The Hall Property Park, err, Encinitas Community Park west of the 5 freeway near Birmingham Road in Cardiff is almost completed. It's so close to being done I can almost smell the fresh cut grass. Actually, the park will be done soon but we have to wait a few months for the grass to grow. Can't put new sod in then have 2,000 youth soccer players a week tear it up. If you've been reading the North County Surf blog the past few years, you'll remember the initial design had a pool in the plans but it was going to cost too much to maintain (top image above). So the new design got the sign off a couple years ago (2nd image above) and they broke ground finally. What we have now is a $36 million dollar park on 44 acres that should be open by summer as reported by the San Diego Union Tribune earlier this month.
- Encinitas Community Park is 44 acres. The park is surrounded by a landscape buffer and includes a meandering dry creek with boulders, dense landscaping, decomposed granite pathway and al-coves with benches. The park also includes:
o Paved walking paths and bench areas located throughout the park
o Five paved parking lots (418 spaces) distributed across the park to allow parking for every element.
o Two restroom buildings located in the northwestern and south-east areas of the park.
o A skate park totaling 13,000 square feet, located in the northern area of the park. The design includes a skate bowl as well as an urban plaza area with specially designed planters, ramps and platform areas.
o A dog park totaling over 2 acres located in the western area of the park. The design includes a large turf area, dense perimeter landscaping, a show circle and an area for shy dogs and small dogs.
o One soccer field and three multi-use fields that include two base-ball and one softball field. There are also plenty of open turf areas to allow for unrestricted play.
Project cost
- $19.3 million construction cost
- $17.2 million acquisition cost
- Total of $36.5 million
And if you missed the link above to the Union Tribune article, here's the scoop:
Construction on the sprawling and long-awaited Encinitas Community Park is nearly done, but people won’t be able to play on its sports fields, explore its playground or cruise its skate park until fall. “I’m waiting for the grass to grow,” Lisa Rudloff, the city’s parks and recreation director, said Wednesday as she described why they’re holding off for months on having a grand opening, though much of the construction activity is nearly done. Work on the nearly $20 million park (which actually is $36.5 million based on the city's facts above), which covers 44 acres just west of Interstate 5 and just south of Santa Fe Drive, is weeks ahead of schedule, city officials said. The access roadways and parking lots are paved, the light poles installed, and the baseball backstops and benches are in place. All that’s missing is the turf. Soil temperatures are too cool in the winter months to install turf, so planting must wait until spring arrives and the soil warms, according to city officials. A several-month grow-in period is then required. Encinitas purchased the property more than a decade ago, and its development plans have been contentious over the years, with neighboring property owners complaining that the scope of the project was a bad fit for their Cardiff-area neighborhood.
But youth and adult sports leagues and other residents have lobbied for years to get the park built, saying it would help meet the growing need for playing fields and recreational space in the city.
The park work, which began in September 2012, includes a soccer field, three multiuse fields, a 2-acre dog park, a 13,000-square-foot skate park, five paved parking lots and two restroom buildings.
The project looks so close to completion that people have started sneaking in. “They had to cover the playground because people were already using it,” Rudloff said, adding that the skate park also had to be disguised to prevent unwanted activity. Those problems are the contractor’s responsibility — the city will won’t take over control of the place until it’s deemed ready to use, Rudloff said.
Meanwhile, the city and the contractor — USS Cal Builders — are continuing to negotiate with the state Regional Water Quality Control Board, hoping to reduce a $430,000 fine. They’re facing that fine for twice letting sediment-filled stormwater flow off the park construction site and into San Elijo Lagoon last winter. Rebecca Stewart, a sanitary engineering associate with the state agency, said Thursday that the state expects to meet again with the city and the contractor’s legal representatives in late March. It will be several months before the state board will likely consider the issue, she said.
“It’s a slow process, unfortunately,” she added, saying that just bringing all the different parties together for settlement conference meetings is a challenge.
So there you have it. After years of delay and construction, the 18th park in Encinitas is about to be opened. Officially for any patient skateboarders left out there.
