s book Brain Droppings, the Carlsbad-County chorus says: “I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore.”

Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

How do Carlsbad and county help the public ignore airport expansion issues? Simple. Just ban the term “expansion.” County staff’s February 23 & 24, 2016 emails to the county Palomar Airport Master Plan consultant – in charge of explaining the Airport Master Plan improvements to the public at the February 29, 2016 Workshop – said:

“We had a look at [consultant’s] previous attachment and definitely need changes. For example, we’re still using the word “expansion” … .” [2/23 Curtis to Vince Hourigan]

“Vince. Attached are some initial [presentation] boards for next week’s public workshop. I have also included an updated version of the preferred development exhibit … that does NOT have the word expansion anywhere … .” [2/24 Wheeler to Vince Hourigan]

Wonder what else county scrubbed from its public presentation? See next week’s article.