20 years later, Chula Vista’s Lower Sweetwater park plan inches forward

A decadeslong vision for a park in northwest Chula Vista is one step closer to reality.

City council members unanimously voted last month to purchase two parcels on First Avenue that would allow public access and construction of what officials are calling the Lower Sweetwater Community Park. Officials plan to build a nearly 20-acre park near the intersection of Interstate 805 and State Route 54, a site that has been identified for a park since 2005.

The land has been vacant for most of the city’s history, and once was divided by the Sweetwater River until it was realigned and freeways were constructed.

Purchasing the additional parcels costs $375,000 and is covered by funding from the Sunbow Park Benefit Fee Fund, a money pool for Chula Vista park development and acquisition.

It’s among  the city’s latest moves to enhance and add parks in Chula Vista. For the first time in nearly two decades, staff are planning to build a park on the west side of the city, at Oxford Street and Fourth Avenue. Officials also are collecting feedback to upgrade Rohr Park in Bonita.

Low-income neighborhoods across Chula Vista have 74% less park space compared to high-income areas, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land. The Lower Sweetwater site is just north of what the nonprofit has marked as high priority areas for new parks, a rank calculated by looking at rates of mental health, population and physical inactivity within the area.

Now the park is in the early designing stages and could include a dog park, multipurpose fields and gathering space. Community members will soon be invited to provide public input, through online surveys and in-person meetings, to determine which amenities to prioritized.

The city is “exploring funding opportunities,” according to a staff report. It also has partnered with Landify, a private company that specializes in the disposal and upcycling of soil, to potentially create a revenue stream that would fund construction of new parks. City staff and Landify have been evaluating the site since 2023.

“It seems like just a perfect place to put a park,” Mayor John McCann said of the site during a 2023 council meeting, “to be able to work with the neighbors and the community to make it happen, and do it in a way that is fiscally responsible for this city.”

The City Council has final approval over the park plans.