The long-neglected San Diego River may simply be a regional charm with recreational amenities and riverside restaurants under a new investment plan recently approved by county and city officials.
Between $380 million and $750 million would be spent on new parks, motorcycle bridges and flood prevention projects that they hope will make sector investment along the 52-mile river more likely.
Projects can also reduce congestion and greenhouse fuel emissions by creating bike and pedestrian paths on both sides of the river, which stretches from Julian to Lakeside, Santee, El Cajon, Grantville, Mission Valley and Ocean Beach.
County and city officials say they are contemplating innovations along the river with a positive effect on similar projects like the Belt Line in Atlanta, the High Line in New York City or the San Antonio River Walk.
Cash for the improvements would come from a new source of state investment that doesn’t require a tax backlog and wouldn’t take away the money the county and town spend on firefighting, libraries or other key services.
County and city officials said they plan to create advanced infrastructure investment districts that would get cash on a parcel less than a mile from the river and saw asset taxes pile up over the next forty-five years.
Both government agencies may simply wait for those increases, called tax increases, to be collected over time. But officials say they prefer to get several million in quick money by promoting bonuses opposed to the expected increase.
This money would particularly boost slow and ongoing efforts toward the river, where a master plan already calls for 130 miles of trails and parks once both sides of the waterway and adjacent spaces are combined.
“Our goal is to do something big and ambitious with this plan,” said Councilman Raul Campillo, who led the new collaboration on the city side. “Every big city that has a river has used it as an asset. “
While Campillo said public investment will bring more shoals, transparent weeds and help to eliminate invasive species along the river, he said the effect on personal investment may be even greater. To be there, the owners will take their own steps,” he said.
Instead of developers directing advertising and residential projects with their backs to the river, new projects can simply look at the river and treat it as a convenience, he said.
An example may simply be the long-term redevelopment of the Fashion Valley Mall, which may just be a river-focused advertising project.
County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who led the county side effort, said progress on the river has been slow because there hasn’t been a committed investment flow.
A detailed master plan has been in place since 2013 and a comprehensive trail plan along the river ended in 2020.
“It’s not for lack of seeing the track, and it’s not for lack of seeing the goal. At this point, it’s a committed and sustained lack of funding,” Fletcher said. “In the absence of a genuine catalyst to replace the trajectory, it may take a few other hundred years to complete. “
The new city-county collaboration comes with momentum by improving the already strong river.
San Diego State University will build a giant river park as part of its new western campus at the former Qualcomm Stadium. And the land will soon empty into an 18-acre river park with an educational center between Qualcomm Way and Interstate 805.
But county officials estimate that between $271 million and $668 million is to complete the long-term vision of the river and its adjacent trails. Most of this amount, between $200 million and $488 million, would be used to acquire land from personal owners.
Only about 50 miles, about 40%, of the planned network along the river have been completed.
A representative hired through the county last year explored various tactics to generate enough cash to temporarily complete the park, adding a sales tax increase and a general legal liability bond that would increase regional asset taxes.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last month in favor of an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District, or EIFD, instead. But the vote made clear that the county would only go ahead with an EIFD if the city did the same.
On Thursday, the city council’s environment commission unanimously approved the continuation of an EIFD.
“County government doesn’t deserve to build it alone, city government doesn’t deserve to build it alone, it deserves to be a collaborative effort, and that’s where I see the super price tag of an EIFD,” Fletcher said.
Officials from either agency said another detail of their partnership would be a new deal to fight homeless encampments along the river that can keep visitors away despite new amenities.
“The river is a commodity right now,” said Dike Anyiwo, president of the Midway Community Planning Group, which focuses on the western end of the river near the sports stadium and Ocean Beach.
Anyiwo said many other people have no idea that the river passes through the Midway district, and said other people who know the river are afraid to approach it because of homeless encampments.
There are two compelling reasons for creating an EIFD at the west end of the river, he said: the need for greater transportation features in the Midway domain and the fact that so many new advances planned there can lead to significant tax increases.
Major housing projects and a new stadium and entertainment district are expected to be built in it and other nearby projects will be stimulated.
New motorcycle trails, pedestrian bridges and other infrastructure along the river can complement the city’s new mobility network.
“Right now, the San Diego River is the barrier to active transportation in San Diego,” said Will Rhatigan, advocacy director for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition.
He said more bridges over the river are needed, noting that existing bridges create a harmful combination as they are also open to cars and lack motorcycle lanes.
River improvement can also link neighborhoods now divided across highways by connecting them to new trails and roads, said County Manager Terra Lawson-Remer.
“I never understood why our elected officials didn’t invest in the river; It’s beautiful and goes through the center of our community,” he said. “Everyone bikes, runs, walks and plays in the rivers that run through the center of our community. “other cities. We may do much better in San Diego.
County officials said Santee network leaders have spoken out in favor of the new collaboration, but Santee is unlikely to create its own EIFD as the city has completed most of the planned projects along the river.
EIFDs are known as “light redevelopment” because they were created by state lawmakers in 2015 to update redevelopment agencies, which were abolished in 2012.
An EIFD is based on a tax construction, just like a redevelopment agency, but an EIFD may keep a smaller portion of the construction. School districts, which lost construction to asset taxes to redevelopment agencies, can keep construction under the EIFD Act.
About two dozen EIFDs have been created throughout California, and one created through San Diego in Otay Mesa was added. Additional EIFDs for the redevelopment of Seaport Village and projects near the sports stadium were recently discussed.
Get Essential San Diego, Monday through Friday mornings
Get the top Union-Tribune headlines in your inbox Monday through Friday mornings, adding the most sensitive news, local, sports, commercial, entertainment and opinion.
You may get promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
To follow
Privacy PolicyTerms of UseSubscribe to our newsletters
To follow