The City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday, July 15, to approve a 15-year lease for the Mission Bay Aquatic Center, where people are given instructions in rowing, sailing, water skiing, surfing, scuba diving and small boat handling.
Councilwoman Donna Frye made the motion authorizing the mayor and staff to enter into a 15-year lease with the Associated Students of San Diego State University and the University of California at San Diego. Councilman Ben Hueso seconded the motion.
The center, which contains .534 acres of improved property, is located at 1001 Santa Clara Place in Mission Bay Park. The city will receive approximately $17,600 in rent for the fiscal year 2009. The lease comes with a 10-year option to extend.
Besides students, others who testified before the Council included parents who have children with special needs. Mary Lyons, the mother of a child with autism, said the center enriched their lives and helped the children overcome obstacles.
“I urge you to renew our lease,” said Erica Johnson, a student on an advisory board at SDSU.
The student groups will invest approximately $432,500 into the property on installation of a solar electric power system and remodeling the restrooms and showers to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. City staff said the work would be finished this year.
Throughout the new lease term, the student groups will maintain the dock and public parkland near the leasehold at no cost to the city. Other terms of the lease includes a provision that the student groups are required to use all revenue in excess of operating costs and rent for maintenance, improvement and operation of the property.
Councilman Kevin Faulconer recused himself from voting.
The first lease goes back to 1975, when the same student groups entered into a 25-year lease with the city. It expired in 2000, and the agreement was placed on a month-to-month arrangement since then following a vote by the Natural Resources and Culture Committee.