Jim Desmond - News Articles

"We haven't made it a priority - we've made development a priority instead of traffic, and I think we need to turn that around," he said.

"We need to take action on it one piece at a time - be it congestion, or speeding, or installing red-light cameras. We make it a priority and set goals and objectives to help fix the traffic," he said.

Smith called traffic a regional problem. "That's not a city problem," he said, adding that the city has invested $300 million in road improvements in the last 15 years.

"We have to maintain our own roads and keep them up to par and try to do that in our own area," he said. He said the Twin Oaks Valley Road connection to San Elijo Road will help alleviate traffic.

Smith said his biggest priority is fire and police protection.

"If you look at statistics, we have the third-lowest crime in the county. It's important to try to maintain that quality of crime protection and protect people from fires," he said. "We need to continue doing that."

On the thorny question of extending Las Posas Road to Buena Creek Road, Desmond said he favors the extension, which has been on the traffic circulation element for 19 years.

"I support completing the circulation element," he said.

Smith, who once called the extension a "non-solution" in an April 4 letter to county Supervisor Bill Horn, said he has not made a formal decision on it.

"I will not disclose my position on this issue before it comes before the City Council for a final vote," he said in a questionnaire.

Smith and Desmond were also in opposite camps when a second Wal-Mart was proposed in 2004. Smith favored it, saying it would bring jobs and revenue to the city. Desmond, a city planning commissioner then, voted against it because it was slated for the residential zone in San Elijo Hills.

"People complaining about it were complaining about two things: the size of the building and traffic," Smith said. "I totally disagreed because better than 50 percent of the traffic would be pass-through traffic on their way home from work. And the two buildings they're grading for now - for those 300 apartments - each one is bigger than the building they didn't want."

Desmond said the Wal-Mart was one of several projects that spurred him to run for City Council.

"We were fighting over cement plants and Wal-Marts and trying to become a utility, and we were ignoring our biggest assets, our college and university campuses," he said. "And we still ignore it. As mayor, I want to have annual education summit with the college, university, city and even the Chamber of Commerce so we are all working on the same page."

On the proposed 2,700-home Stonegate project at Deer Springs Road and Interstate 15: Desmond said he is opposed to the project, saying it would burden San Marcos' streets and schools without generating supporting revenue.

Smith said he is not against it, but worries about fire safety and traffic associated with thousands of new commuters just outside of the city.

"It does not do us any good to oppose it because it will probably get approved anyway. But I don't like the idea that we have no say in what goes on there and what the community will look like," he said. "It will probably be as good a community as San Elijo, but when you try to stop something like that, unless you have complete authority, you can't stop it. You can try to help control it."

The two candidates disagree on the new ridgeline protection ordinance passed in January, which established design standards for new construction and a 100-foot clearing zone on prominent ridgelines throughout the city, with some exceptions.

Desmond supports the ordinance, while Smith would like to amend it before it's placed on the ballot as a voter initiative in 2008.

"I think (the ordinance) it was a great thing," Desmond said. "That happened a month after I got on the council - we formed the ridgeline task force. I think the task force did a great job. It protected personal property rights and stopped development on our ridgelines."

Desmond said he made the motion to put the ordinance on the ballot in 2008 so it couldn't be changed by future councils.

Smith said 100 feet of land is a lot to take away from property owners.

"I'm going to try to lower that number," he said. "We're taking away a lot of land from those people who inherited that land from their parents and grandparents."

Both candidates are neutral on Proposition K, which would raise council salaries. And both say they are concerned about the coming Sprinter rail line, which will have three stops in San Marcos.

Desmond said the rail corridor has no bridge crossings, will block traffic and create noise, but it has long-term potential, he said.

"In the long run, the Sprinter will be good for San Marcos, particularly with our two college stops," he said. "And the fact that you can only make (Highway) 78 so wide, you need to be looking at some alternatives."

Smith said the Sprinter would eventually help reduce traffic in the four cities involved (Escondido, San Marcos, Vista and Oceanside). As far as making the Sprinter more practical, he said, "I think that's better left up to the North County Transit District. They control it. We do have a representative" on the NCTD board.

