Groundbreaking ceremonies were held May 30 to mark the start of construction on the second phase of the $16.9 million NTC Park at Liberty Station in Point Loma. The 46-acre public park is part of the redevelopment of the former Naval Training Center in partnership between the Corky McMillin Cos. and the city’s redevelopment agency.
Yet amid the platitudes, optimistic speeches and self-congratulations of the featured guests that Friday, some community members have been left wondering if the park will emerge looking like the one they were promised and whether the funding for one of its central features ” the only publicly funded swimming pool in District 2 ” will materialize.
Liberty Station homeowners who opted to buy in the development are subject to additional property taxes that average in the thousands per year per parcel, according to a recent article in the San Diego Union-Tribune. The additional taxes are supposed to pay for improvements at Liberty Station ” including NTC Park and, in Phase II, an aquatic center with several pools.
Now as Phase II construction begins, questions about the fate of the planned pools and the status of their funding are being raised, making it a hot topic for some in the Point Loma community.
Although there were two pools on the site when it was turned over to McMillin, Julie Cramer, of Families for a Point Loma Swimming Pool, said that neither was suitably sized for common community uses such as swim meets, water polo, diving and synchronized swimming. Those pools ended up in the hands of two private entities ” an athletic club and the Rock Church, she said.
“While Families for a Point Loma Swimming Pool is pleased to see the second phase of NTC Park get underway, we are extremely disappointed that the $466,729 designated to the NTC aquatic center by the City Council in May 2003 is not being made available, as previously approved, to coincide with the second phase of the park construction,” Kramer said.
According to Trish Teves, a spokesperson for the Rock Church, the church intents to scrap refurbishment plans of its pool because it is considered unsuitable for community needs.
The original plans for NTC Park also included a fountain-like water feature that was eliminated from project plans in 2003. Michael Zucchet, the District 2 councilman at the time, proposed that the funding for the fountain be earmarked for the aquatics center during the second phase of construction. The council unanimously approved the proposal, but now that construction is beginning, questions are being raised as to whether those funds have been allotted and whether they will even be available to begin the design of the aquatics center.
The total cost of the center is estimated to be $11 million, according to various sources.
Though no clear answers are emerging as to whether the funds that were supposedly put aside still exist and are now available, current District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer is expressing support for the project.
“I voted to ensure that the planning money remains available for the aquatic center through the redevelopment funds,” Faulconer said in a statement to the Peninsula Beacon. “I want [the aquatics center] built and it’s going to be a partnership between the city and community to make it happen.”
In a telephone interview with Faulconer, the councilman said that on June 5 he held a meeting to discuss the project with representatives of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ office, including the city’s chief operating officer, Jay Goldstone. Although the exact details of what transpired at the meeting were not disclosed, Faulconer said he believes that funding for the planning phase of the aquatic center will be available before the end of the year.
Faulconer joined Sanders, city Park and Recreation Department Director Stacey LoMedico and McMillin executives during the groundbreaking ceremony for NTC Park’s Phase II.
Matt Hervey, of the Hervey Family Fund, has said his family is ready to donate $5 million to $6 million in private money to push the project forward, but published reports said such a contribution might be used more for maintenance than development.
Meanwhile, some within Liberty Station, Point Loma and the other District 2 communities are left to wonder when they will have the public facilities they were promised as part of an agreement that, so far, appears to be a financial boon for McMillin while costing San Diego taxpayers millions of dollars. The unforeseen costs of infrastructure and renovating historical buildings at Liberty Station have been charged to the city, effectively consuming the city’s share of any profits on the project,.
The 361-acre Liberty Station community is part of the former Naval Training Center, one of the military bases included in the federal Base Realignment and Closure Act in 1993.
The installation was turned over to the city for redevelopment, then sold to the city’s redevelopment agency for $8.4 million.
McMillin, a local construction company, was picked to take the lead in redeveloping the former base and bought the right to sell residential properties on the site for $314, subsequently selling them to other entities for $45 million.