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A unified independent voice
for Mission Bay Park.
A 30-year-old Master Plan. A De Anza Natural project waiting on shovels. A Coastal Resilience Master Plan that demands action. We are leading a comprehensive update — one that treats Mission Bay as one living system — and we are making sure the park has a voice that cannot be ignored or relegated.
Pillar 03 · A Park With a Voice
The park needs a voice that cannot be ignored.
For decades, Mission Bay has been treated as competing parts. Lease revenues generated by Mission Bay have supported broader City priorities while core day-to-day maintenance has accumulated deferred needs. Without a unified, independent voice, the park has been at risk of being ignored or relegated — even as leasehold revenue keeps climbing.
The Conservancy's first job is to be that voice. To pull together leaseholders, dog walkers, sailors, families, environmentalists, and visitors behind a shared, credible plan. To show up at City Council and Coastal Commission with data, not noise. To advocate for what San Diegans actually care about: clean restrooms, safe pathways, restored wetlands, and a park that delivers on the promise of the 1994 Master Plan.
We are not here to add more bureaucracy or political noise. We are here to finish what the original vision started, cut through the red tape, and focus on what actually matters.
Acres of public waterfront stewarded by the people of San Diego.
Years since the last comprehensive Master Plan update (1994).
Mission Bay's day-to-day operations have appeared in three straight budget reduction proposals as the City absorbs structural fiscal pressure — the FY27 ask is the largest yet. See the budget report ›
Pillar 03 · Master Plan Leadership
A Master Plan for the next generation.
The 1994 Master Plan gave Mission Bay its foundation. The next chapter is ours to write — together. We are leading a community-driven Master Plan update that asks a different question: not what the past constrains, but what San Diegans need and want from their bay for the next 30 years. A clean, safe, climate-resilient park designed for the families, athletes, naturalists, leaseholders, and visitors who love this place. One integrated living system. One shared vision.
This is an open process. Published drafts. Public comment. Cross-sector working groups. Direct alignment with the 2025 Coastal Resilience Master Plan. Our target is a fully integrated plan adopted by 2028 — in time for De Anza Natural construction. We will ask San Diegans what they want their bay to be in 2050, and we will build the plan around the answer.
An updated Master Plan also returns local control. The 1994 plan effectively serves as Mission Bay's Local Coastal Program (LCP) — the framework under which the California Coastal Commission delegates day-to-day permit authority to the City of San Diego. Re-certifying the updated plan as the LCP means the work the community asks for — restoration, access, resilience, the everyday business of running the park — can move at the speed San Diegans deserve. Local control means local imagination.
- 2026Conservancy launches · founding Board recruited · 501(c)(3) status secured · public input opens
- 2027Updated Master Plan draft published · 500+ community comments received · cross-sector stakeholder coalition formed · De Anza Natural construction begins
- 2028Updated Master Plan formally adopted by City · re-certified as the Local Coastal Program (LCP) · day-to-day permit authority returns to San Diego · recreation, nature, and commerce reinforcing each other as one living system
- 2030–2035Coordinated investment strategy in place · adaptive management system operational · Mission Bay recognized as a national model of community-led, resilient urban parkland
Pillar 02 · A Restored Park
Restoring the vision. Amplifying what's already happening.
Pillar 02 is broader than any single project. It is the community catalyst that force-multiplies every steward already caring for Mission Bay — restoring the optimism of the 1994 Master Plan vision, unifying the many great projects, leaseholders, friends groups, and environmental partners, and helping their efforts reinforce each other rather than compete for attention. The Conservancy is the connective tissue that turns scattered momentum into coordinated, fundable progress.
De Anza Natural is the centerpiece project. It's the headline test of whether this pillar works — and it deserves the focus that follows.
De Anza Natural — let's get it built.
De Anza Natural is the once-in-a-generation chance to restore wetlands, rebuild living shorelines, and put nature-based infrastructure in place to protect the bay against sea-level rise. The plan exists. The science is settled. The legal framework is moving. What it has not had — until now — is a single organizational champion coordinating the philanthropic match, the volunteer base, the public storytelling, and the multi-agency follow-through it takes to turn a plan into ground broken.
Where De Anza Natural stands today.
De Anza Natural has been moving forward for years — through the California Coastal Commission process, through City Council, and through the City's 2025 Coastal Resilience Master Plan. The science is mature, the design concepts are public, and the project enjoys broad agency and community support. But the path from approved plan to ground broken is not automatic, and major restoration projects regularly stall in the gap between agency review and construction.
