The California Coastal Commission approved Chula Vista's Bayfront Master Plan at a Santa Cruz meeting on August 9. Collaboration between the city of Chula Vista, the Port, and various community stakeholders produced a plan that will include 1,500 condominiums, four hotels, a resort, and more than 240 acres of parks and natural preserve.

In an August 10 interview, council member Pat Aguilar said that it was a "love-fest" in Santa Cruz. "All the speakers, including myself, spoke in favor of the plan and the commission passed it unanimously."

Although the bayfront master plan passed, the passage of the Local Coastal Plan, which is specific to Chula Vista, is contingent on the city council ratifying modifications suggested by Coastal Commission staff.

Additional modifications were garnered by the civic organization, Crossroads II, in negotiations with the city and the port. Crossroads II gathered over 600 signatures from residents who favored some additional changes.

According to Aguilar, the letter of agreement between Crossroads II, the city, and the port, increases the acreage of the active park. The agreement also contains a caveat in relation to the future of the bayfront plan. The anchor piece of the design is the resort/hotel. Infrastructure for a significant portion of the bayfront plan is dependent on revenue from the resort/hotel.

Aguilar said that what the agreement gains for residents is the assurance that the bayfront plan will be revisited, including public outreach to come up with a revised land use plan, if no developer materializes for the resort/hotel in the next 10 years.

Meanwhile the Port announced, "The next step for the Port and City is to secure a developer(s) for the master planned project by preparing a Request for Qualifications or RFQ. Marketing efforts are already underway and it is anticipated that an RFQ would be issued for initial phases of the project early next year and will be announced and posted on the Port and City websites."