After 12 years of talk, the San Diego Unified Port District board is planning to act Tuesday on the $28 million first phase of the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan.
At the same meeting, the board will consider a revision to the plans for hotels on Lane Field, located at the edge of the Embarcadero on property that's been vacant for more than 50 years.
However, both actions are likely to require review by the California Coastal Commission, officials and activists said.
The meeting will take place at 1 p.m. at port headquarters, 3165 Pacific Highway.
The beautification plans for San Diego's "front porch" along the western Embarcadero, initially approved in 1998, involve tripling the width of the waterfront esplanade to 105 feet; adding two kiosks and a restroom; and adding extensive landscaping.
The first phase includes Broadway west of Pacific Highway and Harbor Drive between B Street Pier on the north and Navy Pier on the south.
The project, funded by a redevelopment loan to the port, was rejected by the coastal commission in April and appellants say they may appeal again, depending on the details of a new coastal development permit.
The coastal commission already is scheduled to act Dec. 15 on the findings from its April denial. In a report the coastal staff reiterates its view that the port master plan ought to be amended before the Embarcadero permit is issued.
The Lane Field hotels were approved in 2006, but financial problems have delayed construction of an upscale InterContinental Hotel and midlevel Vivara by Woodfin Suites hotel.
The site at the Northeast corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive has been a parking lot ever since the minor league Padres moved to Mission Valley in 1958.
The project is back before the port because of an agreement reached in October to carve out a 150-foot-wide, nearly 2-acre park or plaza on the Harbor Drive side of the hotel site, necessitating a redesign and rewriting of the lease agreement.
The port staff is proposing a new feasibility report to determine what kind of hotel should be built before setting the lease terms.
The coastal commission will eventually have to agree to any design changes since it issued the original development permit.
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