He said, "Other than that, there's not much the city can do. We're a little at odds with the transit district now. They're cutting off our streets and some of the things they're not doing that they said they would."

On Sunday, the North County Times will publish responses to the same questions posed to candidates for City Council, which has two open seats.

SAN MARCOS ---- On a historically divided San Marcos City Council, a single vote has decided controversial proposals such as a concrete plant off Barham Drive and a large development near Palomar College.

So when newcomer Jim Desmond took council veteran Lee Thibadeau's seat in 2004, the potential arose for a new balance of power on a council that has political ties linking Pia Harris-Ebert with Hal Martin, and Mayor Corky Smith with Mike Preston.

At the end of his first year on the City Council, however, Desmond's voting record and attitude toward his colleagues show he has followed his campaign pledge not to forge a tight alliance with either political camp.

Desmond has sided most often with Harris-Ebert and Martin, but the rookie has worked with all of the veteran council members and voted by himself or with Smith and Preston on several occasions.

"When I place a vote, I don't think about how the others are going to vote," Desmond said this week. "The two on one side and two on the other side are pretty obvious, but I don't try to appease either side."

Political camps
With a 2-2 split on the council, Desmond can serve as an important swing vote needed for a majority. The majority of a five-member City Council has the power to set an agenda dictating what roads to build, what businesses to bring to town and what services to provide to citizens.

For example, a Thibadeau, Smith and Preston majority blocked the large development near Palomar College and gave the go-ahead for a Wal-Mart in the southwest part of the city.

"Remember, in this political world you have to be able to count to three or you don't get anything done," said Councilman Preston, acknowledging the political divisions in San Marcos.

He said the political division developed from different approaches to handling growth in the 1980s when San Marcos was a small agricultural city.

But he said there is no longer a major philosophical difference between the two sides, and current divisions result more from opposing views on individual projects.

The present divide also has strong links to past controversies, said several of the longtime council members.

"Quite a bit of (the split) is a personal thing," said Mayor Smith, who was first elected to the council in 1980. "They don't like (former councilman) Lee Thibadeau, and Mike (Preston) and I fall in his camp."

Thibadeau served 19 years on the council over a roughly 24-year period before losing the election in 2004 to Desmond.

He adamantly supported several hotly debated projects such as a long-term deal to buy electricity for the city and building a Wal-Mart in the southwest part of the city.

"There was never a better councilman in San Marcos," Smith said. "But he spoke his mind and didn't do much give and take."

Smith said Thibadeau's strong personality clashed with Harris-Ebert's for almost two decades, and Thibadeau said the "nonsense" goes all the way back to a 1980 election.

Harris-Ebert didn't mention Thibadeau by name, but she also said the divisions in the council go back two decades.

"There is a lot of history and it influences our feelings of loyalty to each other," Harris-Ebert said. "Wounds don't heal for a long time, but you have to remember yesterday's enemies could become today's friends."

Desmond's run for office, first meetings
Harris-Ebert said she considers Desmond a friend, and both she and Martin gave money to Desmond's campaign in 2004.

"I really enjoy working with Jim and feel he is very fair," Harris-Ebert said. "Most of the time I would think Jim (Desmond) and I would look at things the same way."

Desmond said he may be viewed as in the same camp with Harris-Ebert and Martin because of decisions he made even before being elected.

While serving as a planning commissioner, Desmond took similar positions to Harris-Ebert and Martin on several major issues such as opposing the Wal-Mart in southwest San Marcos and supporting a large development near Palomar Collage.

Desmond said he made his decisions independently of Martin and Harris-Ebert, and the $350 they contributed to his campaign doesn't influence his judgment.

He then pointed out he spent $14,000 of his own money to win the council seat.

"He ran his own campaign and he doesn't owe anyone anything," City Manager Rick Gittings said. "I don't see any agenda with Jim (Desmond) except benefitting the community."

But Councilman Preston said Desmond sided strongly with Martin and Harris-Ebert when the council appointed commissioners and task force members during the first few meetings of the year.

