Coastal Panel Approves Bayfront Park on Part of Site in Barrio Logan

The California Coastal Commission on Friday unanimously approved the development of a 3.2-acre bayfront park in Barrio Logan, but left open the possibility that a ship repair yard might be built on the remaining 2.2 acres of the site.

The decision capped an eight-year battle over the Crosby Street site owned by the San Diego Unified Port District. While residents say an industrial facility will tarnish the park, port officials insist on maintaining access to the bay at the site.

“Everyone on the commission indicated their preference for the entire site to be a park,” said Peter Douglas, the commission’s executive director. But Douglas said state law prevents the commission from giving conditional approval, or approving just part of a proposal.

“This isn’t the first time we have studied this proposal and listened to all the opponents and supporters,” Douglas said. “At this level, the commission would rather see the park go forward than waiting another couple of years.”

The controversy began in 1979 after the Port District first submitted the two-part proposal to turn part of the parcel into a park and keep the rest for industrial use. The battle has included charges that the Port District neglects parks in minority communities, and the brief intervention of a U.S. Justice Department official.

Two weeks ago, Al Ducheny, chairman of the Harborview Community Council, filed suit challenging the environmental impact report for the project. Ducheny noted Friday that Port officials said at the court hearing that the park would be completed this fiscal year.

“That’s important because our nightmare was always that the industrial facility would go up first and then the park,” Ducheny said. “Then it would be almost impossible for us to protest against the development of the industrial part. If the park goes up first, we have a very good chance to hold our ground still.”

But Port District Director Don Nay said the port insisted on some type of marine industrial development on the 2.2-acre plot because it does not want to relinquish access to the bay’s 40-foot-deep channel, and that the area is already industrial.

“We never said we were going to do a ship repair yard,” Nay said. “We might, or it might be used as a tugboat berthing area or temporarily for 12-meter boats. It has to be shipyard-related so the advantage of a deep-water channel is not wasted. You can build parks elsewhere, but you cannot duplicate a 40-foot channel.”

Nay accused the Community Council of refusing to compromise.

Ducheny said the council will continue to “hold onto the lawsuit to have some leverage against whatever the port plans to do with that 2.2 acres.”