County of San Diego

"I think the county has been left alone way too long," said Frank Sung, speaking for a homeowners association of 186 homes near Poinsettia Park.

A fear of Palomar Airport turning into a noisy “John Wayne South” has kept a group of Carlsbad residents fighting for local control of the county-run airport three miles southeast of the city. 

Last week the Carlsbad city council voted unanimously to return in 60 days to consider implementing some of the requests by Citizens for a Friendlier Airport, a group that has filed several lawsuits against the expansion of McClellan-Palomar Airport.

When landing, the planes come in from the north and fly down the coast before they turn and pass over Carlsbad high school and homes. Locals worry about noise and the toxic leaded gas still used by the piston-engine planes which is the target of a proposed ban as a public health hazard. 

In January, they asked the city to initiate several amendments to the zoning ordinance and general plan such as allowing an airport only within the boundary of McClellan-Palomar airport, and prohibiting an airport anywhere else in the city. 

"Where regional airports like Palomar are having a difference is when the cities they are in take the lead" in getting the operator to address local concerns, said Dom Vetro, who lives "right up Palomar Airport road and Carlsbad Boulevard in the takeoff pattern." 

In January 2021, San Diego Superior Court ruled that the city of Carlsbad has the final authority over land use at Palomar airport based on the city's 1978 Palomar annexation agreement with San Diego County.

Now the city is finally "stepping up," residents said. 

"I think the county has been left alone way too long," said Frank Sung, speaking for a homeowners association of 186 homes near Poinsettia Park. 

The group is also asking the city to add a policy in support of a smaller airport designation, a B11 classification, versus D111, which allows for larger jets.

"When I pursued this, what I'm told by the county is, if a pilot of a D-111 airport plane wants to land at Palomar we cannot" say no, Vetro said. "To me, that defies the safety concerns we have. It also makes me wonder about really what is the plan here for Palomar?"

The county approved a master plan for the airport in 2021 that included lengthening the runway and safety enhancements. Opponents say it was the county supervisors' stated intent to "offload air traffic from San Diego’s Lindbergh Field." 

One resident spoke in support of the airport's growth, "all the time, every day, forever." Glen Bernard, who lives beneath the landing flight path where planes come in "low and slow," said he knows of no one in his neighborhood who has complained. The airport was there first, he said of the home he moved to in 2001.

"Whether it's the county or the state or city that has cognizance over that airport, please let them expand." 

The airport generates more than $350 million per year, according to the county. The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce website states that McClellan-Palomar is one of the busiest single-runway airports in the country; there are 344 aircraft based at the airport, 83 of which are jets or jet props.