San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
REMAINING TENANTS DIDN’T PAY ANY RENT
Some 300 to 400 bats had to be relocated from new Aztec Stadium site
Countless critters and various varmints have made SDCCU Stadium their home through the years.
There was the family of skunks that famously emerged one night in 1990 when the Padres ground crew began to unroll the tarp to cover the field during a rare rain delay.
Feral cats have had the run of the place as long as anyone can remember.
The less said the better about the cockroaches crouched in the facility’s darkest corners.
The skunks were relocated along the San Diego River. The cats always had an exit plan. And the cockroaches? Don’t worry. They are legendary for adapting and overcoming anything.
There was one animal in particular that San Diego State officials were required to handle with
care before dismantling SDCCU Stadium as Aztec Stadium rises in its shadow. Bats.
The Mexican free-tailed bat, to be specific.
Longtime Padres fans will recall seeing bats swoop in on occasion during night games to feed on the moths drawn to the stadium lights.
Although the Padres packed up their bats and moved downtown after the 2003 season, the Mexican free-tailed bats continued to make themselves at home the past two decades.
There were several references to the bats in SDSU Mission Valley’s 1,262-page environmental impact report prepared by Dudek, the environmental consultant being used by the university.
“The EIR laid out a pretty clear process of how we had to make sure the bats were protected and safe in regards to the construction,” said Gina Jacobs, SDSU’S associate vice president for Mission Valley development.
Mark Lathram, an environmental compliance manager with Dudek, said biologists began walking the stadium grounds in September to make observations.
He said they found the bats — an estimated 300-400 of them — had taken up residence on the south side of the stadium in the area outside the upper deck seats.
“So they would take up residence on the outside of the stadium in these little crevices in between where the concrete joints come together,” Lathram said. “Small little crevices. We think they like the warmth there and the fact it was elevated and protected.”
The location is just a short distance away from the area of the San Diego River that runs parallel to the trolley tracks on the property’s southern border.
“The bats sleep during the day and at night they go out and forage, looking for food,” Lathram said. “Typically, it’s centered around a water body, so a river is a perfect kind of foraging area for them.”
After identifying where the “bat roosts” were at the stadium, the next task was relocating them.
“We worked with the university to install replacement roosts (more commonly referred to as bat houses),” Lathram said. “We procured eight bats houses and installed them where we thought the bats would likely go at night, basically placed between the existing roost and the San Diego River, along the river area.
“They try to mimic the same conditions they’re looking for. They’re looking for warmth and a space they can group together.”
In November, biologists again monitored the bat activity and the process of getting them to relocate took place.
“The bats typically leave right around sunset,” Lathram said. “They will all exit. Then we had our biologists look up into the crevices with a flashlight and confirm that the bats were gone.
“Once we confirmed they were gone, we used some expanding spray foam that we would spray into the crevices.”
The foam would expand, filling the area where the bats roosted to prevent them from returning.
“We methodically did it for about a week, going section by section to get the bats to leave,” Lathram said. “By the end of the week, they weren’t coming back anymore. They had found other places to go.”
The time frame for getting the bats relocated because the EIR required that “roost exclusion must only occur during the time when bats are most active (early spring or fall) to increase the potential to exclude all bats from roosts and avoid the maternity roosting season, thereby minimizing the potential for a significant impact to occur.”
Said Jacobs: “Based on everything they did in terms of sealing up those areas and putting in the bat houses, it seems like it was a success. We haven’t seen any new bat roosts in there.”
Demolition in progress
Those driving past the property on Interstate 15 notice that demolition of SDCCU Stadium is well underway, and it has been for
nearly a month now.
Most of the activity has been focused on the eastern side, where the main scoreboard is located.
The seating that was part of the stadium’s $80 million expansion prior to the 1998 Super Bowl has been the first area demolished, with three levels that include perhaps a dozen sections each brought to the ground.
It affords passersby to peer directly into the stadium for the first time in more than two decades.
Some residents said they heard a loud crash when the SDCCU marquee was pulled from the top of the scoreboard.
Streams of water more commonly associated with firefighting are sprayed during the demo work to keep dust to a minimum.
Work extends in both directions from the scoreboard during demo work that is expected to last into the spring.
Vertical visual at stadium
After months and months of dirt being pushed around, visual progress is evident with vertical construction well underway at Aztec Stadium.
The new construction is just northwest of SDCCU Stadium in what was the parking lot for the old stadium.
Most of the activity is on the west side of the new stadium, where the home seating and suites, locker rooms and other main indoor features of the facility will be located.
While the Aztecs were hosting Colorado State at Carson’s Dignity Health Sports Park on Dec. 5, the first pour took place at SDSU Mission Valley.
There were 230 cement trucks delivering 2,300 cubic yards of concrete for the foundation of the $310 million stadium.
The area of the actual football field is covered with construction vehicles.
A partial bowl formation is evident with dirt built up on the north and east of the field area.
Over the next two months, “You’ll see the stadia start to take shape,” said Derek Grice, SDSU’S executive associate athletic director for Mission Valley development.