CHULA VISTA, Calif. — The reopening of Harborside Park is highly anticipated for people living in Chula Vista. The park was closed temporarily more than two years ago over growing concerns of criminal activity.
“Obviously we had an issue with homeless encampments growing, you know, a tremendous rate. We also had overdoses, we had a stabbing, we had a sexual assault, just many many issues that happened that eventually led to the closure of the park,” Chula Vista Police Department Acting Captain Community Engagement Division Ernesto Pinedo said.
On Tuesday, a community meeting was held where Chula Vista City officials gave an update on the reopening of the park.
“Is everybody ready for the date? So we have a date of December 16th,” City of Chula Vista District 4 Councilmember Rachel Morineau said.
In July, city staff shared they expected the park to reopen in early fall. However, the date got pushed back toward the end of the year.
“We wanted to do it right and there's still a lot of construction issues that happen and some other issues, but we wanted to make the number one priority was to make sure that it was a safe park,” Chula Vista Mayor John McCann said.
To reassure the community the park remains open, changes are being made to improve safety in the park.
“It's not going to be open 24 hours a day, so it's going to be controlled because we are trying to mitigate the issues that happened in the past to prevent those issues from happening again moving forward,” Pinedo said.
McCann told CBS 8 that Harborside Park will have a park ranger station, fencing and lighting.
“As Mayor, I want to make sure that we keep it clean and safe and operational for this community for the next decade,” McCann said.
Harborside Park reopening is set for Monday, December 16 at 3:30 p.m.
Initial Park hours:
3:00 p.m. - 7: 00 p.m. | Monday-Thursday
2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. | Friday
10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. | Saturday and Sunday