After years of development along the San Diego Bay, the port district is designating money to restore lost habitat.

The San Diego Unified Port Commission recently approved the creation of an environmental fund to pay for restoration and prevention programs. Each year, one-half of 1 percent of the district's gross revenues will go toward the fund. An environmental committee will determine what projects should get funding, pending approval from the seven-member port commission.

David Merk, the port's director of environmental services, said projects would be separate from what the port or developers must to do to comply with state and federal regulations. He cited possible efforts at Gunpowder Point in Chula Vista and energy conservation along the tidelands.

“These (programs) are not simply mitigation or cleanup,” said Commission Chairman Robert “Rocky” Spane.

Spane established the environmental committee this year. It includes representatives from the environmental, military and working waterfront communities.

“It's really everybody who has an impact on the environmental quality of the bay,” Spane said.

Laura Hunter, a committee member from the Environmental Health Coalition, a social-justice environmental group, said there are a lot of options, including wetland restoration, to enhance the bay.

“A lot of damage was done to the bay before anything was mitigated,” she said. “We're just not going to get there with mitigation.”

Before modern environmental laws, the bay was the dumping grounds for industrial waste from companies along the water. The past contamination still has impacts today.

There are signs posted that fish caught should be consumed with caution. Natural shoreline – a home for birds and fish – has been lost to development.

The environmental fund will get about $600,000 to start, Spane said. It initially had not been included in next year's budget, which begins July 1.

Instead, revenues expected to exceed the port's $161 million budget for fiscal year 2006 and 2007 will be used, said Irene McCormack, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The allocation is similar to the port's public art fund. Under the art program, one-half of 1 percent of the district's projected gross revenues is set aside for public art.

The commission considered also requiring developers to pay one-half of 1 percent of the overall costs for certain projects for environmental efforts. It opted to drop the idea.

Hunter said that although she was disappointed the developer fee didn't pass, she supported the port commission's efforts.

“We're going to enhance the environment for enhancement's sake,” Hunter said. “This gets us on that road.”