Desmond voted with Martin and Harris-Ebert for every appointment except two, and he provided the needed swing vote against Smith and Preston on seven occasions during the meetings.

The new councilman said he voted with Martin and Harris-Ebert for the appointments because of last-minute political tactics by Preston to delay the appointments to the commissions.

Preston saw the situation differently.

"I think there is a certain honeymoon period where he feels he has to align with them and work with them because they helped him get elected," Preston said. "He has been their buddy with most votes, but there have been a couple of incidents where he did not agree with them."

Voting record
Despite the divide, more than 80 percent of the council's 120 votes this past year have been unanimous.

Out of the votes that weren't unanimous, the record shows Desmond went against the rest of the council on five different occasions, which was twice as many times as any other council member.

He cast the lone vote against a couple of appointments to city commissions, and he was the only supporter of specific proposals to reform the city's campaign finance law and political sign regulations.

Meanwhile, Martin and Harris-Ebert voted differently from each other four times, and Preston and Smith found themselves on opposite sides six times.

In a few incidents involving minor projects such as the makeup of city task forces, Desmond voted in the minority with either Preston or Smith.

Besides appointments, Desmond was the critical swing vote on four different issues and he has sided with each side twice.

Desmond blocked Preston and Smith's attempt to impose tougher restrictions on the size of political signs.

But he also cast the deciding vote with Preston and Smith not to allow council members to chair the San Marcos Creek Task Force.

"I don't think he has jumped into any political camp, and he has been very neutral," said Martin. "Jim has tried to work with everyone on the Council."

Can't we all just get along?
Not everyone on the council agrees about where Desmond falls politically, but nobody questions his willingness to work with his colleagues.

"We have had fewer altercations since he was elected," Harris-Ebert said. "It used to be very difficult to go to the council meetings because I knew it was going to be a battle."

Outside of the formal council meeting setting, Desmond said he bounces ideas off all of the other council members.

Desmond meets Smith some mornings for coffee at the San Marcos Family Restaurant, and Smith said he and Martin used to have a similar routine, but that he no longer talks with Martin or Harris-Ebert.

"I don't deal or associate with the other two at all, and I don't even have their telephone numbers," Smith said.

Smith said he believes Desmond will vote for what is best in the community, and Preston said he has been impressed with some of Desmond's ideas.

Desmond has spearheaded the council's effort to receive more feedback from city commissions and boards, and he is working on a project to improve transportation for seniors.

In the future, Desmond said he also plans to start a new commission made up of representatives from different neighborhoods throughout the city.

"Jim (Desmond) has been refreshing in the sense that he has brought forth new ideas," Preston said. "He has not just shown up and been as neutral as possible. He makes his own decisions."

By: DAVID STERRETT - Staff Writer

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North County Times, May 2006

SAN MARCOS ---- The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to launch a program to provide transportation to San Marcos seniors needing to go to the doctor's office or grocery store.

The city plans to spend $60,000 a year for the "On The Move" program that will offer seniors taxi vouchers to get to medical appointments and van rides to get to shopping centers.

The program will begin in July on a two-year trial basis. To participate, residents must be at least 60 years old, earn less than $50,000 a year and have no other means of transportation.

"This will help fill a void for seniors in San Marcos," Councilman Jim Desmond said. "Seniors have been asking for this for years, and it's a very good start."

Desmond worked for the last year with the city staff members to develop a two-part program to meet the transportation needs of seniors.

The first part of the program focuses on providing taxi vouchers for seniors traveling to and from medical appointments.

The city plans to spend $15,000 a year on the vouchers. Residents could receive four $20 vouchers per month.

The vouchers will be run by the San Marcos Senior Center and an Interfaith Community Services program called Project Care.

Project Care began offering taxi vouchers to San Marcos seniors last June and has already issued more than 280 vouchers, said Stanley Sweatt, who overseas Project Care.

"It went slowly at first, but people quickly started using them fast and furiously," Sweatt said. "Just last month we issued 82 vouchers."

He said the program began with a $4,000 grant from the San Marcos Community Foundation last year, and Project Care has already issued more than $3,200 worth of vouchers.