A coordinated civic effort is the missing connective tissue. That is the role the Conservancy was formed to play.
Multi-agency review
Coastal Commission, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, US Fish & Wildlife, Regional Water Quality Control Board, the City of San Diego — each phase of work needs alignment across all of them. Even uncontested projects move on multi-year clocks.
Match-required funding
The California Coastal Conservancy and major climate foundations release grant dollars only when private philanthropic match is in hand. Without an organized 501(c)(3) running the philanthropic side, that match does not materialize and grant timelines slip.
Master Plan amendment
The full scope of De Anza Natural depends on Master Plan amendments to authorize new uses and lease activity. The 1994 plan is overdue for an update; the De Anza components are advancing on a track that depends on that update keeping pace.
Capital competing with operations
San Diego's General Fund is under structural pressure (see our budget trajectory report). Capital projects compete with day-to-day operations for the same constrained dollars. Without external philanthropic match, De Anza Natural is asked to win a contest it should never have to enter.
The coordinated push — near and far.
Near-term · 2026–2028
- →Build the 501(c)(3) match-grade philanthropic vehicle
- →Open Phase 1 fundraising — secure the private match the Coastal Conservancy needs to release grant dollars
- →Stand up a Habitat & Restoration volunteer team and citizen-science program for baseline data
- →Lead the Master Plan update so the legal framework keeps pace with the construction sequence
- →Tell the story — make De Anza Natural tangible to every San Diegan, not just to the agencies
- →Phase 1 construction begins
Far-term · 2028–2035 and beyond
- →Sequenced construction through 2035 — phases overlapping rather than waiting in line
- →200+ acres of restored wetlands; living shorelines piloted, monitored, and scaled
- →Adaptive-management framework that responds to actual sea-level-rise data, not just projections
- →Long-term maintenance endowment so restored habitat doesn't degrade after construction
- →Pacific Flyway stopover habitat measurably restored — documented in published bird and marine-life counts
- →Mission Bay recognized as a national model of community-led, climate-resilient urban parkland
Acres of restored wetlands by 2035
Phased construction starting 2027. Sea-level-rise buffers fully functional. Living shorelines piloted then scaled.
Phase 1 private match (3 years)
Co-funded with the California Coastal Conservancy. The private match unlocks the public dollars — that's where founding donors come in.
Acres of restoration underway by 2027
First living shoreline pilot. Baseline environmental data published. Citizen-science program operational.
Of California's birds use the Pacific Flyway
De Anza Natural restores critical stopover habitat for migratory birds. Measurable increases in marine and bird life are core success metrics.
Coastal resilience
The 2025 Coastal Resilience Master Plan demands action.
San Diego's 2025 Coastal Resilience Master Plan highlights growing risks to coastal parks. Mission Bay is on the front line. The Conservancy will implement nature-based solutions aligned with the City's plan — expanded wetlands, living shorelines, smarter water management — on a timeline that matches the urgency of the threat.
Our alignment
- → Implement nature-based solutions aligned with the 2025 plan
- → Partner with the California Coastal Conservancy on De Anza Natural
- → Monitor water quality, habitat health, and biodiversity
- → Publish baseline environmental data
- → Sea-level-rise buffers functional by 2030
External factors we manage
- → Year-over-year budget pressure — civic capacity comes alongside the City to keep operations whole
- → Accelerating sea-level-rise projections — adaptive management
- → Political turnover — transparent, evidence-based positions
- → Economic downturn risks — diversified revenue base
If we do nothing, we risk losing the very qualities that make Mission Bay special.
Pillar 01 · Governance
Independent. Accountable. Transparent.
The Conservancy is being formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with strong governance from day one. We will publish our financials, our performance metrics, and the standards we hold ourselves to. We will maintain full public ownership of the park — always.
What we are doing now
- Recruiting a distinguished founding Board of 7–11 trustees
- Filing 501(c)(3) tax-exempt application
- Establishing bylaws, governance, and conflict-of-interest policies
- Building a Governance & Nominating Committee
- Securing pro-bono legal, financial, and nonprofit expertise
- Publishing a launch press release and strategic priorities
What you can expect from us
- Public ownership of the park is non-negotiable
- Private funds supplement — never replace — city resources
- Quarterly transparency reports
- Open community-comment processes on Master Plan
- Performance metrics published and tracked publicly
- A clear, current statement of where we are and what we need