The Mission Bay Park Committee (MBPC) gave its blessing to a proposed redevelopment plan for Fiesta Island before a boisterous, standing-room-only crowd of approximately 250 at its Tuesday, Sept. 11, meeting at the San Diego Hilton Resort, 1775 E. Mission Bay Drive.
Alternative 4G “” the most recent draft of the proposal “” includes additional restrooms, improved trails, parkland, beach areas for swimming, kayaking and paddling and fenced and unfenced leash-free areas for dogs on the vast 485-acre island.
“All the current uses remain and all the proposed uses are there as well,” said Mike Singleton of KTU+A, lead architect on the project, following the meeting. “Everything’s in there.”
Not everyone agrees.
Dog owners in particular are concerned that their coastal access is being limited. They are also worried that potential conflicts between dogs and people in joint-use areas could eventually result in dogs being booted off the island completely.
“There’s a lot of misinformation that dogs will get kicked off the island,” Singleton said. The Mission Bay Park Master Plan ” an outline of park development that served as the guideline for the Fiesta Island project ” does not include designated areas for dogs.
“We started with zero (acres),” Singleton said. The most recent proposal devotes 341 acres, or 70 percent of the island, to dogs. Currently, dogs have access to 375 acres, or 77 percent, of the island.
It boils down to perspective, Singleton said. “It depends on whether you look at the glass as half-empty or half-full. The master plan called for zero acres, now they have 7 percent less.”
That figure is misleading, said Paula Lynn, a member of Fiesta Island Dog Owners (FIDO).
“He’s taken our one area and split it up into four areas,” Lynn said. “All we’re really asking for is one piece of land.”
An undivided area is important, Lynn said, because it allows dogs, especially large dogs like her Rhodesian Ridgebacks, to run long distances and exercise in a way they cannot in smaller dog parks. The larger space also reduces the potential for conflict between dogs, she added.
FIDO has developed its own alternative to the city’s proposal. The group’s plan includes removing the road that divides the open-space area, eliminating the parking lots inside the fenced-off leash area, moving the swimming beach, relocating single-use activities “” such as tot lots and bocce ball courts “” to the north part of the island, and maintaining access to the south and west shorelines for dog wading, training and swimming.
FIDO’s plan is unrealistic, according to Singleton, because it violates parking standards and beach access guidelines set by the California Coastal Commission, and the American Disabilities Act. Commenting on how the proposed elimination of parking lots would affect handicapped park users, he said, “Nine hundred yards is not easy to walk.”
“[Dog owners] have to realize they need to compromise, too,” Singleton said.
FIDO member Lynn feels dog owners are the only group compromising.
“We’re the only people who use the park and we’re the only ones [losing access].
“We’re there 365 days a year,” Lynn said. “We use it rain or shine, whether it’s 5 in the morning or 8 at night.”
It is ridiculous, she added, that if the city’s proposed plan passes, dogs will not be allowed in certain areas of the island even if no one is there.
A Hillcrest resident, Lynn said she knows dog owners who come from as far away as Carlsbad to use the island. “It’s a regional park. People come from all over,” she said. “It’s something unique that can’t be offered anywhere else.”
“Fiesta Island belongs to the people of San Diego, not just the dog owners,” said MBPC Chairperson Rick Bussell.
He believes the city’s current proposal does “an incredible job” of balancing the needs of existing and future users.
“I definitely hope we get more users out there,” Bussell said.
San Diego’s paddling community ” which includes the Outrigger Canoe Clubs, the San Diego Dragon Boat Team and San Diego Canoe and Kayak ” has expressed the need for a space where they can practice and hold events.
Fiesta Island’s southwest passage is ideal, they say, because it provides water access, a safe launching zone and a secure location for equipment.
Despite concerns about commercial development, two storage facilities for equipment, four new bathrooms and a possible park ranger’s office are the buildings in the city’s proposal.
The estimated price tag for the project is $130 million.
The city has identified up to nine funding sources, Singleton said, including a sludge fund, a variety of state and federal grants and an enterprise fund that would allow Mission Bay Park to keep more of the revenues generated by SeaWorld and its other commercial leaseholders.
“We can’t get money unless we have a project to move forward on,” Singleton said.
Now that the redevelopment plan has cleared the MBPC hurdle, an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be conducted. If no new impacts are found, the plan will move on to the Park and Recreation Board. It could then go to the city’s Planning Commission and then on to City Council.
It will be at least six months before anything is approved, Singleton said. Implementation could begin in two to two and a half years “at the absolute earliest,” he said, adding that a full build-out would take 20 to 30 years.
Project planners are still open to ideas and suggestions, said Singleton.
To review the plan, visit www.fiestaislandgdp.com.