"If the city provides additional vouchers, it will really be a boom to the program," Sweatt said. "I think the city proposal is great."

The city's program also calls for using a couple of vans to pick up seniors from their homes and take them to local shopping centers where they could buy food and other household goods.

At the start, the city will use vans from the senior center to host two shopping trips a week, one for residents living east of Twin Oaks Valley Road and one for residents living west of the street.

Participants will need to make reservations with the senior center two days in advance, and will be asked to donate $5 per trip.

The city will spend about $45,000 a year to pay for the drivers, vans and gas needed for the shopping trips, and all of the money for the programs will come from the city's $53 million general fund budget, City Manager Rick Gittings told the council members.

"When we proposed this to the staff years ago they said we needed to find money, and I'm glad this is finally getting done," Councilman Mike Preston said. "We need to do something for seniors and this is a great idea."

All of the council members supported the program and the discussion focused around how residents qualified and how much they had to pay.

The city staff suggested the services be limited to seniors who make less than $22,000 a year, but the council said they wanted to make the program available to more residents and raised the number to $50,000.

Instead of requiring seniors to pay $5 for a van trip, as staff recommended, the council decided to make the $5 a suggested donation.

"I don't think anyone is going to take advantage of us," Councilman Hal Martin said.

Martin pointed out that residents in wheelchairs wouldn't be able to use the program, and Gittings told him those individuals would be referred to North County Lifeline, which provides such services.

Mayor Corky Smith said he wanted to make sure the program was only for residents of San Marcos, and the staff said there would be plenty of demand because 23 percent of the roughly 77,000 residents are seniors.

The staff members said they will provide reports about the progress of the programs every three months so the council would know what parts could be changed to attract more participation.

"This is a wonderful program," Councilwoman Pia Harris-Ebert said. "Hopefully, we will be able to expand the program and work with other agencies to provide more transportation for seniors."

The North County Transit District is helping spearhead an effort to coordinate transportation within the county to improve service for home-bound groups such as seniors, said Peter Aadland, the director of communications and business development for the district.

The council also heard from several representatives of Palomar Pomerado Health district who stressed the importance of providing transportation for seniors so they don't become isolated at home.

"Congratulations for taking this step forward to help our "at-home" seniors remain independent and mobile," said Ruth Moskowitz, who is a San Marcos resident and chair of an advisory

Pilot program for senior transportation

Our thanks to the San Marcos City Council for the unanimous approval of the senior On the Move program. This is a program for seniors who cannot drive and, because of poor health, are not able to access public transportation.

Although this program is restricted to residents with under $50,000 a year income, we trust it is the first step of a pilot program to determine the need in our community. The taxi voucher is still in effect for (door-to-door) medical appointments.

We would welcome volunteer drivers, reimbursed for mileage and insured under the city's umbrella policy. Neighbors helping neighbors makes our community a happy place in which to live, work and shop.

Quoting from the current AARP bulletin on Building Livable Communities: "If people have no means of transportation, they're prisoners in their own homes." Let's make it easier for them to remain independent and take part in civic and social life. Let's make San Marcos a great place in which to live. Thank you to the Community Services director, Bill Schramm and Georganne Woodward, supervisor of the Senior Center, and especially Jim Desmond, councilman, for your work in developing this program.

Plans are to start this summer. Call the Senior Center (760) 744-5535 if you need a ride.

RUTH MOSKOWITZ
San Marcos Health
Care Advisory Council of Palomar Pomerado Health

SAN MARCOS ---- After circling high above McClellan-Palomar Airport on Friday morning, San Marcos and county officials said they had a clearer picture of how to approach residents' complaints about noise from airplanes flying over mobile-home parks.

Councilman Jim Desmond and the county's airports director, Peter Drinkwater, cruised around in a small plane Friday, testing different flight patterns in search of ways to reduce the aircraft noise near 1,100 mobile homes at San Marcos' western edge.

While enjoying lunch at the county airport in Fallbrook after the tests, the two said they want to teach pilots and airport officials about the elevation and route that planes should take to limit the impact on the parks.

