With the precision marching of a color guard as a prelude, the Navy formally transferred ownership of 52 acres just west of Lindbergh Field to the San Diego Unified Port District yesterday. After several months of negotiation in 2000, an agreement on the terms of the transfer was announced in February. The acreage was part of the former Naval Training Center, which served as a boot camp for nearly 75 years before it was closed in 1997. The port, which operates Lindbergh Field, plans to use 11 of the acres for employee parking and as a staging area for buses and taxis.
Employees currently park at a site on Harbor Island.
The move will reduce traffic congestion and air pollution on Harbor Drive, port officials say. Another part of the acreage will be used for overnight parking of airliners. In the future, port commissioners could seek approval to use the land to add nine passenger gates to Lindbergh's Terminal 2.