Council certifies Mission Bay Program EIR and adopts implementation framework

San Diego City Council on May 11 certified the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the Mission Bay Park Improvements Program and adopted an Implementation Framework to guide priority projects, mitigation and permitting.

Engineering & Capital Projects deputy director Carrie Purcell and program manager Nancy Graham described the multi-year effort to translate Charter priorities into implementable projects. The program’s core elements include wetland expansion (Tekalote Creek and North Fiesta Island), water-quality and eelgrass restoration, shoreline and seawall restoration, upland habitat expansion, and bicycle/pedestrian improvements across the Mission Bay Park Improvement Zone.

Nancy Graham said the program EIR concluded most resource areas have no or less-than-significant impacts, but identified potential significant impacts in air quality, biological resources, cultural/historic resources (notably seawalls), noise and recreation. The PEIR identifies mitigation to reduce impacts to less‑than‑significant levels where feasible and notes the environmentally superior alternative is a reduced hardscape approach that limits hard improvements in sensitive areas.

Mission Bay Park Association and other speakers urged prioritizing deferred maintenance, bike/ped safety improvements, and strong monitoring for mitigation and implementation (MMRP). Public commenters also suggested nature-based shoreline solutions such as rock revetments and oyster-reef features.

Councilmember Campbell moved to adopt the program and certify the PEIR; the motion was seconded and carried as recorded. Staff said the Implementation Framework will help prioritize projects for funding and establish permitting and maintenance approaches; individual projects will later be brought forward with specific permits and mitigations as required.