The officials said they also want to look into ways to better monitor noise in the mobile-home parks that sit atop a large hill to determine the validity of residents' complaints.

"Monitoring is something I have been pursing for years," said Charles Buckley, who lives in Rancho Vallecitos Mobile Home Estates."The noise from the planes causes you stop in the middle of conversations."

Buckley has become the spokesman against airplane noise for residents of Rancho Vallecitos and the two neighboring Palomar Estates mobile-home parks.

Most planes fly over on the weekends or afternoons when many members of the retirement parks are sitting outside with friends, Buckley said.

He raised the issue with the City Council on March 8, and the council drafted a letter to the airport, county and Federal Aviation Administration.

Councilman Desmond, an airline pilot, met with county and federal officials July 29 to discuss what could be done.

After that meeting, Desmond and Drinkwater decided to take a test flight, and they took to the air Friday.

"We know a little more about the situation now," Desmond said. "We did not resolve anything, but we are going to try to implement a voluntary noise-abatement procedure approach."

Desmond said pilots will be told to try to stay at least 1,500 feet above sea level when they pass over the mobile-home parks that are 700 feet above sea level.

Buckley said he wanted planes to fly more than 1,000 feet above the parks, but Desmond and Drinkwater said a lower elevation may be needed for a safe landing at the county airport, almost four miles west of Buckley's home.

Desmond said that if planes fly a couple of hundred feet higher, it would not make a significant difference in the amount of noise that residents hear.

But to reduce the noise for the residents, Desmond and Drinkwater said they want to try to encourage fewer planes to fly straight over the parks.

Many planes landing at the airport come from the north, and the traffic pattern calls for them to circle and approach the airport from the east. Desmond and Drinkwater said they want to try to limit the number of planes that fly as far east as the mobile-home parks.

"We are going to see if we can get the air traffic controllers to concentrate on turning airplanes back toward the airport as early as is possible," Drinkwater said.

Ironically, that's not what happened when the two officials were in the air Friday. Drinkwater said he and Desmond were told by air traffic controllers to head out toward the mobile-home park because there were other planes coming in for landing.

The air traffic controllers have planes head farther east as a safety issue so they have separation when heading in for a landing.

A couple of flight instructors at the airport said they usually don't fly as far east as the mobile-home parks to land, but sometimes it is necessary when the airport is crowded.

"I don't think they will be able to change the traffic pattern too much," said Josh Armbruster, a certified flight instructor with Orion Aviation Inc. "There is too much traffic to make the traffic pattern that tight."

Armbruster said Palomar is one of the busiest airports in the county, and residents of the mobile-home parks said they have seen more planes overhead of late.

Airport statistics, however, show there is much less activity at the airport than in 1999, a record year when 292,000 planes landed or took off, according to Oliver Brackett, assistant airport manager. In 2004, about 208,000 planes landed or took off at Carlsbad, he said.

"We follow national flight trends and after 9-11, everyone took a hit," Brackett said. "Now we are starting to see an increase again."

Corporate jets probably make up about a third of the airport's traffic, while training and recreational flights make up more than half of the total. Commercial flights are a very small percent, he said.

But flight instructors said the number of corporate jets is increasing, and residents say they make more noise.

"The little plans are not really the problem," Buckley said. "It's the jets that cause the trouble."

Brackett said the jets make more noise, but also move through the area more quickly. He said most of the noise complaints come from Carlsbad residents living southwest of the airport.

He said the airport has a friendly fliers program designed to reduce noise from planes taking off by having them head straight out toward the ocean before turning north or south.

Desmond and Drinkwater said they are hoping to start a similar voluntary program to reduce noise on landings. But a couple of the residents of the mobile-home park said they were skeptical about the success of such a program.

"I don't think much can be done," said Jim Ferris, who has lived in Rancho Vallecitos for 15 years. "I hope something comes from it because the noise is terrible, but I'm doubtful."

Contact staff writer David Sterrett at (760) 761-4411 or dsterrett@nctimes.com.

SAN MARCOS ---- The San Marcos City Council decided Tuesday that� raising rents $40 a month at Lakeview Mobile Estates is fair for both the owner and residents of the senior park on Discovery Street.

