The San Diego City Council on Tuesday voted to adopt a land use plan that would restore 143 acres of tidal wetlands in De Anza Cove in the northeast corner of Mission Bay Park.
The plan, called De Anza Natural, aims to improve water quality, protect the park from sea level rise, expand the habitat of an endangered bird and make use of the wetlands' ability to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate the burning of fossil fuels.
Starting in the 1940s, humans drastically altered the landscape of Mission Bay, dredging up sand and silt to deepen the waters and create more sandy beaches and parkland. The results have been good for tourism and recreation but disastrous for the environment, leaving the water teeming with harmful bacteria and toxic pollutants such as copper and lead.
A coalition of 89 organizations, among them the Sierra Club San Diego Chapter and the San Diego Audubon Society, had pushed the city to maximize the wetland acreage and strengthen the plan's language around implementation, which is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars and take years, if not decades.
Other groups, including patrons of Campland by the Bay and the San Diego Municipal Golf Course, argued the wetland restoration should not come at the expense of acreage dedicated to camping, golfing and other recreational activities.
"Don't turn Mission Bay into a par 3 golf course," said Kurt Carlson, a member of the San Diego Municipal Golf Committee. "This should be a business decision that should create more active recreation acres for an ever increasing population of San Diego, increase city revenues, improve tourism (and) enhance the overall Mission Bay Master Plan for active recreation."
The precise amount of land dedicated to golfing versus other active uses has not yet been decided. Land dedicated to camping would be reduced from 62 to 48.5 acres — though the number of campsites could stay the same if the city replaces recreational vehicle parking spots with smaller tent sites.
Andrew Meyer, conservation director for the San Diego Audubon Society, said repairing the ecological damage to Mission Bay improve the visitor experience by creating more meaningful connections between humans and the natural environment.
"It's not a safe place to be swimming, it's not a safe place to be recreating, until we start investing in water quality benefits from tidal wetland habitats," Meyer said. "The water flushes through a tidal wetland and it improves as it goes into the bay."
City Councilmember Joe LaCava, whose district includes part of De Anza Cove, said the final De Anza Natural plan was a reasonable compromise between all the competing interests.
"It is a product of your collective desire to see that what you value in this corner of Mission Bay is there tomorrow and adapts for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations," LaCava said.
The plan also needs approval from the California Coastal Commission, which is tasked with preserving the coast's natural resources and ensuring continued public access to them. Other agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board also have oversight over the plan's adoption and implementation.
