An ALUCP is a guidance document used by local agencies and property owners to promote land uses in the vicinity of airports that are compatible with airport operations. ALUCPs protect airports from encroachment by new incompatible land uses that could restrict airport operations. ALUCPs protect the health, safety and welfare of people on the ground and their property by providing noise and safety standards and disclosure of overflight. ALUCPs also protect aircraft in flight by managing hazards to navigable airspace. ALUCPs do not govern airport operations, master planning or potential expansion. ALUCPs only cover compatible land uses off-airport and do not affect uses on airport property.
The ALUC is the body designated by State law to produce ALUCPs in accordance with State agency and statutory guidance through a collaborative, community outreach process. Since 2003, the San Diego
County Regional Airport Authority (SDCRAA), the operator of San Diego International Airport, has been the ALUC for San Diego county. Prior to that time, the ALUC function was handled by SANDAG, the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional transportation planning agency. By law, the ALUC adopts and administers an ALUCP for each public-use and military airport within its jurisdiction. There are a total of 16 such airports within San Diego county.
The ALCUP designates an Airport Influence Area (AIA) within which compatibility factors apply based upon the size, layout and operations of the airport. The ALUC reviews local agency land use projects, plans, and regulations to ensure that they are consistent with the adopted ALUCP. A local agency includes any city, the unincorporated county, school district, community college district, or special district (such as utility or maintenance district) that has land use permitting authority. Whenever these agencies review permits or plans or take other regulatory actions, they refer those matters to the ALUC for a determination of consistency with the adopted ALUCP. The local agency then incorporates that determination and any conditions into the project design, plan, or regulations.
By State law, once an ALUCP is adopted, affected local agencies must modify, as applicable, their general/master plan and zoning code to be consistent with the ALUCP. Alternatively, the local agency may refer all land use projects, plans, and regulations to the ALUC for a consistency determination of each action. The local agency may choose to overrule the ALUCP entirely or in part, as well as any individual ALUC determination, if it makes certain statutory findings and notices them within a specified timeline, by a two-thirds vote of its governing body (such as a city council or school board).
ALUCPs do not apply to existing land uses. Even if existing uses do not meet ALUCP compatibility criteria, they may continue to exist so long as they remain the same and are not intensified. ALUCPs only apply to newly proposed development or redevelopment of property within the AIA.
The State of California mandated that each county create an ALUC with the authority to adopt ALUCPs in 1970. SANDAG was the original ALUC for San Diego county, and it adopted ALUCPs for certain airports during its tenure as the ALUC. With advances in technology, changes in airport operations and fleets, and revised guidance from the State, new ALUCPs have been necessary and gradually adopted to replace outdated plans from the past. As changes continue to occur, the newer ALUCPs are also revised and amended to reflect appropriate implementation strategies.
Of the 16 public-use and military airports within ALUC jurisdiction, all but two currently have adopted ALUCPs. The airports with adopted ALUCPs consist of six rural airports whose ALUCPs were adopted in 2006 (Agua Caliente Airstrip, Borrego Valley Airport, Fallbrook Community Airpark, Jacumba Airstrip, Ocotillo Airstrip, and Ramona Airport), two U. S. Marine Corps airfield ALUCPs adopted in 2008 (MCAS Camp Pendleton and MCAS Miramar), and five urban airport ALUCPs adopted in 2010 (Brown Field Municipal Airport, Gillespie Field, Montgomery Field, McClellan-Palomar Airport, and Robert Maxwell Oceanside Municipal Airport). The ALUCP for San Diego International Airport (SAN) was adopted by SANDAG in 1992. ALUC staff has prepared a new ALUCP for SAN through a public process over the course of the last few years, and it is to be presented for adoption by the ALUC in February 2014. The remaining ALUCPs to be prepared are for the two U.S. Navy airfields in San Diego county: Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach (NOLF IB) and Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI).
The Air Installations Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ) study is a document prepared by the Department of Defense for military airfields. It establishes standards of compatibility for land uses based upon noise exposure contours and accident potential safety zones. By State law, the ALUCP for a military airport must be consistent with the noise and safety compatibility standards established by the AICUZ. The most recent AICUZ for the U.S. Navy facilities was released to the public in 2012. As the ALUC, SDCRAA is currently engaging in developing ALUCPs for the Navy airports based upon the AICUZ.
Additional information, including the complete ALUCPs, which have been adopted, is available by clicking on the “ALUCPs” tab at the top of this page. To be placed on an interest list for ALUCP meeting notices, offer comments or ask other questions, please e-mail alucpcomments@san.org.