DOWNTOWN — Approval of a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) by the San Diego Unified Port District’s Board of Port Commissioners could jump start plans to proceed with the first phase of work on a major redevelopment of the northern end of the Embarcadero between Seaport Village and Lindbergh Field. At its monthly business meeting on Nov. 9, the seven-member board sanctioned a deal between the Port District, San Diego Lane Field Developers, LLC, and the Navy Broadway Complex Coalition — a group opposed to parts of the multiphase project. Under the MOU, the developer of Lane Field, formerly the home of the Pacific Coast League’s San Diego Padres from 1936 to 1957, and the property commonly known as 1220 Pacific Highway, will create a 150-foot-wide setback along the east side of Harbor Drive, North of Broadway that will include a 2.41-acre landscaped open space for residents and tourists. Additionally, the developer will consider the possibility of realigning a section of North Harbor Drive between B Street and Navy Pier. The agreement calls for the Port District to continue to pursue financing to acquire 1220 Pacific Highway from the Navy, its current leaseholder. “It’s going to be a grand project with hotels and retail space that will attract visitors to San Diego,” said John Gilmore, a spokesman for the Port District. “These are significant improvements with landscaping, wide walkways, running paths and areas for the public to gather.” At its next monthly business meeting on Dec. 10, the board will consider issuing an appealable coastal development permit for the first phase of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan (NEVP), which would make Lane Field the leadoff project in the proposed public undertaking. Developed in 1997, the NEVP is a combined effort between the Port of San Diego, city of San Diego and the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC). The proposed redevelopment area is just over a mile in length from Market Street on the south to Laurel Street on the north, and about a quarter-of-a-mile in width from the railroad tracks to the east and the bay to the west. According to a CCDC official, highlights of the plan include new hotels, restaurants, retail businesses, an improved Broadway Pier, a wharf for civic events at the County Administration Center, a redesigned entrance on west Broadway from the Santa Fe Depot west to the bay, and a 1.2 mile esplanade along the waterfront with walking and jogging trails. Discussions and planning on the NEVP have been ongoing for the past 12 years. The estimated total cost of the project has been tagged at around $230 million. First phase construction costs have been estimated at $28.6 million. Funding for the plan is to be shared equally between the Port and the CCDC, the redevelopment arm of the city of San Diego. The CCDC has agreed to advance the entire $28.6 million needed to get the project started, $14.3 million of which will be repaid by the Port of San Diego. According to the Port District, the estimated Transient Occupancy Tax revenue for the City of San Diego will be $7.5 million by 2015. Attorney Cory Briggs represents the Navy Broadway Complex Coalition, which he said has been fighting development of the waterfront that excludes public use and access for years. Briggs added that the building of a cruise ship terminal and more hotels on the waterfront is just further walling off the public from its bay. He contends that the port district has been building up the waterfront, but has not created any free open spaces along the bay. Briggs stated that the only way to enjoy the downtown waterfront is by paying money to a hotel, marina or restaurant. “The bay and the tidelands are public property,” Briggs said. “Public land is being given away to private businesses who then charge a whole lot of money for you and me to go down there.”