The National City City Council Tuesday unanimously agreed to have city staff work with the Unified Port of San Diego to issue a request for qualifications (RFQ) for those interested in developing its Marina District.
The vote followed an earlier board meeting which gave National City access to develop only 20 percent of its jurisdiction for certain land uses.
“The problem I see is that limitations designate how much worth it actually has,” National City Mayor Ron Morrison said. “We’re the only city that is not developing the tidelands area, it’s sacred for maritime.”
In addition, the city’s long awaited aquatic center, which has been a decade-plus dream for National City residents, was slated to be completed by the spring of 2013 but has since been put on hold due to the elimination of redevelopment agencies by Gov. Jerry Brown statewide.
The aquatic center is meant to complement the Pier 32 Marina and the city’s only one-acre Pepper Park in its desired expansion and accessibility to residents.
Morrison said that National City has been the dumping ground for decades.
“If you look at the treatment of the five cities, we get treated the worst” by the port, he said.
Councilman Louie Natividad wasn’t surprised by the agency’s decision.
“We’ve been mistreated since day one,” he said. “It’s a shame on the commissioners … Our people earned and deserve this.”
