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The long debated plan to transform much of northeast Mission Bay into climate resilient marshland got unanimous support from the City Council’s Environment committee. The committee called the plan a fair compromise between environmentalists, supporters of camping and advocates for recreation. The plan manages to preserve all those uses and also allows for a buffer against sea level rise due to climate change, clean water, and carbon sequestration by tripling the marshland, wetlands, and dunes in the area from 82 acres to 262 acres.
Environmentalist, including The ReWild Mission Bay coalition lobbied for significantly more marshland, 315 acres versus 262 . Andrew Meyer, conservation director for the Audubon Society said the plan misses an opportunity to take away more atmospheric carbon, a key cause of climate change. Sandy Vissman, a representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also criticized the plan saying it wouldn’t do enough to boost water quality, create wildlife habitat or protect the new marshland against sea level rise.
Council members spoke up for ReWild and asked that before the plan comes to City Council, they commit to working on several of ReWild’s 10 requests, including requiring a minimum 100 foot buffer for wetlands, having wildlife agencies review as it moves forward, committing to coastal access, and limiting night lighting.
The plan must be approved by the full City Council and by the California Coastal Commission. After all that, the city must secure tens of millions of dollars for creating the wetlands and relocating all the existing activities. The plan will be implemented in phases.