San Diego May Get Money to Help Buy Famosa Slough

Legislative budget conferees are considering a $2-million appropriation to help the City of San Diego purchase the Famosa Slough wetlands and possibly forestall a planned waterfront condominium complex.

Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista), who said preservation of the 20-acre marsh near Ocean Beach has been a concern of his since he was an aide to former Democratic Assemblyman Larry Kapiloff in the 1970s, asked the Senate-Assembly Budget Conference Committee on Thursday to include money for the slough in the $37.5-billion state spending plan expected to be sent to Gov. George Deukmejian next month.

Before Peace made a pitch for the money Thursday before the six-member panel, which is ironing out differences between the Assembly and Senate versions of the state budget, the appropriation toward a Famosa Slough purchase had gone virtually unnoticed.

Peace said he was attending an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing regarding spending for the Department of Parks and Recreation earlier this month when “the opportunity arose” to seek the appropriation.

He said he never had a chance to discuss it in advance with Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego), who represents the area, or with lobbyists who represent the city.

But Killea, long an advocate of halting or at least restricting development of the marsh, said Thursday that she welcomed the move by her Democratic colleague, although she viewed it at best to be only a first step in the effort to block the 400-unit condominium complex planned by developer Terry Sheldon.

Lobbyist John Witzel, who represents the city, said he “appreciates Mr. Peace’s efforts” but would have to remain officially neutral on the budget item for now because some City Council members think the city should purchase the marshland while others think the state Coastal Conservancy should.

And, no matter how they line up in that regard, Witzel said all the council members have questions about how much of the wetlands could be restored and about the purchase price for the property.

“I’ve heard quotes that range from $2 million to $20 million,” Witzel said.

Bombarded recently with thousands of signatures from environmental groups that want to preserve the slough, the City Council recently signaled an interest in buying the wetlands along West Point Loma Boulevard.

For years, city officials had shied away from considering the purchase, saying the city could not afford it and could not pay for restoring and maintaining the badly degraded marsh even if they could.

But environmentalists, who say the slough is an important wildlife habitat for several endangered species, have persisted in their efforts to stave off development.

Earlier this week, the San Diego City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee voted to get an appraisal of the slough and surrounding properties.

Last year, the Legislature stripped away Coastal Commission jurisdiction of the slough despite Killea’s strenuous objections. In a supposed compromise that Killea and San Diego environmental groups considered more of a sellout, the measure was written to allow development on as much as 10 acres of the marsh, but required that Sheldon bear half the expense of needed restoration work on the remaining acreage.

Peace voted for the measure last year, saying it was “the best deal available at the time,” because city officials were showing no interest in buying the slough.