Ocean views or a revitalized waterfront? Port of San Diego master plan green-lit despite some opposition

After more than a decade, the Port of San Diego has finally greenlit a master plan for San Diego’s bayfront.

Although the vote on the plan's passage was unanimous, not everyone is happy with the decision.

The port manages the San Diego Bay and more than 30 miles of waterfront. The master plan update or PMPU, incorporated changes that include a focus on environmental justice and making the bay more accessible to everyone.

The PMPU is a framework for future projects and is separate from a nearby proposed project: the Central Embarcadero redevelopment, the Seaport San Diego project.

The PMPU designates specific areas for different uses, including commercial, boating, fishing, hotels, restaurants, retail, recreational and environmental conservation.

Wednesday’s approved plan is the third iteration after hundreds of meetings and workshops with the public, and thousands of letters and survey responses.

Despite its opposition to the final updated version, the Embarcadero Coalition acknowledged the board’s efforts to consider as many stakeholders as possible many times during public comment.

“That’s why we tempered the number of additional hotels that we added, as well as regulating building heights,” Port Commissioner Ann Moore said.

The Port of San Diego Marketing and Communications representative Joshua Kellems told NBC 7 that building height limits range throughout the Embarcadero and port, from 225 feet on Harbor Island to 200 feet on North Embarcadero.

The plan includes building up to 750 more hotel rooms, excluding along Coronado’s Silver Strand and on Shelter Island. It provides standards and guidelines for density and development and maintains the current Playa Piers for public access.

“They worked,” Coronado City Councilwoman Carrie Downey said. "They addressed what we needed, and I would like to disagree with one of the earlier speakers — that change to open space recreation is huge. And there are several places where this plan does that."

Not everyone is thrilled to move forward.

“I understand why Coronado loves this plan," said Susan Simon of the Embarcadero Coalition. "You’re not doing this to them. You’re doing that to the Embarcadero,”

More than a dozen members of the opposition group attended the meeting Wednesday. Their concerns include the added noise, pollution and environmental effects, overdevelopment, dwindling ocean views replaced with boats and buildings, and the need for more well-defined building standards.

“We feel that there’s a huge loss of our land and ability to really enjoy the space that we should be having, since this is really our land," Simon said. "And we would appreciate it if we had more access to it.”

Several speakers, including representative from the city of San Diego, Coronado representatives, Michael Trimble with the Gaslamp Quarter Association, a former Point Loma resident, and the Downtown San Diego Partnership expressed their support during public comment, as well as the Chamber of Commerce, but with reservations regarding the physical set-back requirements for developments.

Next steps include sending the plan to the Coastal Commission for certification, which could take anywhere from several months to a year before coming back to the board for final approval.