{"id":434757,"date":"2026-08-16T20:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T20:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/434757\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T20:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T20:32:09","slug":"after-years-in-limbo-san-diegos-sweeping-plan-to-remake-much-of-mission-bay-gets-state-signoff-with-some-changes-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/434757\/","title":{"rendered":"After years in limbo, San Diego\u2019s sweeping plan to remake much of Mission Bay gets state signoff \u2014 with some changes \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Diego has secured long-awaited Coastal Commission approval\u00a0for its ambitious plan to transform much of the northeastern corner of Mission Bay into climate-friendly marshland and new recreation space.<\/p>\n

The Friday approval \u2014 which forced the city to change the plan in small ways, like rerouting a bike path away from marshland \u2014 allows San Diego to start applying for state and federal grants needed for the costly transformation.<\/p>\n

City officials and environmentalists hailed the approval as a crucial step for climate resilience, because marshes help suck carbon from the air and soften the impacts of sea-level rise by acting like a sponge for excess water.<\/p>\n

\"SanA Great Egret in the Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve Thursday. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just such a win for our region,\u201d said Matt O\u2019Malley, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper. \u201cThere\u2019s really nothing else like this throughout the state in a very urbanized area.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council President Joe LaCava stressed that the plan is a delicate compromise between golfers, campers, environmentalists and recreation advocates to determine the future of 500 acres in the bay\u2019s northeast corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council\u2019s unanimous passage of the De Anza Natural plan stands out as one of my and the city\u2019s more significant achievements,\u201d said LaCava, calling the plan San Diego\u2019s one big chance to boost wildlife habitat and fight sea level rise.<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s approval has been delayed for more than two years since the City Council unanimously approved the plan \u2014 called \u201cDe Anza Natural\u201d \u2014 after the commission sought more details about shoreline changes.<\/p>\n

The commission\u2019s unanimous approval Friday made several changes to the plan but left alone the future acreages spelled out in it.<\/p>\n

\"SanCampland on the Bay adjacent to the Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Once fully transformed over the next 20 to 30 years, the area will include 67 acres of recreation, 49 acres of tent and RV camping, 23 acres of parkland and 262 acres of habitat \u2014 including 140 new acres of marsh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adopted plan reflects a carefully negotiated balance of uses that will serve San Diego for decades to come,\u201d said Kelly Stanco, the city planning department\u2019s deputy director for environmental policy and public spaces.<\/p>\n

The changes include channelizing the bay in some places and transforming it into dunes and marshland in others. The city plans to cut through De Anza Point, site of a former mobile home park that operated for decades.<\/p>\n

The principal marsh area would be located generally west of the Rose Creek outfall. Smaller marshes are proposed at the Tecolote Creek outfall and at East Shores south of the visitor center.<\/p>\n

The ReWild Coalition, which includes more than 100 environmental and civic groups, praised the changes required by the Coastal Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey go a long way toward envisioning and ensuring the tidal wetland, water quality, carbon sequestration, recreation benefits and public access restoration that we all need,\u201d said Andrew Meyer of the San Diego Bird Alliance, a coalition leader.<\/p>\n

\"Marbled<\/p>\n

Marbled godwits hunt in the shallow water of the Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Various<\/p>\n

Various birds hunt on a sand bar in the Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two Desert Cottontail rabbits forage in the Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve on Thursday. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in San Diego, CA. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in San Diego, CA. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 5<\/p>\n

Marbled godwits hunt in the shallow water of the Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

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One of the key changes was requiring the city to account for the risk of sea-level rise\u00a0eliminating some of the space in the plan for tent camping, which may require the city to devote more acreage long-term to camping.<\/p>\n

Stanco called the commission\u2019s changes related to sea-level rise \u201cexcessive,\u201d particularly a requirement that the city relocate a nature center outside of areas most vulnerable to rising seas.<\/p>\n

But the city\u2019s most vocal objection was to the commission\u2019s requirement that it redesign a new cycling and pedestrian path that aims to boost mobility and allow passive access to the park\u2019s new marshland.<\/p>\n

The commission declared that the path can\u2019t travel through any wetlands, even if the city replaces that marshland elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecluding any and all impacts to wetlands, regardless of mitigation options and the overall increase in wetlands, effectively eliminates the city\u2019s ability to improve pedestrian and cycling access,\u201d Stanco said.<\/p>\n

Another key debate was over whether the language in the plan should be advisory, using words like \u201cshould\u201d and \u201cmay,\u201d or regulatory, using words like \u201cshall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission decided to require the regulatory language, contending such language is needed to make the policies in the plan enforceable under the state\u2019s Coastal Act.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Ann Nothoff said she believes the language required by the commission is necessary for clarity and certainty.<\/p>\n

The commission rejected some ideas from the ReWild Coalition, which had wanted more aggressive requirements for how much marshland would survive until 2100 and timelines to force city progress on the plan.<\/p>\n

Coastal Commission officials said they declined to make those changes in part because progress on the plan will depend on the city securing grants and other financing for the potentially $1 billion project.<\/p>\n

When the city begins tackling specific projects in the plan, it will need approvals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

The affected area includes Mission Bay Golf Course, De Anza Cove, Campland on the Bay, Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve, Rose Creek, several sports fields, a tennis complex, parking lots, beaches and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego has secured long-awaited Coastal Commission approval\u00a0for its ambitious plan to transform much of the northeastern corner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,181,23,205,100,13,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-434757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}