CHULA VISTA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) – Harborside Park in Chula Vista is set to reopen to the public on Dec. 16, after being closed for more than two years due to an increase in crime and homeless encampments.
Officials made the announcement and provided members of the public with an update on reopening plans during a meeting at Harborside Elementary School Tuesday night.
“The goal of the new construction is to make sure the park is clean and safe. We’re adding a park ranger station. We’re adding new lighting. We’re adding new fencing,” according to Chula Vista Mayor John McCann.
McCann said the $1.1 million taxpayer funded project will feature permanent fencing and the park will only be accessible certain hours of the day. Hours of operation Monday-Thursday will be 3 p.m.- 7 p.m., Friday 2 p.m.- 7 p.m. and weekends 10 a.m.- 7 p.m.
There are also security cameras, and some trees were cleared to create high visibility. The park will reopen in phases with the first bringing a walking trail, multi-purpose grass area, skate park, and basketball courts. A mini-pitch soccer field is also in the works courtesy of the U.S. Soccer Federation, and there’s space for future phases.
Sixteen-year-old Gabriel Davalos, who attended the meeting with his mother and other members of Chula Vista National League, said he is hoping for more baseball fields, after losing a couple at Harborside Elementary School to parking lots for staff.
“It was really hard to have games at our actual field so we’d have to go to other fields to have our games which would be really stressful,” according to Davalos.
The organization’s president, Jeremy Rodriguez, is also pushing for the same cause and cited the growth they’ve seen.
“Our fall ball season, this season, we had 120 kids sign up which fall ball technically you get less kids due to travel ball, but we seem to double in numbers,” Rodriguez said.
He added that he’s hopeful the city will partner with them moving forward.
“There’s other surrounding leagues here in Chula Vista and they all have their fields,” Rodriguez said.
City officials announced that they expect the park to hold its official reopening on Dec. 16 at 3:30 p.m. They’re still working on creating new recreation programming and want to continue to hear from the public to decide what that will look like.
