Community Catalyst.
A Clean, Safe Park.
The Mission Bay Park Conservancy is a citizen-led initiative founded today to help San Diego deliver on the Mission Bay Park Master Plan. We are here to help our city and grow a cultural movement — steadily and together. Because we all care about the same thing: a clean, safe, well-loved park that works for every San Diegan. The best time is now. Join us to make a difference.
Recruiting board · 501(c)(3) incorporated · tax-exempt status pending
Adopting the planned restroom closures.
The City's FY2027 Proposed Budget cuts service to 25 restrooms across the bay system: 13 Mission Bay restrooms closed seasonally (winter and summer), 5 Shoreline Parks restrooms closed in winter, and 7 portable restrooms eliminated at Fiesta Island entirely. We are stepping in — adopting and supporting the maintenance of these essential facilities so they stay open and clean for the public. Specific restroom locations will be announced by Parks & Recreation; the Conservancy is positioned to support each one as the list is published.
This is a concrete, immediate impact that will significantly improve the health and safety for all park goers. It is the start of a back-to-basics commitment that will define everything we do. We are addressing the bureaucracy — the red tape, the delays, the excuses that have kept this park from reaching its potential for decades.
With the City's support, we will help in every way possible — from raising funds for supplies so restrooms can remain open on peak days, to providing contract cleaning services where the City budget falls short. Much like Forever Balboa Park and the La Jolla Coast Conservancy, we will seek a partnership with the City — a permit to maintain where they cannot.
Our three strategic priorities
Where your time, expertise, and dollars go.
We treat Mission Bay as one living system — not a collection of competing parts. When recreation, nature, commerce, and resilience reinforce each other, everyone wins.
A Clean, Safe Park
Back to the basics. Professional maintenance crews, a citywide Volunteer Task Force, reopened facilities, measurable cleanliness standards — starting with adopting the planned restroom closures.
Volunteer with us →A Restored Park
Restoring the vision — and amplifying the work already underway. The Conservancy is the community catalyst across the leaseholders, friends groups, environmental partners, and stewards already caring for Mission Bay. We unify those efforts, raise the matching philanthropy, and help De Anza Natural and the broader 1994 Master Plan vision move forward together.
See what's already happening →A Park With a Voice
A unified, independent voice for Mission Bay. A distinguished founding Board, the long-overdue Master Plan update, LCP re-certification, transparent two-way community engagement, free and low-cost public events, and youth leadership programs — making the park a place every San Diegan feels welcome and invested in.
Founding Board interest →Public Trust
Held in trust. For the public. In perpetuity.
Mission Bay was conveyed to San Diego by the State of California in 1945 — not as land for sale or development, but in trust for four specific public purposes: navigation, fisheries, recreation, and visitor-serving uses. In 1962, San Diego permanently dedicated it as a public park.
1945
State tidelands conveyance — in trust for navigation, fisheries, recreation, and visitor-serving uses.
1962
San Diego Ordinance O-8628 — perpetual public-park dedication.
1987
Charter §55 (Proposition D) — voter-approved 25% commercial-use cap, public-supporting purposes only.
That trust is the frame. Every decision about Mission Bay — leases, restoration, public access, capital investment — must serve those public-trust purposes and the people they were dedicated to. It is not surplus land. It is not a site for housing. It is not a commercial portfolio. It is a public park, held for everyone, forever.
The Mission Bay Park Conservancy is a citizen-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2026. Tax-exempt status pending. We are actively recruiting a founding Board of Directors. Donations may be tax-deductible pending IRS determination. Read the launch press release →