Some neighbors and Mission Bay enthusiasts are crying foul over expansion plans by Evans Hotels to increase its footprint at Bahia Resort Hotel, which opponents claim would eliminate 170 of 270 parking spaces while decreasing public beach access.
\nHotelier Bill Evans said parking changes being proposed as part of Bahia\u2019s redevelopment will reconfigure \u2014 not eliminate \u2014 existing onsite parking.
\nSan Diego Park and Recreation Board\u2019s Mission Bay Park Committee voted near-unanimously Jan. 2 to affirm Evans Hotels\u2019 proposed expansion and parking changes on its existing site at 998 W. Mission Bay Drive. The board concurred with the hotelier\u2019s view that that action would be consistent with the Mission Bay Park Master Plan.
\n“Parking will be put in approximately three, 100-space parking lots replacing the 270 spaces on Gleason Road with 273 spaces,” Evans said. “The Mission Bay Master Plan, which guides development in the park, calls for removal of waterfront parking, and having concentrated areas of parking off Gleason Road put in.”
\nThe Jan. 2 park board meeting drew a crowd of about 200 water users of every type. Users argued the hotel\u2019s expansion was a commercial land grab inconsistent with the park master plan which ignores the needs of countless aquatic recreationalists.
\nBahia resort wants to nearly double its capacity expanding from 315 rooms to 600 rooms, while adding a 10-foot walkway and 20-foot grass area around Bahia Point park. That would necessitate shifting current public parking along Gleason Road on the Bahia\u2019s peninsula to other locations further from the shoreline.
\nOpponents claimed the hotel expansion would deny public access to Bahia Point, a popular launching spot for small sailboats, kayaks and other watercraft. They argued proposed replacement parking further away from the shoreline would be a hardship on, and inconvenience for, boat owners.
\nThose contemplated moves upset neighbors and bay users alike, three of whom \u2014 Greg Knight, Mike Waters and Scott Andrews \u2014 representing boating enthusiasts, met with Beach & Bay Press to explain their displeasure with the hotel\u2019s plans.\u00a0
\n“When the parks committee voted yes, it literally was like a sucker punch to the stomach,” said Mission Beach resident Knight, a kayaker. “I think they were a little surprised to see how many people showed up in opposition.”
\n“I\u2019m a sailor and a very large amount of the shoreline is rip-rap (rocks), which you can\u2019t carry your boat across without at least risking a nasty fall,” said Waters, a sailboat owner.
\n“[Evans] has purposely blocked both ends of the cove so you cannot access it,” claimed Andrews. “He sees [Bahia Point Park] as his domain. Now he\u2019s making the power play to get it all.”
\n“We want parking and traffic studies done,” added Andrews.
\nEvans said he has offered to put parking in on the existing Bahia Hotel site to accommodate boating users\u2019 needs, adding\u00a0he, and his hotel\u2019s role are being misrepresented.
\n“I\u2019m being depicted as a bad guy by people who haven\u2019t read the park master plan, and that\u00a0these changes have been generated by me and the hotel as part of some land grab,” Evans said. “Really, all of the proposed changes are in the park master plan document that was ratified by both the City Council and Coastal Commission (in the \u201990s). Those are now legal documents guiding development in Mission Bay Park.”
\nAndrews insists the Mission Bay Master plan is dated, arguing it is an advisory document and “not the law.”
\nIn response to the hotel\u2019s recently announced expansion plans, Knight started a Facebook page to rally against the hotel\u2019s expansion as proposed.
\n“We got 500 positive responses within two days of setting up the Facebook page,” said Nelson, noting there are literally tens of thousands of local and visiting boating enthusiasts who are supportive of the opposition.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some neighbors and Mission Bay enthusiasts are crying foul over expansion plans by Evans Hotels to increase its footprint at Bahia Resort Hotel, which opponents claim would eliminate 170 of 270 parking spaces while decreasing public beach access. Hotelier Bill Evans said parking changes being proposed as part of Bahia\u2019s redevelopment will reconfigure \u2014 not […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":270742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Bahia Hotel\u2019s plan to expand upsets kayakers \u2013 Mission Bay Park Committee approved the proposal Jan. 2","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}