Park owner Bob Lin proposed a $230 per month rent increase for the 113-lot park this year after not raising rates since 2001.

But the residents, who pay between $310 and $430 a month for spaces at the park, appealed the proposal to the council, which mediates such disputes in its role as the Mobilehome Rent Review Commission.

SAN MARCOS -- In an upbeat speech in front of more than 60 supporters, Councilman Jim Desmond announced Friday that he will challenge long-time Mayor Corky Smith this fall with a campaign to preserve tradition and control growth.

With Desmond running against Smith, the Nov. 7 election for mayor will be a showdown between two of the most prominent politicians in this rapidly growing city of 77,000 residents.

Desmond convincingly won a council seat in 2002, while Smith has served 26 years on the council including the last 12 as mayor.

"The choice this November is about leadership style and direction," Desmond told his supporters. "Does San Marcos want a hands-on leader or hands-off leader?

"I'm a hands-on leader."

Desmond, 50, touted his success at helping bring a new senior transportation program to San Marcos that will provide taxi vouchers and vans to help seniors go shopping and get to the doctors.

"When I brought a senior transportation program forward for council approval, Mr. Smith stated that he and Councilman Mike Preston have been asking staff to come up with a senior transportation plan for quite some time," Desmond said. "Instead of just asking for staff to put together a program, I rolled up my sleeves and went to work. I researched other cities' senior transportation programs and attended countless meetings."

While Desmond pointed to senior transportation, Mayor Smith noted earlier in the week that he played a key role in bringing Cal State San Marcos to the city and securing funding for a community gym named in his honor.

"I'm very happy with what I have done," Smith said of his time on the council. "I would just like to finish everything I have started."

Smith, 76, said it would have been "fantastic" to make his final run for re-election unopposed, but he won't do anything differently this year than in his three previous races for mayor.

Smith won 52 percent of the vote when running against Michael Sannella and Kirk Effinger in 2002, 54 percent when facing Councilman Hal Martin and Lita Bowles in 1998 and 54 percent when running against then Councilwoman Betty Evans and Lita Bowles in 1994.

"I don't even think (Desmond) is as well known as Betty Evans when she challenged me," Smith said. "He also is not as well known as Hal Martin when he challenged me."

But Desmond received more votes than Martin and long-time Councilman Lee Thibadeau in the election for two open council seats in 2004.

Desmond received 8,415 votes, Martin 7,527, Thibadeau 6,898 and Chris Orlando 6,416.

Thibadeau faced a strong backlash from residents in the San Elijo Hills area after he supported a proposal for a Wal-Mart in southwest San Marcos.

Smith supported the Wal-Mart and has been a long-time ally of Thibadeau while Desmond opposed the project during the election.

Many residents who led the fight against the Wal-Mart have registered support for Desmond running for mayor on a Web site called runjimrun.net.

Several residents created the Web site in April to encourage Desmond to run and more than 70 people have signed an online petition supporting Desmond.

Many of these politicians and community activists attended the announcement speech Friday.

"This will not be an easy campaign," Desmond told the crowd. "It will take an army of volunteers, and I need each of you to be a general in this army."

Desmond stressed in his speech the need for a leader to provide clear direction and goals to move the city forward because "San Marcos has so much more potential."

Desmond said he wants to move forward with plans for a downtown center near San Marcos Creek, continue to keep development off the city's ridgelines and build more partnerships with Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College to create jobs in the city.

"Jim has a great vision for San Marcos," said Ken Dubs, a local real estate broker. "Corky (Smith) has done a great job, but every once in a while its good to get new energy and vision."

Desmond has been a resident of San Marcos for 14 years and has served on the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce board, San Marcos Economic Development Corporation and Planning Commission.

In his first two years on the council, Desmond said he helped give city commissions more money and guidance, and form the ridgeline protection and creek planning task forces.

"For a newcomer on the City Council Jim (Desmond) has done an excellent job of representing the interest of the people," said Neill Kovrig, a San Marcos resident who has run for office twice. "But Corky (Smith) has much more experience and is more aware of things going on in this city than anyone gives him credit for.

