Chula Vista’s Loma Verde Recreation Center is about to get a new look.
The nearly 50-year-old center was built in 1971 and, after years of minor fixes and improvements, has been slated for a complete rebuild.
The redesigned space will initially be funded by Measure P – a 10-year half-cent sales tax that was approved by voters in 2016 – which set aside $3 million for recreation and senior center rehabilitation starting in the 2017-18 fiscal year.
The city approved $1.5 million of those funds to initially go toward the recreation center, as part of the 2018-19 capital improvements budget.
Chula Vista Housing Manager Leilani Hines is in charge of public outreach for the project and said that after years of minor improvements, it was time to make a substantial change.
“It became clearer to city staff that really what we were doing was just more Band-Aids to the facility,” Hines said. “It really needed a much greater overhaul than repairs here and there and rehab.”
Currently, the center – located in southwest Chula Vista – offers a space for community events, a game room, a kitchen and a variety of after-school activities and classes including, among others, gymnastics, ballet, martial arts and Zumba.
“This is the center for the community,” Hines said. “It really should be and I think the trend is more seeing these community centers being the hub of the recreational and social area of the city.”
The city has conducted outreach already — including releasing an online public survey and hosting a town forum at the South Chula Vista Library on May 22 — and is holding a community meeting on July 17 to get additional input prior to moving forward.
“It’s not my place at city hall to decide what’s best for that community, the community needs to decide what’s best for them,” Hines said. “They need to be able to identify what their own needs are, what their own aspirations are for themselves.”
The project is currently in what is being called the master plan and concept phase, and will move on to a four-to-nine month funding phase in July.
Hines said that in addition to the money set aside by Measure P, the city is looking into applying for grants as a way to fund the remainder of the project.
Phase three, design, is expected to take 12 months before a final 12-18 month construction phase completes the project.
Karina Craig, the center’s manager and aquatics supervisor, said she is “incredibly excited,” for it to get a new look.
“I have been coming to this community center since I was a child. So 30 years ago I was at this very facility,” Craig said. “For me, being involved in this process and seeing the city backing this project, it’s so exciting and I’m so thankful that I’m part of it.”
Craig, who has worked at the center for 20 years, said it lacks a modern feel, and could benefit from the inclusion of a full-sized indoor basketball gym. She also suggested that the pool and main complex be brought together to operate in unison.
“Right now we kind of function as two separate entities,” she said. “There’s an office for the rec side and then an office for the pool side. The idea would have it to be like one centrally located office area that people walk through.”
