A community group interested in designating Chollas Creek as a regional park plans to submit an application to the city of San Diego within the next few months, according to a presentation to the City Council’s Environment Committee on Friday.
The designation would link the creek, its watershed and several individual facilities under one umbrella, which would allow for better coordination and higher visibility to the public, said Leslie Reynolds, the executive director of Groundwork San Diego.
The designation would lift Chollas Creek to the same level as Balboa Park, Mission Bay and Mission Trails, which are popular destinations for residents and visitors. A regional park is required to have distinctive natural, cultural or historical features.
The Chollas Creek watershed — the geographic area the it draws from — extends from La Mesa and Lemon Grove into areas of San Diego that are mostly south of state Route 94.
The waterway runs roughly from the neighborhood of Chollas Creek south to the 94 freeway, and turns south again and follows the southern extension of Interstate 15 before it spills into San Diego Bay at Naval Base San Diego.
Along the route are some of the poorer neighborhoods in the city. Vicki Estrada, a land planner who made the presentation to the council committee, said the proposal would increase park access to youth living in poverty.
She said that when the idea was first broached, around the year 2000, Chollas Creek was a dumping ground, but a series of projects have brought improvements in recent years.
“We should make it a spine of the community,” Estrada said.
She said Groundworks will begin submitting documents to the city’s Planning Department within two or three months.
The process will also include creation of a master plan for the park, which she estimated would take two years and cost around $700,000. She said she hopes the cities of San Diego, La Mesa and Lemon Grove, the county of San Diego, and community organizations will share in funding the plan.
— City News Service