"I'm still undecided and will have to see what they say during the race. It should be interesting."

Contact staff writer David Sterrett at (760) 761-4411 or at dsterrett@nctimes.com.

Firefighters today announced their endorsement of Jim Desmond for Mayor. �Jim Desmond has demonstrated as a City Council member that he is a proven leader with a long history of San Marcos community service. Jim Desmond is a professional and progressive leader who can best represent the changing demographics of San Marcos and the Firefighters are proud to endorse him for Mayor� said Mike Korby, President of the San Marcos Professional Firefighters Association. �Jim Desmond is a commercial airline pilot and Navy veteran who has successfully demonstrated through his community and professional service that he is an accomplished leader who can get the job done�, said Korby.

Jim Desmond has been serving the community for the last fourteen years. He is a San Marcos City Council member and has served as a Planning Commissioner, Chamber of Commerce Board member, San Marcos Economic Development Corporation Board member, Kiwanis member and Parent Teacher Organization President for Twin Oaks Elementary School. �His outstanding record of civic service over the last fourteen years clearly demonstrates his commitment to the community. �We feel confident that Jim Desmond will represent the needs of the community and will be a strong unifying influence as the Mayor of San Marcos. He has pledged to us that he will be a problem solver who represents the entire community�, said President Korby.

Councilman/Pilot Jim Desmond is working on a Noise Abatement Plan for residents living under McClellan-Palomar Airport�s Path

By: NED RANDOLPH - Staff Writer

SAN MARCOS ---- As residential areas have grown around McClellan-Palomar Airport, the jockeying over noise created by low-flying planes and how to control it has picked up as well.

For example, San Marcos resident Duane Sneller said he was drawn to the Rancho Vallecitos retirement community six years ago because of its quiet ambience and well-tended gardens.

Life would be almost ideal, he said last week, if it weren't for the periodic howl of airplanes and helicopters ---- particularly one Italian model, called the Piaggio P-180, which echo across the valley as they descend toward the airport in Carlsbad, less than four miles away.

The Rancho Vallecitos mobile home park, on Linda Vista Drive just north of Palomar Airport Road, is on a hillside directly under the flight path to the airport.

But while the FAA requires a minimum approach altitude there between 1,500 feet and 2,000 feet above sea level, the sloping hills end up reducing the amount of clearance by as much as 675 feet, said Jim Desmond, a Delta Airlines Pilot, who first learned of the residents' concerns while campaigning for City Council two years ago.

Desmond, who is challenging incumbent Mayor Corky Smith in November, spearheaded an ad hoc committee in April that meets regularly to find ways to lower the noise impacts.

The ultimate goal of the committee is to come up with a new flight plan that improves upon the existing voluntary noise abatement program, he said.

However, it's the Federal Aviation Administration that considers noise impacts on residential areas and establishes measures for pilots to address those noise impacts.

For instance, Palomar Airport has a noise abatement program ---- recommended by the FAA ---- that suggests certain approach routes, height elevations and voluntary "quiet hours" from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. for jet planes, said Jim Swain, an airport official.

But because of the smaller size of Palomar Airport, the FAA prescribes that the noise abatement procedures be voluntary, and allows the airport to stay open 24 hours a day, he said.

"I think the voluntary program is effective to some degree," said Swain, who is the noise specialist at Palomar. "When aircraft jets are flying during the quiet hours period, when I have their ID information, I send them a brochure handout that explains the voluntary hours and noise abatement procedures."

It's tricky because of the growing communities around the airport, said Swain, who is a member of the ad hoc committee.

"It's not our intent to move noise from one area to new area," he said. "Sometimes, most of the things that the community comes across when they get involved with this is an understanding of the patterns and where they are."

While some residents say the noise has been getting worse as business travelers avoid the hassle of tight airport security at larger facilities, FAA statistics reveal a different story, Swain said.

"Number-wise, there's less traffic reported by the FAA than prior to 9/11," he said.

The number of complaints ---- mostly noise complaints by residents ---- is likewise down.

