Aircraft Carrier Museum Plan at State Level Government: Officials Provide Additional Info To Coastal Commission
A Downtown redevelopment plan has emerged from a crucial meeting of the San Diego Unified Port District commissioners intact , with the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Midway still moored at Navy Pier.
The redevelopment proposal for a large swath of the North Embarcadero is now headed to the California Coastal Commission, which still must pass judgment. The state panel could vote on the matter as early as October.
The Port Commission’s decision sat well with museum founder Alan Uke, who predicted the museum would continue to garner support. The project has critics who complained the Midway museum will be an eyesore and an environmental problem. Port commissioners had actually given the North Embarcadero plan to the Coastal Commission in June, but Coastal Commission staff members determined plans for the Midway were not complete and did not formally file the plan. Specifically, commission staffers wanted more information on what the aircraft carrier would do to the look of the Downtown waterfront. It also wanted information on how museum backers would set aside more foraging area for bay birds. The Midway, which is now anchored in Bremerton, Wash., covers 4 acres of water surface.Port commissioners had said they would delete the Midway from the redevelopment plan if museum officials did not provide the missing information by last week.
Aircraft carrier museum officials now propose setting aside 14.5 acres of Lovett Marsh along the old Sweetwater River channel to make up for the water surface lost to the museum. The area is inland of Interstate 5 and west of National City Boulevard.
Height Concerns
To show the size of the carrier, museum officials installed a row of helium balloons 40 feet above the Navy Pier to indicate the height of the flight deck at high tide. The balloons were then photographed from different angles, and the photographs were submitted to the Coastal Commission. The photographs show the balloons are roughly the height of the two-story building on the Navy Pier.
Also submitted to the Coastal Commission staff is a photo of the Midway and other ships in Bremerton. In the scene, the flight deck of the Midway rides lower than that of nearby aircraft carriers, the USS Ranger and the USS Independence. The North Embarcadero plan contains much more than the Midway. It also calls for redeveloping the waterfront from Laurel to G streets, adding new piers and a broad walkway along Harbor Drive, and diverting more traffic to Pacific Highway. There is no dollar amount attached to the conceptual plan. By the middle of last week, the port had not formally submitted the North Embarcadero plan to the Coastal Commission. Once the plan is filed, the commission has 90 days to consider it.
