of a powerful state agency are on board with a plan to create nearly 200 spots for homeless people near the San Diego airport as long as local officials keep pollution from running into the North Bay.
Staffers at the California Coastal Commission have recommended its leaders allow the H Barracks site to host a safe parking lot — and potentially large tents that could hold hundreds of beds — overriding concerns from some neighbors that noise from planes and buried trash might threaten those with nowhere else to go.
A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
“There is a critical need for shelter,” the Coastal Commission staff report said, and “this project, in both phases, not only addresses immediate housing needs but also ensures the fair treatment of vulnerable populations.”
The H Barracks site sits across the street from Spanish Landing and is a key part of the city’s plan to address growing numbers of people on the street, especially as some existing shelters may soon close. U.S. Navy barracks in the shape of giant “H’s” were recently torn down to make space for a large concrete slab.
The commission report gives new details about how a 190-space lot might work.
The site would be open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. RVs would be allowed, but accompanying generators must be kept off. Officials aim to add two office trailers, storage space, bathrooms, showers, turf for pets and a pedestrian entrance along Kincaid Road.
Staffers were concerned that rain could wash pollutants like “heavy metals from tires, brakes, and engine wear, and hydrocarbons from lubricating fluids” across North Harbor Drive and into the water. Furthermore, the site was a landfill in the 1950s, meaning officials are limited as to where they can dig.
The commission report said the city must add a filter to the existing stormwater drain to catch any dangerous runoff.
In interviews, San Diego leaders expressed confidence that the environment was safe. Asbestos had been successfully removed as part of the barracks’ demolition and earlier efforts to seal the landfill provided more than enough protection, officials said. “The argument out there that this is a toxic site I don’t think holds true,” added city policy advisor Kohta Zaiser.
Point Loma CARES, a nonprofit created to potentially challenge a shelter proposal in court, wants the commission to spend more time testing the land. The number of agencies working in the area, including firefighters in training, left open questions about what chemicals might have soaked the ground, Derek Falconer, the group’s president, wrote in a letter. “The recent demolition has exposed soil and possibly toxic waste, increasing the risk of windblown toxic dust,” he told the commission.
The nonprofit has also raised concerns about noise from the airport. Indeed, anyone who’s dined in nearby Liberty Station, which is more directly under the flight path, knows that departing planes can make conversation impossible.
Commission staffers acknowledged that decibel levels could be problematic, although they did not think that was a deal breaker. Flights aren’t supposed to leave between 11:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., which covers much of when the lot would be open, and the report said sleeping in cars elsewhere might expose people to even more noise.
If a majority of commissioners approve the permit, San Diego would be allowed to eventually replace most of the parking with two large tents, known as sprung shelters, each 41 feet tall, 18,000 square feet and able to hold 300 people.
Local officials have stressed that this part of the proposal remains unlikely, although the odds may increase if the City Council ends up rejecting a separate plan to convert an empty warehouse into a 1,000-bed facility.
The report further requires San Diego assume all risk of using the site as a shelter, among other conditions.
The safe parking lot would take about three months to launch. Erecting two big tents could require another five months.
Wednesday’s 9 a.m. meeting in San Rafael will be livestreamed.
Regardless of the commissioners’ decision, the property is scheduled to become part of San Diego’s multibillion-dollar Pure Water recycling system in five years.
