Coastal Commissioners appeal Lane Field Project to…the Coastal Commission
If the Port Commission thought it could slip by with an 8-year-old environmental study for its Lane Field project, it should think again. Since 2005, The Port has been trying to redevelop the site of the old Lane Field baseball stadium, where the Padres used to play way back before there was a Qualcomm (And the Pads were minor league). It’s been a parking lot the last couple of decades. The plan is to construct two buildings with 80,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants, plus two hotels with a total of 800 rooms. But it took about four seconds for the community to appeal the Port’s January 9 certification of the project’s environmental study. Community activist Ian Trowbridge filed one, and reportedly the hotel workers’ union, UNITE HERE!, has also. But yesterday two California Coastal Commissioners – Mary Shallenberger and Commission Chairman Patrick Kruer – decided they, too, were displeased with the environmental review and filed an appeal to the, umm, Coastal Commission. The Commission already has jurisdiction over the site, and the project must have it’s approval to go forward. But the appeal by the commissioners will put the environmental study front and center. The appeal will be heard when the commission meets on March 5-7.
Pretty much none of the players involved with this story could be reached yesterday for comment.
