Gillespie Field Terminal Building
Gillespie Field Terminal Building

AIRPORT SUSTAINABILITY

The County of San Diego is committed to achieving a sustainable future for San Diego, and County Airports is contributing to that effort by working towards more sustainable airport facilities and maintenance operations.  County Airports have made a number of improvements previously to reduce consumption and improve facility sustainability, such as installing drought tollerant landscaping, using solar power and converting to hybrid and electric vehicles where possible.  In November 2020, County Airports developed an Airports Sustainability Guidance Plan to start pulling together the numerous sustainability options available.  To build upon this guidance plan and to ensure a coordinated approach to future projects, County Airports is currently developing a Sustainability Management Plan, details of which can be found below.

 

Airport Sustainability News

Ford F-150 LightningFord F-150 Lightning

Fully electric vehicles entering County Airports fleet. Having previously added plug-in hybrid vehicles, in the summer of 2023 we added three Ford F-150 Lightning electric vehicles (EVs) to replace gasoline fueled vehicles within our Airports fleet. Work on installing rapid EV charging stations to support these vehciles is taking place at Gillespie Field and after a number of months of use, staff report the vehicles work well on the airport and also have plenty of range to travel to and from our outlying facilities. As future EV technologies develop and a wider range of vehicles become avialble, County Airports will look to continue to expand our fleet of EVs and reduce our use of gasoline.

Airport's Sustainability Management Plan

County of San Diego Airports sustainability operations and outreach meetings
County Airports operations and sustainability plan public outreach meetings

The County is committed to achieving a sustainable future for San Diego.  The County is responding to the climate emergency through a variety of efforts.  These efforts include actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from County operations like the San Diego County Airport system.

The County operates the San Diego County Airport system (County Airports).  County Airports includes eight airports - Agua Caliente, Borrego Valley, Fallbrook, Gillespie Field, Jacumba, McClellan-Palomar, Ocotillo and Ramona.  As part of the County's sustainability efforts, it is developing a sustainability management plan for County Airports.  The plan will outline actions to reduce resource consumption, environmental impacts and GHG emissions.  The actions will apply to both County and private operations at the airports.

To develop the County Airports Sustainability Management Plan, the County will consider:

  • Facilities, operations, environments and stakeholders at each airport
  • Both County and private facilities and operations
  • Other County sustainability efforts including the Climate Actions Plan and Regional Decarbonization Framework
  • Local, state and federal requirements
  • Comunity and stakeholder feedback

HAPPENING NOW

Visit our Engage San Diego County website to view and comment on the Draft Airports Sustainability Management Plan

Upcoming Stakeholder Outreach Events:

As part of our ongoing stskeholder outreach,  we will be holding five more meetings to provide informaiton about the Draft Airports Sustainability Management Plan and give an opportunity for stakeholders to provide feedback on the draft.

Each session will provide general information abuot the Draft Sustainability Management Plan and focused informaiton about the planning for specific airports as follows:

 

Desert Airports of Agua Caliente, Borrego Valley, Jacumba, and Ocotillo Wells

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

6:00 – 7:30 pm

Virtual meeting via Zoom. Click here to see presentation slides.

 

Fallbrook Airpark

Thursday, October 17, 2024

6:00 - 7:30 pm

Virtual meeting via Zoom. Click here to see presentation slides.

 

Ramona Airport

Wednesday, Oct 23, 2024

6:00 - 7:30 pm

Virtual meeting via Zoom.  Click here to see presentation slides.

 

Gillespie Field

Thursday, October 24, 2024

6:00 - 7:30 pm

In-person meeting at Gillespie Field Terminal

1960 Joe Crosson Drive, El Cajon, CA 91942.  Click here to see presentation slides.

 

McClellan-Palomar Airport

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

6:00 - 7:30 pm

Virtual meeting via Zoom.  Click here for Zoom link.

 

Previous Stakeholder Outreach Events:

 

July 12, 2023   6-7:30pm    Fallbrook Airpark   (Virtual)

July 13, 2023   6-7:30pm    Ramona Airport     (Virtual)

July 17, 2023   6-7:30pm    Gillespie Field       (In-person)        

July 18, 2023   6-7:30pm    Palomar Airport     (In-person)

July 20, 2023   6-7:30pm    Borrego Valley, Jacumba & Ocotillo Wells     (Virtual)

                                            

Airport's Sustainability Management Plan Tasks