Palomar Airport: The Irony, Blog 76

Last week we saw how the county has failed for decades to landscape the McClellan-Palomar [Palomar] Airport slopes along Palomar Airport Road and El Camino Real in the middle of Carlsbad. And how Carlsbad has failed to enforce a scenic corridor along the airport perimeter property.

I reviewed the February 2014 Carlsbad General Plan Update this week, especially Palomar Airport parts.  Oh, the irony.

The General Plan promotes policies to make Carlsbad pleasing. But the Plan ignores county Palomar Airport obligations along Palomar Airport Road and along El Camino Real.  In fact, Plan Section 1.5 entitled “General Plan Key Strategies” lists 11 key strategies but none for Palomar.

In other words, in Carlsbad when it comes to Palomar Airport obligations, the General Plan is a document to ignore, not one to enforce.

Scroll through the pictures above.  See a newly graded private project along Palomar Road just east of Business Park drive.  See the newly planted slope landscaping only a few months old.  Now contrast this civically responsible development with the county Palomar Airport landscape fiasco.

Carlsbad is a very good city.  It could be a great city if the planners, not politicians, were in charge.