3 days ago
Community pushes back on city proposal to declare Mission Bay Park properties as surplus land
SAN DIEGO — People are pushing back against the city's proposal to declare three Mission Bay Park properties as 'surplus land.'
The move would allow the city to lease or sell the land for longer than 15 years, and it's raising alarm among the local community members who don't trust the city's plans.
'We've never seen the Surplus Act applied to park land before,' said local Scott Andrews.
The city council considered this proposal during a meeting last week, but chose to hold off on voting so that the Mission Bay Park Committee could host a meeting to include this topic.
'The public doesn't trust the city council or the mayor and there's a belief that no matter what you decide on the two issues, the city is going to go forward with it anyway,' said Clifford Weaver, who voiced his opposition to the committee.
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The properties include Sportsmen's Seafood and Dana Marina Landing, which both currently have expired leases. The third and largest property is Marina Village, where the lease is set to expire in 2027. There, the city wants to include a hotel and updated conference center as outlined in the Mission Bay master plan.
Locals who came to give public comment all opposed the idea, worried about the procedure following a surplus land designation that requires an entity to negotiate in good faith to allow affordable housing first.
'This is not about building housing on Mission Bay,' said Council President Joe LaCava.
The city says it even pushed for an exemption, but the state's Department for Housing and Community Development denied the effort, meaning affordable housing proposals would still need to be considered.
A housing project would have to pass several hurdles that the city believes no developer would want to go through.
'Public vote, coastal commission approval that they would never get. It is just so unlikely, but it's just a step we have to take,' explained city of San Diego Communications Director Rachel Laing.
Laing explained other routes like seeking an amendment to the Surplus Land Act or getting the state to designate Mission Bay as state park land have been discussed, but they are uncertain and could take years.
Ultimately, the committee in Mission Bay Park voted 6-to-2, with one member abstaining to not support the three properties becoming surplus land. Council LaCava says the plan is to bring the proposal back before the council sometime in September.
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