Golf, tennis courts and athletic fields are in, but Campland on the Bay could be out in the De Anza Revitalization Plan that will attempt to re-imagine, repurpose and revitalize the massive regional park.
The City is in the midst of a three-year process to analyze the 120-acre De Anza Special Study Area in the northeast corner of Mission Bay Park. Serving a diverse group of recreationalists on both land and water, Mission Bay Park includes a City-owned, 18-hole golf course, as well as ball fields and tennis and volleyball courts. Numbered among numerous aquatic park users are boaters, swimmers and kayakers.
Campland on the Bay, which provides RV and tent camping, has furnished lodging for Mission Bay Park users since 1969. The Campland property includes swimming pools, hot tubs, bathrooms and showers, a marina with 124 slips, watercraft and bicycle rentals, a game room, restaurant, market, laundry facilities, and views of adjacent Kendall-Frost marshland and bird sanctuary.
In April 2017, the City Council unanimously approved a lease extension for up to five years for Campland, to enable the campground to continue providing waterfront camping accommodations and recreation on Mission Bay while the city finalizes its De Anza Revitalization Plan. 
That extension, however, may ultimately prove to be more a stay of execution than a reprieve for the popular campground.
“The De Anza Cove Amendment to the Mission Bay Park Master Plan includes space (approximately 40 acres) for RV camping, cabins or other similar guest housing uses,” said Arian Collins, City spokesperson. “Specific details on the type of guest housing that will ultimately be at De Anza will be determined following the environmental review.”
Added Collins, “Campland on the Bay is intended to remain at its current location until a plan and associated environmental impact report is completed for the project and approved by the City Council, and subsequently the California Coastal Commission. 
The proposed De Anza Revitalization Plan includes the conversion of the area now occupied by Campland into marshland and wetland habitat. “Since the plan has not yet been approved, there is no current timetable for the project,” said Collins
One of Mission Bay’s original lessees, Campland achieved higher occupancy and revenue in 2017 than in any prior year since 2006. Last year, Campland generated $2.8 million in City rent and transient occupancy tax, improving upon the $2.6 million it provided the City in 2016. 
Asked about Campland’s fate, Jacob Gelfand, Campland’s vice president of operations, said: “Any plan the City puts forward should reflect the community’s growing need for waterfront camping access, while also fulfilling the goals of local land-use plans. While it’s up to the City to decide the future location of camping, both the De Anza site and current Campland property have historically provided waterfront, visitor-serving accommodations.
“The Mission Bay Park Master Plan identifies the De Anza site as an ideal location for visitor-serving uses and affordable coastal access,” Gelfand said. “Throughout the planning process, there has been overwhelming support from San Diegans for preserving waterfront camping on Mission Bay, and planning exercises rank waterfront camping as a top priority for the public.”
Existing Mission Bay Park active recreational facilities – tennis courts,  athletic fields and golf course – would be retained in the new De Anza Revitalization Plan. However, the current proposal calls for “several (unspecified) facilities to be upgraded and relocated for better functionality and to enhance public accessibility, and a City ranger station would be added to the area designated for the tennis center.” 
To have a say in the planning process, send email comments to: Sara Osborn, environmental planner, City Planning, at [email protected] with the project name in the subject line, before July 11.
More information about the Coastal Commission’s lower-cost visitor serving accommodations policies may be found at documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports. For more information on the De Anza Revitalization Plan, go to sandiego.gov. PB leaders express support for keeping Campland on the Bay Weighing in on the news that Campland on the Bay could be a casualty of the ongoing De Anza Revitalization Plan, residents defended the popular bayfront business.
“I think Campland is great,” said Henish Pulickal, chair of Pacific Beach Planning Group. “I’ve never been a camper there, but I’ve rode my bike through a few times and even rented a stand-up paddle board from their part of the beach. 
“I believe they provide a valuable resource as affordable accommodations in the area. Having a campground in the area is important for allowing visitors of all economic means to enjoy our parklands,” Pulickal said.
Sean Schwab, spokesperson for Friends of Campland, said the support group “Is disappointed the City’s planning concept would result in a net loss of affordable campsites and dramatically reduce waterfront camping access in northeast Mission Bay. “This [plan] is unacceptable, especially when the need for more affordable coastal accommodations in San Diego is greater than ever,” Schwab said. “We request these impacts be studied in the environmental review, along with an alternative that retains the 820-plus affordable campsites that exist today.
“It’s critical to preserve the same number of campsites directly overlooking the beach and bay that exist today. Camping should be included further out onto the De Anza peninsula to utilize the beachfront and bay access that already exists and is ideal for camping,” Schwab added. “De Anza Revitalization has been hijacked by folks with very narrow selfish interests,” argued fellow PB planner Ed Gallagher. “It is a huge plot of land that should be used to provide much-needed community amenities like a skate park, dog park, sand volleyball courts, high-density affordable housing – all things that would reduce traffic congestion and lower carbon emissions. De Anza would be the ideal location for so many of these much-needed public resources.”
“What San Diego needs is more affordable housing and more multi-use public space … not ‘open space’ that’s only open to use by the birds,” Gallagher added, “Campland is the low-cost opportunity to stay in Mission Bay,” said PB activist Scott Chipman, noting, “You can put two people in a hotel room on Mission Bay for more than $300 a night, or four or more in a campsite for about $100.
“Between Campland and the camp/RV sites over on the east side of Rose Creek, there are currently 800 campsites. The city consultant plan will limit ‘guest housing’ to 500 sites. It is ridiculous to do a major land-use project and get less than we have now,” Chipman said. “What’s worse, is that the consultant plan moves camping and public access away from the shoreline taking more than 30 acres of existing peninsula parkland for marshland,” he said.
Longtime PB planner Eve Anderson said she concurs “wholeheartedly that no Campland area should be reduced. That is the ‘only’ low-cost visitor site in all of Mission Bay and a wonderful family tradition for many people in the county,” she said. “Returning that area to marshland would not be viable. Mother Nature would take revenge. So instead of healthy camping spots, you’d have a poorly-functioning marsh.” 
Mike Furby, president of Marathon Construction Corp., sent a letter to the city on the De Anza Revitalization Plan questioning the wisdom of reducing usable landmass and adding marshland by lowering the land at the south side of the De Anza peninsula.
“This side of the peninsula is currently stable and resistant to tidal and boat wave action,” Furby said. “We have significant concerns that lowering the land at this edge will destabilize the shoreline and make it susceptible to erosion due to boat waves and tidal activity… a marsh along the south side of the De Anza peninsula would not be fed by any silt, and would likely require continuous rebuilding and restoring.”