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SANDAG and Buena Vista Audubon outline progress, funding gaps for Buena Vista Lagoon restoration
Summary
SANDAG reported technical studies and design progress for the Buena Vista Lagoon enhancement project but said existing grants cover only about 65% of design work; presenters and committee members urged pursuing $5–6 million to make the project shovel-ready and noted construction could cost roughly $90–100 million. The Audubon Society said its separate 6-acre wetland-reserve project has permits and funding to shovel-ready and includes public-access and habitat measures.
SANDAG and local partners told the Buena Vista Lagoon Joint Powers Committee that technical work on the lagoon enhancement project is advancing but that significant funding remains to be found before construction can begin.
Kim Smith, senior planner with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), said SANDAG’s team has completed geotechnical borings, sediment analyses, vegetation surveys and both fluvial and tidal modeling. She said two grants received in 2021—from the Wildlife Conservation Board and CDFW Prop 1—totaled “about $4,000,000” and have carried the project to roughly 65% design. Smith said the project’s grants end in January 2026 and estimated the team needs “between 5 and 6,000,000” to reach shovel-ready status (complete 65% design, final engineering, permitting and NEPA clearance). She added that construction is estimated “at about 90 to $100,000,000.”
Smith also…
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