S.D. Council Aiming to Buy Famosa Slough If Cash Can Be Found

In a significant but inconclusive step for environmentalists, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday formally announced its intention to buy Famosa Slough and turn it into a wetlands park.

But there’s one catch--the city doesn’t have the money to buy the property from developer Terry Sheldon. Earlier this month, the council decided to spend its $4.6-million wetlands acquisition fund on other projects.

“It’s one thing to say we intend to purchase it, and it is another thing to do it,” said Jackie Sanders, chairman of Friends of Famosa Slough. “I don’t want people to get the impression that it’s over with and that we’ve won.”

The slough, a 20-acre marshy area near Ocean Beach, is one of the last remaining natural wetlands in San Diego. Environmentalists and neighbors have been trying to protect the area from development for years, and they did not have much luck persuading council members that the city should purchase the land.

“I’d say the council has come a long way since 1984 because the more they realize how important it is, the more interested they are in buying it,” Sanders said.

Noting that the slough issue has bounced around government agencies for years, he said, “It’s time the council took action on it one way or the other.”

Sheldon, who has owned the land for three years, originally hoped to build 416 condominium units there, but he has cut back the project to 250 units and set aside some of the wetlands for preservation.

Sheldon has also said he would sell the slough to the city for $8 million--the figure he calls the “fair market price.” The city thinks the land is worth about $2.6 million.

Jim Dawe, Sheldon’s attorney, reiterated an offer to negotiate with the city for 30 days, then turn the matter over to an arbitrator.

“If you listen to the critics, they say they want it all, but they don’t want to pay for it,” Sheldon said. “In this country, if you want to buy property, you pay the fair market price.”

Sheldon said his critics have exaggerated how much the wetlands, a haven for wildlife, would change if condominiums were built on the slough.

“Every plan we come up with provides for the majority of the property to be set aside as wetlands,” he said. “Nobody has ever submitted a plan to pave over the slough.”

One major obstacle to converting the slough into a park is that the city simply doesn’t have the money to buy it since “the sudden evaporation of our wetlands fund,” Sanders said.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor said the city intends to replenish the fund next year.