In June, for example, the airport logged 154 complaints compared to June 2001, when 378 complaints were logged, he said.

In June 2002, there were 64 complaints. In June 2003, there were 38 complaints. In June 2004, there were 96 complaints, and in June 2005, there were 221 complaints.

"So you can see a recovery in the traffic operations. It's slowly coming back," Swain said.

Less noise, more people

Ginna Reyes, who sits on the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee and joined the ad hoc committee, said that modern airplanes are less noisy than their predecessors, and what's happened is that the community has grown up around the airport.

"We are actually quieter than when the last noise study was conducted in 1992. The noise areas have actually shrunk," she said.

"Aircraft are more efficient and quieter with new technology. ... the noise has actually decreased, but you hear more about it because the population base around the airport has increased."

Nonetheless, the frequent flyovers are a regular annoyance for those below.

"Even with your windows closed, there are certain planes that you hear all the time," said Charles Buckley, who has led the push to reduce noise for residents of Rancho Vallecitos and its neighboring parks, Palomar Estates East and West.

"There's one model ---- the P-180, you can hear literally cross the valley from Escondido all the way to the airport. It's like someone coming in with a leaf blower, getting louder and louder."

Julie Crunidy, a resident of Rancho Vallecitos, said her cell phone drops calls whenever a plane passes over her mobile home.

"Sometimes it sounds like they're landing on the roof," she said.

Desmond said he wrote a letter to the FAA suggesting that planes fly higher over the parks to help reduce noise, but he doesn't think the suggestion will hold much water. The FAA has in the past rejected such requests.

"They have standard traffic altitudes they like to stick with," Desmond said.

The letter is included in the comments section of an ongoing noise study by the the consulting group URS Corps. which is being considered by the FAA.

That study, called the "Part 150 Noise Compatibility" study, is currently in a 180-day comment period and will be reviewed by the FAA on Dec. 17.

Also recommended in the study is expanding the voluntary quiet period for all non-emergency planes.

Work ongoing

Desmond, meanwhile, hopes the ad hoc committee, which is made up of members from the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee, can tweak approach routes to the airport.

"We're trying to designate a flight path over the (Vista) industrial park and avoid the housing complexes," he said.

Currently, there is no alternative flight path for approaches to the airport, he said.

"We're all hoping for a conclusion that would mitigate the noise issues in San Marcos," said Reyes, who also heads up a voluntary "Fly Friendly" program at the airport which promotes the current noise abatement program with brochures and posters.

Reyes, who is also general manager of the aviation support company, Western Flight, said Fly Friendly sponsors speakers who go into various neighborhoods to discuss noise abatement procedures and FAA rules.

Reyes said, "It gives people an avenue to say, 'Why is it that every night at 11, I hear airplanes? Why are helicopters waking me up in the middle of the night? Is it true that Palomar is getting air service from Las Vegas?' "

Any findings by the recently formed ad hoc committee would have to go before the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee, she said. If approved, the plan would then go to the County Board of Supervisors.

"The supervisors would have some latitude to instruct airport management to please try to implement these factors, but it's up to the FAA," Reyes said. "It's a delicate dance because the FAA controls the airspace. With this whole ad hoc committee, we can do whatever we want to do, but if the FAA shoots us down, we're dead right there."

If an alternative flight path is approved, the committee could conceivably print up posters and brochures promoting the recommended approaches in much the same fashion as the "Fly Friendly" program.

That program was funded by a grant from the county supervisors. Desmond hopes the proceedings for the new committee could be completed in a year. But considering that "Fly Friendly" took that long just to get funding to promote an existing policy, Reyes says it will take time to actually create a new noise abatement program.

"It's not something that will happen overnight. We're working diligently on it," she said.

Still, she said, it's almost a moral victory that Desmond was able to convince airport officials to even create the ad hoc subcommittee.

"I have never heard of an ad hoc committee being formed to study airport approaches before. This is a very pro-active thing," said Reyes. "We're all working together to see something good come out of it."

Contact staff writer Ned Randolph at (760) 761-4411 or nrandolph@nctimes.com.