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Hello C4FA Friends,
A letter to the Carlsbad City Council from a resident, in her own words, shared with permission. A long but worthwhile read.
Dear Council,
I am writing to you as a Carlsbad resident, a Registered Nurse, and perhaps most relevantly for this letter, someone who spent three decades living under the John Wayne Airport flight path before moving to Carlsbad. I know exactly what is coming if nothing changes. And I believe you do too.
My parents purchased their home in Carlsbad in the 1980s. I moved here with the specific hope of finally enjoying the resort-like quality of life this community has long been known for — the clean air, the quiet mornings, the health-conscious, active community that makes Carlsbad uniquely livable. That is not an accident of geography. It is the result of deliberate choices made by generations of residents and their elected leaders to protect what makes this place special.
Now, almost overnight, it is beginning to feel like John Wayne South.
As an RN, I have done a deep and serious study of what it takes to manage a neurological condition like mine. The research is unambiguous: sleep is foundational. Not helpful, not beneficial – foundational. Disrupted sleep does not just cause fatigue. For people with neurological conditions, it accelerates decline. It worsens symptoms. It undermines every other intervention. I am not alone in this. Carlsbad is a community filled with people managing health challenges, caring for aging parents, raising young children -all of whom depend on the kind of quiet that this area has long provided and that is now being stripped away.
Since American Airlines began operations, I have been jolted awake by jet noise as early as 5:18 AM. By 6:15 AM, it has become an assembly line. Community monitoring data using the WebTrak and Get Noisy platforms has documented E-175 jets producing noise levels exceeding 75 decibels — well above California’s 65 dB ceiling for acceptable noise. These are not occasional deviations. They are the daily reality, and they are getting worse. United Airlines begins 8 additional daily flights on March 30, and the County is already moving to increase American Airlines from 4 to 8 daily flights. That would bring us to 20 commercial jet operations per day – a 500% increase from 18 months ago with no enforceable quiet hours, no mandatory flight paths, and no accountability.
I want to address directly something that I find genuinely difficult to understand: the City of Carlsbad holds Conditional Use Permit 172. This CUP restricts Palomar Airport to general aviation use. A 2021 court order affirmed your local control. And yet the County of San Diego is proceeding anyway, awarding commercial airline contracts to American Airlines and United Airlines without your authorization. The very Intergovernmental Affairs Director of this city confirmed in writing to constituents that the city “opposes any changes in aviation policy that would allow the airport to expand without authorization from the city.”
I ask you sincerely: at what point does opposition become enforcement?
I have watched the legal efforts of C4FA , a 100% volunteer organization, heroically fight three consecutive lawsuits against a County with unlimited public resources. They should not have to carry this burden alone. The City of Carlsbad has standing. The City of Carlsbad has the law on its side. And the City of Carlsbad has constituents who are begging for intervention.
This is a pivotal moment. The choices made in the coming weeks – at the PAAC meeting on March 19, at the next Board of Supervisors session, and in your own chambers – will determine whether this community can preserve what has made it exceptional. Once a D-III commercial airport classification is established and the expansion becomes entrenched, there is no going back. What your predecessors protected for forty years can be undone in a matter of months.
I am respectfully asking you to:
• Attend and oppose the American Airlines expansion at the PAAC March 19 meeting
• File for injunctive relief to halt American Airlines and United Airlines flights pending court resolution of the CUP 172 matter
• Actively explore rescission of CUP 172 as leverage to compel the County’s compliance
• Commission an independent audit of the claimed $3 million economic benefit -a figure that does not account for property value losses, health costs, liability exposure, or the alternative use value of 250–500 acres of prime Carlsbad land
You were entrusted with the care of this community. The people who live here – whether they are managing illness, raising families, or simply trying to sleep – have a fundamental right to the quiet, the clean air, and the quality of life they chose Carlsbad for. That right is currently being taken from them by a neighboring government entity that is flouting a court order and ignoring a conditional use permit.
I trust you will act accordingly. Thank you for your service and for reading this letter.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. THANK YOU. We still need help.
We are a 100% volunteer organization. No salaries. No overhead. Just neighbors committed to protecting our community. But litigation is expensive and the County is counting on us running out of resources.
Please Click here to donate.
Every dollar strengthens our ability to hold the County accountable.
This effort depends on community engagement. Please forward this message to friends, neighbors, and anyone who cares about the future of Carlsbad.
We will not stop. But we cannot do this without you.
With gratitude and determination,
Your Friends and Neighbors at C4FA
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