Remember the old Hall Property greenhouses, west of the 5 freeway in Cardiff (between Birmingham and Santa Fe Drive)? The one that's been demolished and cleared for a new massive 44 acre park for the past 2 years? The one where it's been in a legal battle because of neighbors, park design, environmental impact reports, etc? The one that's now cleverly named 'Encinitas Community Park' (I guess such witty names as Golden Gate Park, Balboa Park, and Central Park were already taken). Seems as though city council finally got over the legal wrangling and now we don't have enough money to build it. Looks like we now have some financial woes for a park that's been in the works for over 10 years. Currently there is $9.8 million set aside for the project but that's about 1/2 of what is needed to complete the project. Good news is that until the city council gets bids from construction companies, it may be cheaper than that. Bad news is that it may be more expensive than that. When completed, it's going to be a great park. Plans have a few sports fields, a skate park, dog area, walking trails, kid's play structures, and swimming pool. To save money, some of the areas may be built in phases (i.e. being built when there's money available) which means probably the pool, skate park, and dog park are low on the totem pole. It's unfortunate it's taken this long to get everything finally approved- and now we're waiting on funds. You know my take- I like smart growth. It's great to have land in it's natural environment (vs. putting a Wal Mart up) but now that the land has been cleared and it's full of weeds, blowing trash, and piles of dirt, it's an eyesore. Hopefully we'll find a solution fast so we can get some landscaping in there. Best case would be a couple years before it's 100% ready to use.
