$47.5M HARBOR PARK PLAN WINS PERMIT FROM PORT
Chula Vista bayfront venue is meant as a bustling, beachy attraction for locals, visitors
“... Harbor Park is really where we envision visitors and Chula Vista residents spending a lot of their time on the Chula Vista Bayfront.”
Harbor Park, a $47.5 million coastal attraction that includes 25 acres of public beach and park land in the South Bay, is now on track to break ground in 2023.
Tuesday, Port of San Diego commissioners unanimously approved a coastal development permit for the park. It is a central public-access and tourist-drawing component of the reimagined shoreline crafted in what’s known as the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan.
The action sets in motion a park development timeline tied to construction of the Gaylord Pacific Resort Hotel and Convention Center. It is expected to parallel, in part, construction of a $12 million sister park known as Sweetwater Park. Together, the two public outdoor venues constitute 46 acres of new or improved waterfront park space for locals and visitors.
Sandwiched between Marine
Group Boat Works and the existing fishing pier, and steps away from the future resort, Harbor Park is meant as a bustling, beachy attraction where people can bike or walk on a wide promenade, rent water equipment, and picnic or play on one of two natural turf lawns.
The park will be built in phases with an initial $19.5 million phase expected to be completed by early 2024.
Harbor Park’s first phase includes a portion of the promenade, north and south lawns, a much-improved 3.3-acre beach with terraced headlands, a boat ramp, two meadows, 216 parking spaces and a promontory with views of downtown San Diego and the Coronado Bridge. A single-story structure with restrooms, outdoor showers, drinking fountains and park equipment rentals is planned for the promontory at the north end of the site.
Future phases will finish the promenade, as well as introduce a cafe, pier, fountain, play area and a number of other improvements. Development is, however, dependent on securing additional financing.
Harbor Park is considered a key
Ann Moore
Port of San Diego chair
hours after we receive that vaccine, we’ll be in those facilities.”
More than 90 percent of skilled nursing facilities in California have signed up for the program — including several in San Diego, such as Reo Vista Healthcare, La Mesa Healthcare Center and San Diego Post-Acute Center. In total, CVS could vaccinate up to 265,000 skilled nursing patients and staff members throughout the Golden State, according to Monica Prinzing, a CVS spokeswoman.
This could all happen soon. The company’s chief medical officer, Dr. Troy
Brennan, has said vaccinations could begin as early as Tuesday. It’s less clear when you’d be able to get a vaccine at your local CVS or Walgreens, but that’s probably still months away. San Diego County public health officer Dr. Wilma Wooten has said a COVID-19 vaccine likely won’t be widely available until around March or April.
CVS has gotten considerable interest in the openings; traffic on its careers website ( jobs.cvshealth.com) has more than tripled, according to Jeffrey Lackey, vice president of talent acquisition.
There’s likely a large talent pool to draw from in San Diego. A 2020 report by biotech trade group Biocom ranked California’s academic institutes by the number of graduates they produced in the 2018-19 academic year in 75 different life science fields. UC San Diego, which has its own pharmacy school, topped the list with nearly 2,000 graduates.
Lackey has a direct message to those considering applying.
“It’s very simple: You want to help your fellow people and the individuals in your community to be vaccinated from this terrible and deadly virus,” Melo said. “I can’t make it any more simple than that.