San Diego officials are conducting public surveys and planning neighborhood workshops to jump-start efforts to create a regional park in southeastern San Diego focused on Chollas Creek.
It won’t be a typical rectangular-shaped regional park like Balboa Park or Mission Bay, and it won’t be a linear regional park like those being created along the San Diego River and Otay River.
Instead, the Chollas Creek Regional Park will be a loose collection of small parks, open space canyons, trails and other recreational amenities spread throughout a roughly 20-square-mile area where the creek and its many tributaries run.
City officials say the park can help reverse decades of neglect that many communities south of Interstate 8 have suffered.
Nearly every neighborhood in the southern part of the city has less parkland than city policies require. And because park space in those areas has often been neglected by the city, it is sometimes ripe for illegal dumping and for homeless encampments.
Progress on the Chollas Creek park has been minimal since Mayor Todd Gloria designated the area a regional park in 2021. This fall’s outreach efforts will help the city create a master plan — a blueprint for how the regional park should evolve in coordinated way.
The master plan, which is scheduled for completion next summer, is also expected to boost the status and reputation of the Chollas Creek area and make it eligible for more funding for recreational amenities.
The park will include parts of City Heights, Encanto, Kensington, Talmadge, Barrio Logan, Greater Golden Hill, North Park, Normal Heights and some surrounding neighborhoods. Its southern edge will be the mouth of Chollas Creek where it enters the bay near Naval Base San Diego.
The Chollas Creek watershed extends a bit eastward into Lemon Grove and La Mesa. City officials say they hope to eventually form partnerships with those cities to expand the park and jointly fund and oversee it.
The master plan will prioritize the restoration of ecological habitats, expanding opportunities to get around by walking and biking, boosting air and water quality and promoting new development to enhance the surrounding neighborhoods.
“For decades, we have heard from San Diegans that they want investments in the Chollas Creek Watershed to realize its full potential,” said City Planning Director Heidi Vonblum. “We are excited to work together with the community to make that happen.”
The city held three community walks last month and is seeking public comment on a preliminary master plan framework. For details, visit sandiego.gov/planning/chollas-creek-master-plan. Send comments to publicspaces@sandiego.gov.
A city spokesperson said community workshops will be scheduled soon.
