Discussion of Navy Pier Park on Agenda for Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting

Contact: John Gilmore 619) 686-6222

A proposal by the USS Midway Museum to build a Veterans Memorial Park on Navy Pier that would include a large architectural structure in the shape of wings or sails will be discussed by the Citizens Advisory Committee for the North Embarcardero Master Plan Amendment on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, at the Port Administration Building.

The special meeting of the advisory committee for the North Embarcadero Port Master Plan Amendment will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Training Room at the Port's Administration Building, 3165 Pacific Highway, San Diego (map). The public is invited to attend and to comment on the proposal.

The meeting will include a presentation by the Midway Museum on its proposal for the park and two architectural structures that would be up to 500 feet tall. This is a concept that is being proposed by the Midway Museum, which will be studied as part of the Port District's North Embarcadero Port Master Plan Amendment, along with a number of other concepts.

In addition to the architectural elements, the Midway Museum is proposing a double-deck development with 500 parking spaces below an elevated park stretching the length of Navy Pier. An amphitheater would serve as a home for the San Diego Symphony.

The meeting will also provide Citizen Advisory Committee members the opportunity to review a conceptual alignment for North Harbor Drive that narrows and slows traffic by channeling it to Pacific Highway. In addition, the conceptual alignment includes a mix of different traffic concepts that create a more pedestrian-friendly environment and increase public access to San Diego Bay.

The Midway's lease agreement with the Port District and the coastal development permit that it was granted by the California Coastal Commission requires the Midway Museum to provide a plan and project description for a park on Navy Pier no later than October 1, 2012.

The Citizens Advisory Committee was formed to assist the Port as it prepares a North Embarcadero Port Master Plan Amendment. The master plan is a guide for future Port development and to ensure that projects and developments within the Port are consistent with the California Coastal Act.

The advisory committee's work concluded this past summer. The upcoming meeting was scheduled to provide members the opportunity to review the Midway's Museum's plans, which were presented to the Board of Port Commissioners on November 8, 2011, and were publicly presented at three public workshops held by the Midway Museum later in November and December.

Members of the Citizens Advisory Committee include representatives from environmental, business, design and public interest organizations, and the public.

The Port of San Diego was created by the state Legislature in 1962. Since then, it has invested $1.7 billion in public improvements in its five member cities: Imperial Beach, San Diego, Coronado, Chula Vista and National City.

The Port oversees two maritime cargo terminals, a cruise ship terminal, 17 public parks, various wildlife reserves and environmental initiatives, the Harbor Police Department and the leases of more than 600 tenant and sub-tenant businesses around San Diego Bay.