Help design Chula Vista’s new bayfront parks

The Port of San Diego will host a series of meetings for the public to weigh in on the design of a pair of waterfront parks in Chula Vista’s Bayfront.

The first meeting is scheduled for Sept. 27 at Chula Vista’s public library downtown.

“We want to create a welcoming, warm environment for visitors with equally important efforts to preserve Chula Vista’s natural resources and protect the waterfront access for future generations,” Port Commissioner Ann Moore told Chula Vista’s City Council while announcing the public meetings Tuesday evening.

Chula Vista’s Bayfront project, which includes a $1 billion hotel and convention center, features two public parks.

The Port of San Diego envisions Harbor Park, which will be located just north of the marinas and wrap around the waterfront, as a large park filled with amenities and enough space for different activities and events. Sweetwater Park, which will be in the north end of the Bayfront, will have an environmental education focus and host family-friendly activities.

The public will have a chance to weigh in on specific amenities, activities, and design features of each park, Moore said.

The Port will host a series of meetings between September 2018 and April 2019.

The Port’s design teams will take input from the first meeting and present proposed designs to the public in a January meeting.

During that second meeting, the public will get another chance to weigh in.

The Port will have another meeting in April to present its final concepts and hopes to submit a coastal development permit application by August.

Apart from telling the council about the upcoming community input meetings, Commissioner Moore also updated Chula Vista on several aspects of the Bayfront project.

The Port is currently finalizing a lease with the developer of a new RV Park. They hope to finish building the park by early 2020.

The $1 billion hotel and convention center is currently in the design phase. The Port anticipates having a coastal development permit before the board within the next few months. That will allow the developers to begin public infrastructure improvements.

Additionally, the Airport Authority pulled out of a lawsuit they had joined against the Port of San Diego.

The two rental car companies that filed the lawsuit, claiming a rental car fee to fund a parking structure for the Bayfront project is illegal, are still in litigation.

“We are in the process of discussing the possibility of settlement with the two remaining rental car companies in the lawsuit right now,” Moore said. “If we cannot reach settlement, we will definitely push forward and we will defend our rental car fee vigorously in court.”

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