The U.S. Department of Defense is considering making parts of Camp Pendleton available for commercial lease and development.
During his visit to the base last week, Navy Secretary John Phelan had "initial conversations" about the plan, his spokesperson told KPBS Thursday.
"These opportunities are being evaluated to maximize value and taxpayer dollars while maintaining mission readiness and security" said Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Williams, Phelan's spokesperson. "No decisions have been made and further discussions are needed."
According to reporting by NBC News, the land deals could help fund President Donald Trump's proposed missile defense system modeled after Israel's "Iron Dome."
Phelan toured several San Diego military installations during his visit last week. The secretary, a businessman and Trump donor with no prior military experience, told sailors on board the amphibious transport dock USS Somerset he was bringing a "business" mindset to the service.
"More business practices and thought processes to how we approach things," Phelan told the sailors. "I think we have to fundamentally make an enormous number of changes."
At 125,000 acres, Camp Pendleton is the largest undeveloped section of the Southern California coast.
Brig. Gen. Nick Brown, the base commander at Camp Pendleton, told KPBS in December the base is the only thing that prevents the entire Southern California coast from becoming sprawl.
"If Camp Pendleton didn't exist, this would be like Dallas-Fort Worth where I think that urban sprawl would take over," Brown told KPBS at the time.
According to the Marine Corps, 38,000 military family members live on base with 70,000 service members and civilians working there every day.
Most of the base's land is undeveloped and used for field training. Every Marine recruit attending the Corps' San Diego boot camp spends several weeks at Camp Pendleton training.
The base is home to I Marine Expeditionary Force, representing about a quarter of the entire Marine Corps. Major elements of IMEF include the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, 1st Marine Logistics Group and the 1st Marine Division.
Williams didn't answer questions about what parts of the base are being discussed for lease and did not say what sort of commercial development is being considered.
"We remain committed to transparency and will provide additional details as they become available and approved for public release," she said.
Any commercial development raises environmental concerns — the base isn't connected to any municipal water sources. Instead, it pumps all its drinking water from a series of wells fed by underground aquifers.
The discovery of per- and poly fluoroalkyl substances, or "PFAS," in the water forced the base to install new filtration systems two years ago.
The base is also home to several threatened and endangered plants and animals. It's an important stop for migrating monarch butterflies and the base partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year to help protect them.
