With temperatures on the rise this summer, the city of Chula Vista secured a portion of the former Sears building at the Chula Vista Center to utilize as a Cool Zone for residents.
Tim Farmer, Chula Vista Parks and Recreation administrator said that the Cool Zone will open on July 20 and will remain opened Monday-Friday form 12-5 p.m.. The facility is managed by city staff.
“We’ve lost all of our libraries, and a couple of our recreation centers we’re used as Cool Zones,” said Farmer. “Since all of those sites are closed and non-staffed due to COVIID-19 closures we still wanted to be able to provide this service to the community.”
Visitors to the Chula Vista Cool Zone, located at 565 Broadway, are required to wear a face covering while in the Cool Zone and may bring one personal bag. Seating is available and movies are shown. Each area will be disinfected between uses. Water is allowed, but no food, no smoking, and no pets. Each visitor will receive a temperature screening prior to entrance and will be advised to maintain six feet social distancing from those who are not members of their household.
Farmer said since the Sears building was already contracted to be open for COVID-19 testing, the City’s management teamed procured another section of the facility to operate the Cool Zone.
Farmer said at this time they are not looking for alternative.
“Right now, we are having a rough time staffing all of the services that we are trying to continue to serve the community with food distribution and delivery, so we are just looking at being at the Sears building for now,” said Farmer.
Naomi Chavez, San Diego County’s Aging and Independence Services deputy director said that at this time there are seven Cool Zones available to the public. The closest one to Chula Vista is in Spring Valley.
“With everything changing, we work closely with the County Parks and Recreation and the San Diego County Library to reassess and evaluate the situation,” said Chavez.
Chavez said that although they are continuously evaluating, it also looks strongly at the public health order guidance.
“The public health guidelines still continue to say that the best thing for our seniors to do is to stay at home. That has not changed since the state of emergency was declared locally,” said Chavez.
Aging and Independent Services has a fan give away program, a component of the Cool Zone program. To qualify, seniors cannot have access to air conditioning at their home or building, income requirements and participants should not have already utilized the program over the previous two years. Chavez said this is a free service, fans are shipped directly to seniors and that this program has seen an increased demand since last year. To learn more about the fan program or to request a fan, call Aging & Independence Services at (800) 339-4661.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Chula Vista Parks and Recreation administrator Tim Farmer as Tim Sarmer. The Star-News regrets the error.
