Postscript : Chula Vista’s Bayfront Project Stalled by Suit

More than a year has passed since the California Coastal Commission approved plans for this city’s long-debated bayfront development--but ground has yet to be broken.

And if the Sierra Club has its way, a key part of that plan, a proposal for a hotel complex on environmentally sensitive Gunpowder Point, will never be built.

In March, 1984, the commission reversed a decade-old prohibition on development of the marshlands. The action was viewed as a victory for Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox, who says South Bay cities need the income and prestige from tourist-oriented development on the bay.

The Sierra Club, however, filed a lawsuit against the Coastal Commission and Chula Vista asking that several aspects of the plan, which includes a hotel; a pier plaza with restaurants; retail stores, and parking lots, be scaled down and wetland buffer zones be created to protect wildlife.

Out of the roughly 3,000 acres of marshland that once lined San Diego Bay, only about 300 remain, most of them in the Sweetwater Marsh area of the proposed project. Cox and other South Bay officials say their cities have been penalized while San Diego has been allowed to develop marshland.

But Sierra Club activist Joan Jackson said the organization isn’t against the entire bayfront development plan. It is opposed only “to a narrow portion of the bayfront plan,” including any construction on Gunpowder Point, at the edge of Sweetwater Marsh. Because of the location, a road would have to be built across the marsh to the hotel.

“That area supports several endangered species and is isolated and traffic would disturb that,” Jackson said.

Some South Bay politicians and business leaders claim that the lawsuit illustrates how overzealous environmentalists misinterpret what politicians see as a good plan; one that will financially allow areas of the marsh to be enhanced and reclaimed after years of illegal dumping.

Development on the sensitive marsh is still “years away,” according to Cox, although the mayor hopes that a 10,000-square-foot nature area on Gunpowder Point, funded by a $375,000 matching state grant, will be completed by 1986.

No bids from developers have been sought nor have any architectural plans been drawn. Later this month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will decide whether the road should be approved.

Proponents see the hotel complex as the pinnacle of the bayfront plan because the pristine, isolated location would attract tourist dollars.

“We are dealing with a few people that are insane,” said Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista). “Personally, I’m not 100% happy with the plan, but the best place for that hotel is Gunpowder Point.

“I think it (the hotel) is important, because if you have a tourist component in the plan then it’s going to need a first-class hotel.

“Hotel activity is basically quiet and won’t disturb to a great extent.”

The Sierra Club lawsuit contends that development on Gunpowder Point would adversely affect the sensitive habitat. It also asks that wetland buffers be redesigned to eliminate non-native plants, and that the area at the foot of D Street be designated as a nesting area for the least tern.

Meanwhile, Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), who supports the bayfront plan, has indicated that he will pressure the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do everything it can to hasten permit approvals.

“The senator thinks this is an environmentally sensitive plan, and he wants see if he can help cut through the red tape,” said Jack Marshall, a Wilson spokesman.

The Sierra Club’s attorney, Larry Silver, is equally adamant.

“This is one of the largest coastal estuaries and is substantial enough to warrant a fight,” Silver said.