Palomar Airport Landscaping: County & the Water Board, #287

For 2 years, county has studied how to landscape the ugly McClellan-Palomar (Palomar) Airport slopes that county has ignored for 40 years. The weed-strewn slopes blight Palomar Airport Road at El Camino Real across from Lowe’s Hardware.

County says it cannot plant deep-rooted plants or install pressurized irrigation at Palomar because the Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) limits landfill plantings

The Inconsistent County and Water Board Positions

When assessing the county 2018 Palomar Master Plan EIR, the Water Board sounded no alarm bells.

Yes, the county – to extend its 4900-foot runway up to 800 feet – would drill many 24 inch to 36 inch diameter holes, each 20 to 50 feet deep, through the unlined landfill bottom to bedrock and through tons of trash containing thousands of batteries, tin cans, plastic, household remodeling materials likely including asbestos, and even hazardous materials that the county Palomar dump accepted.

Pilings cast in the holes would support the extended Palomar runway deck a few inches above the ground. [For EIR county replies to Water Board comments, see 2018 PMP EIR, Attachment pp. D-28 to D-35; computer-search “McClellan-Palomar Airport Master Plan” after opening county website, click on Letters of Comments and Responses, Part 2.]

But, Gee Willkers. No problema. County would salute all protocols. No harm. No foul. And if a larger, aircraft with two thousand gallons of aviation fuel crashes and floods the landfill with unreachable toxic fuel now saturated in soil under the new runway deck, then what?

But, thank God, county and the Water Board have eagle-eyed the real danger: airport slope plants sucking up Global warming carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen next to the polluting Palomar aircraft.

Neat how much the Water Board trusts tech when county runway expansion swiss-cheezes the landfill cap mothering the landfill but how much the Water Board poo-poos tech when watering plants on a slope? Well done bureaucrats.

Carlsbad Council Member and Staff Questions for County and the Water Board

Consider a few more tidbits.

After San Marcos sued the county for not complying with the SM landfill conditional use operating permit in San Elijo, the landfill was closed and somehow the county and Water Board cooperated in placing grass over the closed landfill for a soccer field. Lawns are very water intensive and yet it seems that county and the Water Board could work together.

Moreover, the county at Palomar has failed to meet the Water Board Order # 96-13 water quality objectives every year since 1996. So despite the county failures and the Water Board failing to enforce Order #96-13, the Water Board now says: Go at it big boy. Drill as many holes as you want at Palomar. Just limit pretty plants.

Now, the final irony. Several times over the last 7 years, Water Board staff has told this author that there is no groundwater of concern under the 3 Palomar landfills.

So how about we do this? Carlsbad holds a community workshop devoted to landscaping the Palomar slopes, and county and the Water Board send staff to discuss the issues above – under oath?