Two new supporters \u2013 an environmental activist and a labor spokesman \u2013 have joined Mission Bay water users protesting expansion plans for Bahia Resort Hotel.
\n“The Mission Bay Park Master Plan (MBPMP) requires that development on Bahia Point retain Gleason Road,” said former City Councilmember Donna Frye. “The public deserves better. At a minimum, there needs to be an environmental analysis for the project where all the facts can be reviewed, along with a full staff report and not rushed through\u00a0as a lease amendment.”
\nFrye added the requirement to retain Gleason Road “Appears to have been left out of the developer\u2019s presentation that was shown to both the Mission Bay Park Committee and the Parks and Recreation Board before they voted. The information led to a false belief that the development was consistent with the MBPMP, when it was not.”\u00a0
\nBahia resort wants to nearly double its capacity, expanding from 315 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 from the periphery to the interior of Bahia\u2019s peninsula. Detractors claim that would be a hardship on water users, denying public access to Bahia Point, a popular launching spot for standup paddle boards, kayaks and other watercraft.\u00a0
\nHotelier Bill Evans answered that his proposed parking changes will reconfigure \u2013 not eliminate \u2013 existing onsite parking, shifting it away from Gleason Road and into the peninsula\u2019s interior.\u00a0
\nEvans is holding to that view.
\n“We are continuing to work with the City on the specifics,” Evans told Beach & Bay Press. “At this time, we have nothing to add beyond what was presented to the Mission Bay Park Committee \u2013 which overwhelmingly agreed the proposal is consistent with the Mission Bay Park Master Plan \u2013 and the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Board \u2013 which voted unanimously to recommend the proposal to the City. We look forward to adding a grass recreation area around all of Bahia Point, as well as almost one-mile of pedestrian and bicycle pathways.”
\nThe controversy began early in January when San Diego Park and Recreation Board\u2019s Mission Bay Park Committee voted near-unanimously to affirm Evans Hotels\u2019 proposed expansion and parking changes on its existing site at 998 W. Mission Bay Drive. The board accepted the hotelier\u2019s view that that action would be consistent with the master plan.
\nBut Giovanni Ingolia, an Ocean Beach Town Council member, who also sits on the Mission Bay Park Committee, didn\u2019t agree.
\n“There are parts of [Evans plan] that are in line with the master plan, and parts of it that are not. That\u2019s why I voted against it,” he said. “One hundred percent of Gleason Road needs to be (retained) in the master plan. We can\u2019t just cherry pick what parts are in the plan, and what parts are not, and then just rubber stamp it.”
\nAdded Ingolia: “The east side (of Bahia peninsula) is supposed to expand access for water users by taking out the road and just putting in a bike path. Who\u2019s going to want to drag a kayak or a paddle board down a bike path?”
\nSome neighbors and water users are claiming Bahia\u2019s expansion proposal would eliminate 170 of 270 parking spaces while decreasing public beach access.\u00a0
\n“Evans\u2019 proposal would not only redo the hotel, but extend its boundaries over Gleason Road and eliminate public access moving parking somewhere else,” said Rick Bates, spokesman for Unite Here, hospitality union Local 30. “Is that right, and consistent, with the master plan? That [beach] was meant for public use, not to privatize it, or parcel it out for long-term leases.”
\nGreg Knight, a Mission Bay recreationalist and co-organizer of Bahia expansion opposition, said the project can still be stopped.
\n“Right now it is scheduled to go in front of the Smart Growth and Land Use Committee on Oct. 17, and they will vote on whether they will recommend it to the City Council,” Knight said. “We believe (fingers crossed) it will get a no vote. It would then go to the actual City Council. After that, It would go to the Coastal Commission for either final approval \u2014 or changes.”
\n“What Evans Hotels is doing is trying to get a development plan approved using a lease amendment as a vehicle,” contended union rep Bates. “It\u2019s the wrong\u00a0process. What he really needs to do is a master plan amendment.”
\nAdded Bates, “But I understand why he would not want to go that route, because it\u2019s much more expensive, takes much more public\u00a0participation, and would trigger a new environmental impact report, which takes time.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two new supporters \u2013 an environmental activist and a labor spokesman \u2013 have joined Mission Bay water users protesting expansion plans for Bahia Resort Hotel. “The Mission Bay Park Master Plan (MBPMP) requires that development on Bahia Point retain Gleason Road,” said former City Councilmember Donna Frye. “The public deserves better. At a minimum, there […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":277132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Activists rally to try and stop hotel\u2019s expansion at Bahia Point","_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-277131","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\/277131","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=277131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}