Port Lends Limited Aid to TwinPorts Study : Transportation: Commissioners vote to co-sponsor city’s planning study of binational airport on Otay Mesa and offer ‘expertise and staff.’

San Diego Unified Port District commissioners agreed Tuesday to co-sponsor a planning study by the city of San Diego about the possibility of a binational airport on Otay Mesa.

The 5-2 vote by the commissioners was largely symbolic because it did not bind the Port District to help pay for the study, nor did it put the port on record as favoring the Otay site over other locations.

In practical terms, the commissioners’ vote only bound the port to lend its “expertise and staff” to San Diego city officials when they conduct the first phase of the planning study for the airport. The port’s action Tuesday does not go beyond the feasibility study’s first phase.

Supporters of a binational airport, led by City Councilman Ron Roberts, favor a so-called “TwinPorts” facility straddling the U.S.-Mexico border on Otay Mesa. The new airport is intended to supplement Lindbergh Field, which would be used primarily for intrastate flights and other shorter domestic flights if a new airport is built.

The San Diego City Council has decided to apply for a $500,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to finance the first phase of the TwinPorts master plan. The city will also be required to match the federal grant with $50,000. City officials hope to raise some of the $50,000 from other sources, including the San Diego Assn. of Governments.

In voting to co-sponsor the feasibility study, commissioners emphasized to city officials that the port’s role will be a limited one.

“I am very concerned about the role of the port,” said Commissioner Lynn Schenk. “ . . .We are not an entity duly authorized to make a site decision. . . . I want to make sure that’s clear to the community.”

Schenk further explained to Roberts and another city official that the port is not committing itself to funding any phase of the study.

Although the Port District operates Lindbergh Field, it has not been decided who would operate the new airport if it is ever built.

“It might be a good idea for the port to operate both facilities, but right now that’s an open question,” Roberts aide Michael Abrams said.

Opponents of a binational airport at Otay charged that it bodes economic and environmental ruin for South Bay communities. Chula Vista Mayor Tim Nader warned that an airport at Otay would generate increased automobile traffic and emissions.

Some have said that plans for the airport have put on hold any residential and business development in the largely undeveloped area.

Some speakers said the binational airport will never be built because of a less than enthusiastic response from the Mexican government.

“The TwinPorts is essentially a vampire waiting for the sunrise,” Nader said.