By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 7, 2023
Plans to transform much of northeast Mission Bay into climate-friendly marshland took a key step forward Thursday, December 7, when the San Diego Planning Commission approved a comprehensive proposal to redevelop the area.
Commissioners called the proposal a solid compromise between environmentalists, supporters of camping and advocates for recreational activities like golf, tennis, softball, soccer and water skiing. Those groups have been lobbying city officials for seven years — since the closure of a mobile home park prompted San Diego to explore how to revamp 505 acres of land and water in Mission Bay’s northeastern corner.
Thursday’s approval sends the proposal to the City Council’s Environment Committee for a hearing early next year. That could be followed shortly by approval from the full City Council, officials said.
- Tripling the marshland in the area from 82 acres to 262 acres would come mostly at the expense of camping, which would shrink from 62 acres to 49 acres and from 970 campsites to roughly 500.
- Recreation space would grow slightly from 60 to 66 acres, allowing two more courts for tennis and pickleball and enlarging some playing fields to regulation size.
- But space for golf would shrink by a couple acres, potentially reducing the number of holes at Mission Bay Golf Course below 18. High school golf advocates said that could make the course ineligible to host their matches.
- The area would also have less open space for picnics and other non-organized activities, because the proposal would reduce passive parkland to a little more than a quarter of its current acreage, from 89 acres to 23 acres.
Commissioners, who approved the proposal unanimously, praised it for respecting existing activities while aggressively addressing climate change and sea-level rise with expanded marshland.
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