The San Diego Association of Governments' board of directors decided Friday to wait another six months before mapping out the future of the Buena Vista lagoon restoration project.
The water body between Oceanside and Carlsbad is filling with sediment and cattails have overrun the edges of the freshwater lagoon. SANDAG officials have been working since 2012 on a solution. Senior Planner Keith Greer said the science backs the approval of a saltwater solution. Other possibilities include freshwater, a salt or freshwater plan, or doing nothing.
“(The saltwater solution) reduces flooding,” Greer said. “It creates more endangered species habitat. Reduces the number of mosquitos that carry disease. And improves water quality. That combined with the fact that it also promotes or advances our transportation projects in the future that made it the best project to go forward with.”
The SANDAG board will take up the issue again in late spring
“The direction from the board was to add a six-month delay to look into two issues. One was the legal issues associated with the weir, ownership and taking any kind of conservation easements,” Greer. “And the second was to give time for the property owners to come together and come to some kind of collaborative solution based result.”
Local homeowners opposed to the saltwater plan asked for the extension to work out a possible compromise solution. Conservationists back the planner’s finding that the saltwater option is the best choice.
