Chula Vista Bayfront

As the world transitioned from the 20th century into the 21st century, the Chula Vista Bayfront was receiving much needed attention.

• In 1999, the South Bay National Wildlife Refuge was established, following many years of cooperation among government agencies and local non-profit organizations, including Environmental Health Coalition.
• In 2001 Environmental Health Coalition joined with other organizations in releasing the report Deadly Power, A case for eliminating the impacts of the South Bay Power Plant on San Diego Bay and ensuring better environmental options for the San Diego/Tijuana Region.
• In 2002, the City of Chula Vista granted Pacifica Companies exclusive rights for two years to develop the Mid-Bayfront site. In response, EHC initiated our Don't Pave Paradise Campaign and spearheaded a public workshop so that the community's voices could be heard.

These events became increasingly interwined: creating a new vision for the bayfront requires the removal of the ugly, polluting old power plant; removing the power plant requires development of a Clean Energy Plan; a Clean Energy Plan requires that all new development be energy efficient; protecting wildlife requires eliminiation of the pollution from the power plant and appropriate buffers between new development and sensitive habitats.

There has been much progress in the Chula Vista Bayfront Development:

• the City of Chula Vista and the San Diego Unified Port District agreed to joint planning of the Bayfront and development of a Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan;
• with the support of a Community Advisory Committee and Pacifica, the City and Port agreed to a land swap that would separate residential from the Sweetwater National Wildlife Refuge;
• the City and Port also supported EHC's position that the South Bay Power Plant be decommissioned and that no new power plant be allowed on the bayfront;
• Pacifica Companies has agreed to energy efficiency, affordable housing and financial support to achieve the community benefit goals.

The In(s) and Out(s) of Gaylord Entertainment.

Finding the right development partners has been a challenge. In 2004, the Port and City approved the Community Advisory Committee's concept for the bayfront development that included the swap of land between the private land owner and the Port District.

In June 2005, Gaylord Entertainment wanted IN and formally expressed interest in developing a large scale resort-conference center as part of the development and presented its concepts to the Community Advisory Committee in July 2006 -- an immense project complicated with myriad issues. Environmental Health Coalition met with representatives of Gaylord on several occassions and outlined critical concerns that we believe need to be addressed: design and mitiation issues, energy use and sustainability, workforce housing, contributions to a Community Foundation that will provide ongoing funding to address adverse community impacts that such a large development will create, and a commitment to hire local workers for all aspects of the project.

Gaylord abruptly pulled OUT of the project in July 2007 citing the threat of environmental lawsuits and unreasonable labor demands. On August 8, 2007 they announced they wanted back IN. EHC will sit down and continue our discussions where we left off, if Gaylord is willing to do so.

EHC wants to share our position on the manner in which the Bayfront Development should proceed, no matter who the developers are. Click here for our Open Letter Regarding the Chula Vista Bayfront Development.

Other Links

EHC's Statement Against the Bayfront Location for the Chargers Stadium

Map of Community's Plan for the Bayfront Development

Many documents and maps concerning the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan can be found of the San Diego Unified Port District's website at http://www.portofsandiego.org/projects/cvbmp/overview.asp

Selected Links on the South Bay Power Plant

The end of 40 years of power plant pollution is near [Jan 2007]

Green Energy Options for the Future [Feb 2007]

Air Quality Impacts of Two Possible Power Plants Located on the Chula Vista Bayfront [Mar 2006]