Port of San Diego Updates Master Plan for Bayfront Development

After nearly a decade of consideration, a long-term blueprint for the development of some prized real estate on the Port of San Diego’s bayfront is poised to be adopted.

A seven-member board of commissions who oversee the San Diego Unified Port District is expected to ratify a 30-year master plan, known as the Port Master Plan Update, according to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Unified Port District has jurisdiction over 2,400 acres in tidelands that stretch across San Diego Bay from Shelter Island to Coronado. The area covered by the master plan encompasses about 1,000 land acres and more than 1,454 water acres spread across 10 planning districts.

The final draft of the Port Master Plan Update, which is accompanied by a final environmental impact report, is the culmination of a planning process that began in 2013.

The Port Master Plan Update envisions creating space for 3,910 additional hotel rooms, 340K SF of new retail shops and restaurants and 20.6 additional acres of parks, plazas and open space.

The increased density allowed by the plan extends into the water with space allocated for 75 new anchorages, 485 additional recreational boat slips and 65 new slips for commercial vessels, the report said.

The master plan envisions significant development on Harbor Island, with the bulk of the district’s new hotel rooms spread across West and East Harbor Island. The Port is not planning to add hotel rooms to the Shelter Island, Coronado or Silver Strand planning districts.

The master plan calls for expanded waterside amenities, including more park space and wider promenades across the tidelands. Original plans to create a continuous public greenway surrounding San Diego Bay, known as the “Green Necklace,” have been pared back a bit in the final draft of the plan.

The plan calls for North Harbor Drive, a heavily trafficked street that serves as an entrance to the downtown waterfront, to morph into a coastal landmark where car traffic is reduced.

The waterside portion of Harbor Drive between Grape Street and Seaport Village will feature expansive park spaces located between a widened promenade and a multi-use path leading to a 30K SF “Window to the Bay” pier south of Grape Street and north of Ash Street.

To achieve this waterfront street vision, parking spaces along North Harbor Drive will be eliminated, with cars relegated to a garage on a lot north of the County Administration Center.

The plan envisions a dedicated transit right-of-way on the western portion of the street, which would allow for a Bayfront “circulator” to go up and down the Embarcadero, the report said.