U.S. Department of 1200 New Jersey Ave., S.E. Transportation washington. 

### oc 20590 Office ofthe Secretary OfTransportation



### The Honorable Jim Desmond Mayor ofSan Marcos San Marcos, CA 92069-2918 Dear MayorDesmond: 

# JUL 

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Thank you for your letter supporting the proposal submittedby the McClellan-PalomarAirport for a grant under the U.S. DepartmentofTransportation's Small Community Air Service Development Program. The Small CommunityAir Service DevelopmentProgram was establishedto help smaller communities address air service deficiencies, particularly issues relatedto high airfares or insufficient service. Underthe statute, the Departmentmay make a maximum of40 grant awards each year, although no more than 4 awards may be to communities inthe same State. In

### order to provide communities withlatitude in developing solutions to their air service deficiencies, the statuteprovides flexibility inthe types ofprojects that canbe funded. On May 15, the Department issued an orderrequestingthat communities interested inreceiving a grantthis year file their applications by June 11. As these grantrequests are pendingbefore the Department, I cannot comment onthe merits ofany particularproposal. I assure youthatthe Departmentwill give full and fair consideration to all proposals thathave beenproperly filed. As is our normal practice, I am placing a copy ofyour letter andthis response inDocket DOT-OST-2012-0069 as a contact outside the record ofthis matter. I appreciate your interest in this program. Sincerely yours,

# ~~ AlohaLey Associate Director Small Community ProgramMay 24,2012

Aloha Ley Associate Director Small Community Air Service Development Program United States Department ofTransportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington, DC 20590

RE: SUPPORT OF MCCLELLAN-PALOMAR AIRPORT GRANT APPLICATION UNDERTHE SMALL COMMUNITY AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM DearAssociate Director Ley: I am writing to express my full support as Mayor ofthe City of San Marcos for the County of San Diego's FY 2012 Small Community Air Service Development grant submission. I understand that the County is requesting federal funding to support the addition of California Pacific Airlines (CP Air) at McClellan-PalomarAirport in Carlsbad, California. Being a professional airline pilot myself, I have firsthand experience with many years of long and costly freeway trips to major airports in downtown San Diego (SAN), Orange County (SNA) and Los Angeles (LAX). This loss ofvaluable time, gasoline consumption·and fighting major traffic are all strong reasons that**w~·** should .implement a viable small .airport alternative with McClellanPalomar Airport and CP Air. The Airport is extremely convenient for both residents and commerce in my city as well as the**r;~~arly** 700,000 people living in North County today. McClellan-Palomar Airport is a major untapped asset that, with your support, can inject economic vitality and smarter intermodal travel in our region. Unfortunately, McClellan-Palomar Airport is suffering significant long-term loss in airline seats and in the number of passengers using the facility. A study revealed that 98% of local passengers drive to other airports for air travel. I believe that CP Air will reverse this trend and help revitalize the regional air system aiong the west coast. The federal investment in the Airportwill also improve North San Diego County's job outlook. It is estimated that CP Air will add over 100 new local jobs in its first year and grow to more than 500 employees by yearfive. This long-term job creation comes at a time ofgreat need for our region. I encourage the FAA's approval and implementation of the funding contained in the County's grant application. As a Mayor and a pilot, I know this airport has:a unique chance to reinvigorate our region's economy and also our way of accessing air travel. Furthermore, I am confident that the benefits will paydividends many times.over this initial grant investment. 

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..... Hon. Jim Desmon Mayor