On Dec. 12, Chula Vista City Council came to consensus on reopening Harborside Park which has been closed since its temporary closure on Aug. 31, 2022, due to increased homeless encampments and illegal activities that escalated during the COVID pandemic.
City staff will come back to Council on Jan. 9, with updated recommendations for reopening the park for a final vote.
On May 16, 2023, city staff presented an update on community outreach efforts, including a proposal for a three-phased plan to reopen Harborside Park. Phase one consisted of the following improvements to reopen the entire park facility. Improvements would include permanent fencing; turf replacement and repair to the irrigation system, basketball court resurfacing, lighting and security camera repairs, restroom facility repairs; general clean-up, removal of the amphitheater and landscape at the southern portion of the site, and purchase and installation of a ranger station that would be manned during future park opening hours. The total projected costs for Phase 1 were approximately $900,000, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
That plan was rejected by Council, with only Mayor John McCann voting to reopen the park. Council member Andrea Cardenas made an alternative motion for staff to research joint use agreements with the school district, and to research options of analyzing surplus land while the park remains accessible to the community.
Director of Development Services Laura Black provided two alternatives of providing housing units with an indoor recreational center at the site.
Black said that staff reevaluated the costs of reopening the park and said there are sufficient funds in Measure P to cover the current costs of $1.1 million. She said the timeline to process phase one is approximately eight months. Plans now are that the park will be open from dawn to dusk.
McCann said Harborside Park needs to be reopened and that Harborside families and their children deserve to have their park back.
“Harborside Park is not surplus land,” he said. “The Harborside community is deficient in park land. I think there are serious concerns about using the Surplus Land Act because of that deficiency. I support the original plan that we had that will keep families safe and includes enhanced security measures.”
McCann said if the original plan would have been approved, the park would be close to reopening now.
“I think that there are some opportunities to have it open and to do it now,” he said. “And then, we can look at potentially adding a recreation center later. But the bottom line is let us get it open now to be able to reactivate and allow the Harborside community to have the park.”
Cardenas said that after many meetings with businesses, community members and groups she is in favor of reopening the park but would like a recreation center added to the park later. She said she disagreed with the mayor that the primary issues were to address the problematic issues in the community.
“The main concern is to work on fixing the issues we have going on there with the encampments,” she said. “I think finding a more aggressive way to ensure that it is not only safe at the park within the walls of the fencing, but that it really creates safe access so our community can come in and out of the park. It has become such a terrible [place] for the people who are living there, for the folks that are working there, and have businesses there.”
Council member Jose Preciado agreed with reopening the park and recognized the overwhelming issue of the unhoused, and that the city is working around the laws to create a better situation.
“I want to report that the city manager and I met with Supervisor Nora Vargas today,” he said. “We have an agreement that we will collaborate to see what we can do to mitigate the impacts that are connected with the facilities that are there.”
Council member Carolina Chavez said she fully supports reopening the park.
“Since our last consideration of this item we have had overwhelming feedback from the public in keeping Harborside Park open. And we have heard you,” she said.
Chavez asked the city manager how much money the city has invested in parks in the city over the current year and the upcoming year.
City Manager Maria Kachadoorian said the city invested about $21 million in the rebuilding of the Lome Verde Recreation Center, a little over a million dollars at Lauderbach Park, is moving forward with improvements to Patty Davis Park, Eucalyptus Park, and with Harborside Park, overall, the city is investing around $40 million in parks on the west side of Chula Vista.
“That is important information for the public as well,” said Chavez. “It is a vital part of our major discussion in the city. We do want children to have a park. We do want children to have open space. We do want the community to be able to use this park in a safe manner.
We are looking at the park opening in November next year. I have one suggestion. I would recommend that when we do open the park, maybe waiving the fees at this park as we have other people who talked about this at meeting when they organize soccer, baseball, football.”
Kachadoorian said they can come back with those recommendations, adding that the public activating the park is the only way the park will succeed.
Council member Alonso Gonzalez said he agreed with opening the park and said it could be a “blessing in disguise” that the delay in opening the park gives them the opportunity to explore the encampment ordinance that may empower the police department and hot team to keep the park free from encampment.
