Crash at Montgomery Field Requiring Nearly $1M Clean-Up, Emergency Cash for Airports Fund
A plane crash in February at Montgomery Field requiring nearly $1 million in environmental clean-up efforts forced the San Diego City Council to approve on Tuesday an emergency influx of cash for the city's airports fund.
The $1.5 million in cash will cover $911,000 for the crash clean-up, $340,000 to upgrade buildings at Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa for a possible tenant, and $270,000 to analyze proposed upgrades at Brown Field in Otay Mesa.
Council members stressed that the money is coming from just over $12.1 million in airport reserves, not the city's general fund.
The city hopes to get reimbursed for the clean-up costs by the pilot responsible for the Feb. 13 crash or his insurance company, Jorge Rubio, the city's deputy director for airports, told the council's budget committee in early April.
The plane failed to leave the ground when trying to take off and then crashed into a Federal Aviation Administration navigational aid, ran through an environmentally sensitive vernal pool and then crashed, spilling 3,400 gallons of fuel, Rubio said.
Since then, city officials have been coordinating with state and federal environmental officials on the clean-up. Rubio said more than 600 gallons have been removed, estimating the airport would return to normal in two to three months.
"I would say the initial response was, and is, a success," he said.
The city's Risk Management Department, which handles payouts and settlements, is trying to get full reimbursement from the pilot's insurance company for the damage and the clean-up of the fuel spill.
Costs also include environmental monitoring and geologist services, city officials said.
The $340,000 will cover heating and ventilation upgrades to buildings at Montgomery Field that the city acquired when they were abandoned by a former tenant.
Rubio said the upgrades could help the city secure a replacement tenant.
The $270,000 will expand the scope of an environmental analysis required for a new city airports master plan. The scope must be expanded because of proposed projects at Brown Field.
Last winter, the airports budget was projected to be running an $800,000 surplus. But the three new expenses turned that into a large deficit, requiring the emergency cash.
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.
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