According to the Mission Bay Park Master Plan Update (“MBPMPU”) as found through a January 14, 2019 search of the City’s website —the plan which governs development at the Bahia peninsula (“Bahia Point”)—Gleason Road is supposed to be retained in any development. This was made clear in a master plan amendment that has been in effect, and available to the public, since 1997. But Evans Hotels appears to be trying to get around that requirement, and is seeking approval to expand over and eliminate Gleason Road.
In January of 2018, when Evans Hotels began public efforts to get its project approved, the company gave presentations to the Mission Bay Park Committee and shortly thereafter to the Parks and Recreation Board using a curiously mismatched set of land use documents. In proposing and presenting the project to these advisory groups, Evans combined an important map from the now-defunct 1994 version of the MBPMPU with other pages from the MBPMPU currently in effect. This mixing of documents was effectively misleading and led to certain confused and false findings by the Mission Bay Park Committee and the Parks & Recreation Board, which both recommended to the San Diego City Council that they approve the Bahia Development Plan. How this dubious mix of land use documents made it through two city advisory bodies— unquestioned or unnoticed—is not clear.
To understand the significance of this folly, bear in mind that there were two separate plans for development on the Bahia peninsula which the San Diego City Council and the California Coastal Commission (“CCC”) considered in the 1990s. The first plan is found in the original MBPMPU from 1994, which is now defunct; the second plan is found in the 1997 amendment to the MBPMPU, which is still in effect.
What Distinguishes the Two Plans?
1994 Mission Bay Park Master Plan Update
On page 47 of the original 1994 master plan update, there is an illustration of the Bahia Point Development Area referenced as Figure 12 (shown below as Figure 12/1994). In that figure, the “Potential Lease Expansion Area” was permitted to take over Gleason Road. This plan received approval by the California Coastal Commission (CCC) on May 11, 1995, though it was short-lived due to a lawsuit filed shortly afterwards on August 30, 1995. Pursuant to a stipulated judgement in that lawsuit, the CCC set aside their May 1995 approval and reset the matter to be heard again at the November 1996 hearing.
1994 Mission Bay Master Plan Update, Bahia Point Development Area-Figure 12/1994, p. 47.
1997 MBMPU Amendment
It was at that November 1996 California Coastal Commission hearing that the original 1994 plan for development on the Bahia Point peninsula was amended. A second reading for that amendment was heard by the CCC in February 1997, resulting in the adoption of a modified version of the land use plan for the Bahia Point peninsula. Under the 1997 amendment (as reflected in the version of the plan found through a search of the City’s website on January 14, 2019), page 47 shows a modified illustration of the Bahia Point Development Area referencing it as Figure 12 (shown below as Figure 12/1997).
Mission Bay Master Plan Update as found through a search of the City’s website (last accessed January 14, 2019), Bahia Point Development
Area-Figure 12/1997, p. 47.
Here, on this figure, the “Potential Lease Expansion Area” (highlighted in yellow) clearly leaves room for a reconfigured but still open Gleason Road (highlighted in blue) to connect with the tip of the peninsula. In fact, it explicitly says to “Retain Gleason Road”. This is the version that can be found on the City’s website HERE (last accessed January 14, 2019), and which has been available at least since April 13, 2016.
This is the page that Evans Hotels did NOT present to the Mission Bay Park Committee or the Parks and Recreation Board — nor to the public. Instead, without any explanation or caveat, Evans Hotels combined the defunct 1994 version of Figure 12 with the other pages and the cover of the current MBPMPU, indeed presenting them together as the current MBPMPU. The Mission Bay Park Committee and the Parks and Recreation Board made recommendations for the San Diego City Council to approve the Bahia Development Plan based on the wrong findings.
Given this misleading information – as well as the huge impact the proposed development will have on San Diegans who use Bahia Point — City Council should not approve the proposed Bahia Development Plan, in part because it does not conform to the MBPMPU. Instead, Council should make clear to city staff and to Evans Hotels that the Council will not consider the proposed Bahia Development Plan until it receives meaningful recommendations through new hearings with proper review of factual evidence at the Mission Bay Park Committee and the Park and Recreation Board.
We need to get that message to City Council. To send a letter to the Councilmembers and the Mayor asking them not to approve the proposed Bahia Resort Hotel City Leasehold Expansion/Lease Amendment, click HERE.
The City’s Unconvincing Response
In October 2018, the City responded to UNITE HERE Local 30’s letter pointing out that Evans Hotels had submitted the Bahia Development Plan using a defunct version of Figure 12. Mike Hansen, the Director of the City’s Planning Department, asserts that the words “Retain Gleason Road” were not actually on the version of the Figure 12 that the Coastal Commission and City adopted in 1997. Hansen states that the words “Retain Gleason Road” had been added “by City staff administratively,” and that “Planning staff has prepared an administrative correction”—without any public process or input from the City Council—to remove the words from Figure 12. The City’s response also included a version of Figure 12 that is identical to Figure 12/1997 (above) except that the words “Retain Gleason Road” are missing (see below).
Bahia Point Development Area-Figure 12, as attached to correspondence from Mike Hansen (highlights added)
The City staff’s unilateral attempt to alter the operative version of Figure 12 is inappropriate. There is no basis for Planning staff, on their own and with no transparent or accountable process, to have “prepared an administrative correction” to Figure 12 without involving the Coastal Committee or the City Council. The current version of the MBPMPU was approved by the Coastal Commission and City Council, and City Planning staff cannot unilaterally alter the records of the Commission or an act of the City Council.
Further, the October 2018 letter acknowledges that the 1997 version of Figure 12—not the 1994 version that Evans Hotels submitted—is the operative version of the map. The City therefore acknowledges that Evans Hotels submitted its proposal with an out-of-date version of Figure 12.
Finally, whether or not the words “Retain Gleason Road” appear on Figure 12, the Bahia Development Plan still violates the MBPMPU by eliminating Protected Access to the tip of the Peninsula, which is required under the State constitution. see Protected Access
To see (p.47) Figure 12 – The Bahia Point Development Area as it is in the original and now defunct 1994 Mission Bay Master Plan Update, click HERE
To see (p.47) Figure 12 – The Bahia Point Development Area as found through a search of the City’s website (last accessed January 14, 2019), click HERE
To see the mix of documents presented by Evans Hotels, click HERE