San Diego County's Airport Authority Monday looked at the financial consequences of building a supplemental airport in North County. This option is seen as a possible alternative to closing Lindbergh and building a brand-new airport from scratch. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has more.
One of the proposed sites is near Valley Center. The other is in Rancho Guejito near Ramona. Robert Hazel of Eclat Consulting presented to the Authority a significant list of economic negatives that would accompany both sites. He says virtually all secondary airports in big cities were once military airports, which wouldn't be the case with either of the North County sites. Hazel says the exception is Dulles in Washington DC.
Hazel: Dulles, the only true supplemental airport, was built and received financial support from the federal government for many years before it became successful.
Therefore Hazel says any supplement airport in San Diego would require major subsidies. He estimates the cost of a supplemental airport to be four-to-six billion dollars. Beth Ford Roth, KPBS News.
