Coronado is expected to receive an approximate $6 million windfall from the Port of San Diego this year – surplus money set aside for public improvements such as road upgrades, parks and new facilities.
The district, which manages 34 miles of waterfront on San Diego Bay, annually distributes extra funds back to five member cities through a portion of its budget known as the Capital Improvement Program.
At an Oct. 15 City Council meeting, municipal staffers asked Coronado’s elected leaders for feedback on how to best use that money.
Tony Winney, the assistant city manager, presented a needs analysis to the council, recommending Glorietta Bay Park as a top priority.
The park, located just south of the Coronado Community Center, is one of the oldest in the city. It has not been updated since 1986.
Improvements to the park would include lifted sidewalks, new landscaping, a new restroom, an inclusive playground, new irrigation, expanded boat ramps and upgrades to the cottage building. Winney said the repairs have an estimated cost of $7.4 million.
Also on the staff’s list of potential projects:
- Replacing the turf overlaying the Transbay Pump Station at the ferry landing – a $200,000 project to reduce damaging water intrusion.
- Addressing erosion on the shoreline at Grand Caribe Shoreline Park, which is in need of a landscaping design plan. The cost of erosion management is not known at this time, according to the staff report presented on Oct. 15.
- Upgrades at Tideland Park, which requires new landscaping, new restrooms, irrigation, expanded exercise stations and repaired public art pieces, all for a cost of $1.7 million.
Port Chairman Frank Urtasun clarified for the council that it is okay if cities bring forward priorities that exceed $6 million. The port has the ability to look for additional grant funding or table projects until they receive further allocations.
“I wouldn’t get too caught up in the numbers today folks, because those numbers are going to change and I don’t want to set false expectations for you,” Urtasun said, referring to the fact that the estimates for each individual project may change, and in that case, they will assess what projects will fit within the total budget.
With that, the council proceeded with deliberations to determine one of two options: whether to give blanket approval for updating Glorietta Bay Park, or to piecemeal project priorities from the list of needs.
In a discussion, all of the council members placed an emphasis on improvements for Glorietta Bay Park, though they had differing views on whether the whole project should be the first priority, or if other individual issues should be resolved ahead of that.
“What I’ve heard from the council is yes, we want to sink everything into Glorietta Bay Park,” Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey said, “also, Tidelands Park bathrooms are a priority and then the Transbay turf replacement is also a priority… And what I recognize is that the transbay turf project is a $200,000 project … So to me, we shouldn’t let everything else in Glorietta Bay Park take priority over a $200,000 project that would help our infrastructure.”
After more back-and-forth deliberation, Council Member John Duncan made a motion to put the Glorietta Bay bathroom and Tidelands Park bathroom at the top of the list, followed by the Transbay turf replacement project, and then an update to the exercise station at Tidelands Park. The rest of the funding after that would be allocated to everything else at Glorietta Bay Park.
The motion passed 4-1 with Council Member Carrie Downey being the only council member who voted against it.
Downey said that for simplicity and cohesion, she thinks it makes the most sense to drop all of the funding into one project.
Coronado’s port commissioner, Urtasun, will present the city’s priority list to the district’s full board. It will be reviewed by district staff before a financial analysis is completed. At that point, the city staff and district staff will refine the requests.
