District 2 Councilwoman Lori Zapf recently requested $300,000 in funding for fiscal year 2015-16 from Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office in order to fund a study of what to do with the De Anza Cove mobile home site once it becomes unoccupied in 2016.
According to Alex Bell, communications director for Zapf, the budget meeting will be held in May, and if the funds are approved then, they will be available in July.
Pacific Beach Planning Group member Scott Chipman has proposed an idea named the Mission Bay Gateway Project. Part of the gateway’s proposal is to move Campland On The Bay to the De Anza Cove site, once the campground’s lease expires next year, and then turn Campland’s present site into marshlands. The gateway idea has gained traction within the community.
“We’re starting with a brand new slate,” said Pacific Beach Planning Group chair Brian Curry. “Our plan is to bring together all the interested parties such as the San Diego Audubon Society, Campland On The Bay, City Planning, Mission Bay Park, Pacific Beach Town Council and get everyone together in order to collaborate on what we can put at the De Anza site.”
Curry’s main concern, though, is that the process might be too long and could slow down any momentum for the interested parties. “We have an active group of volunteers right now with an infrastructure already in place,” Curry said.
Another proposal for that land is to build a high-rise hotel similar to the Hilton in Mission Bay. But the current height restriction for buildings in Mission Bay is 30 feet, and according to Bell, the height restrictions on the property will remain.
The history of the De Anza mobile home site goes back to 2003, when its lease had expired, but the residents had filed a class action lawsuit that November against the city to prevent them from being moved off that land. Litigation had kept both the residents and city in limbo until early 2014, when the lawsuit had been resolved. De Anza had 509 mobile homes at its park, and just over half of its occupancy remains.