City to Present Draft Plans for De Anza Cove at Upcoming Meeting of Mission Bay Park Committee – Tues., Nov. 7th
Many in Ocean Beach view the ocean and sand as the “front” of the community, the waterfront, the front yard of the house of OB that gets a lot of attention. And if that is the view to take, then OB has a huge “side yard” that it often ignores.
Mission Bay.
Mission Bay is then the side yard, and despite its use by many OBceans and Point Lomans as the largest aquatic park on the West Coast that it is, those same Peninsulans have a tendency to ignore this body of water off to the side when it comes down to figuring out how to keep it and maintain it.
And despite the many in OB who took active parts in the update process of the Ocean Beach Community Plan 3 years ago, there is a trait of OBceans not to be involved in the planning for Mission Bay.
But it’s time that we do. Why?
Because the City of San Diego is presenting plans to develop the northeast portion of the Bay and not everyone is happy with them.
At the upcoming Mission Bay Park Planning Committee on Tuesday, Nov. 7th, the City will present two draft plans for the “revitalization” of De Anza Point as an action item for adoption by the Committee.
Yet San Diego Audubon says the City’s plans are shortsighted in their approach to addressing sea level rise in Mission Bay, they will not significantly improve water quality in the bay, and they fail to safeguard endangered species from the impacts of climate change.
According to the Audubon Society:
Mission Bay’s wetlands supply habitat for hundreds of local wildlife species, protect San Diego from climate change impacts such as flooding, and improve water quality. The City’s two alternatives are missing the long-term view to ensure wetlands can continue to create cleaner water, buffer communities from sea level rise, provide habitat for wildlife, and get people into nature.
Aren’t there already plans for Mission Bay in place? Audubon Society says:
According to the City’s Mission Bay Park Master Plan, which serves as the guiding document for the City of San Diego’s De Anza Revitalization Plan, planning for this area must include wetlands restoration and improvements aimed at protecting those marsh areas.
Audubon says to adequately protect wetlands in Mission Bay, the City would need to dedicate at least 200 acres of this planning area — less than five percent of Mission Bay — to habitat. The plans currently only have around 30 – 40 acres set aside for wetlands, increasing the less than two percent of wetlands in the bay to only less than three percent.
ReWild Mission Bay, a project of San Diego Audubon to enhance and restore up to 170 acres of wetlands in the northeast corner of Mission Bay, overlaps with the De Anza Revitalization Plan. How the City chooses to revitalize the De Anza Cove will directly impact how ReWild is able to restore the sensitive wetlands in the Northeast of Mission Bay.
The Nov. 7th meeting will take place at 6p.m. at the Mission Bay High School (2475 Grand Avenue, San Diego 92109).
The OB Rag has been covering these issues of late, so for background, see these:
San Diego Audubon Critical of City’s New Options for DeAnza Cove in Mission Bay
Restaurant Moving Into the Old Mission Bay Visitors’ Center
Storms Brewing Over Mission Bay
ReWild Mission Bay Unveils Options to Restore Up to 170 Acres of Wetlands
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for sharing this, Frank.
Got an email from the Audubon Society:
URGENT: The MB Park Committee meeting scheduled for Tues, Nov 7th at 6PM has been CANCELLED
We have just been notified by the City of San Diego that tonight’s De Anza meeting has been cancelled. We have no more information at this time, but will keep you posted as information becomes available.
Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and concern for wetlands protection in Mission Bay. We hope you’ll join us when the meeting is rescheduled – your voice is integral to this process and we are so sorry for any inconvenience this has caused
Communications Department, City of San Diego AGENCY
Tonight’s 6 p.m. Mission Bay Park Committee meeting at Mission Bay High School has been cancelled due to an emergency that resulted in the lack of a quorum. No new date has been set at this time, …
Does anyone else think it’s suspicious the meeting was canceled at the last minute? Given all the publicity it had, perhaps someone in the city thought there would be too much opposition to the draft plans.
The Mission Bay Park Committee agenda for 2017 lists that this will mark the fourth time this year that a regular monthly meeting has been canceled. They are apparently not rescheduled, just bumped a month to the next meeting. There was a great deal of public interest and planned attendance at this very important session. In my humble opinion, all that were inconvenienced deserve a more detailed explanation than an “emergency that prevented a quorum”.