SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - From a boarded up playground bridge, to its 50-year-old bathrooms, millions of dollars in improvements could be on the way to Mission Bay.
The San Diego City Council on Monday could kick off a 10-year plan to make the changes, spending nearly $22 million in this fiscal year. The money is coming from rents paid by tenants along Mission Bay, approved by voters in 2008 and 2016.
"I think for many San Diegans that it probably is a park that you drive by and say what a nice park, but you probably don't stop there often," said Tom Sklenar, spending in Mission Bay before a flight out of town.
Bikers and walkers are all over the bay, but the city says its infrastructure needs work. The top priorities are to improve water quality, expand wetlands and wildlife preserves, and beef up the equipment that blocks erosion.
"It is currently safe to swim in Mission Bay," city spokesman Tim Graham said. "The creation of additional wetlands to help filter low-flow storm drain runoff will serve to improve the Bay’s overall water quality."
The city would also replace children's playgrounds, build new bathrooms, resurface parking lots, install better lighting, and improve the adult fitness equipment, to name a few projects.
The city could spend up to $117 million on Mission Bay over the next ten years.
Graham said the City Council will be asked to make additional approvals as needed.
