The Port of San Diego just opened its largest park, a vital part of the emerging Chula Vista waterfront.
Port Commissioners and city officials unveiled Wednesday the 39-acre Sweetwater Park, located just west of Interstate 5 and north of the soon-to-open Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center.
“Sweetwater Park provides access to a unique and historic area for all residents and visitors of the bayfront,” Board Chair Danielle Moore said in a statement. “We can’t wait for the community to come explore and experience this open space. Every element and feature of this park is designed to highlight the natural habitat, and to provide access to, and appreciation of this land.”
The park’s meadow-like environment was intentionally designed to accentuate the adjacent Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. It offers meadows and specialty gardens with native plants, shrubs and groundcover intended to protect the local wildlife.
The park features nature playgrounds, dunes, restrooms, seating and picnic areas with uninterrupted views of the San Diego Bay. It also has more than two miles of pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths of varied surfaces and nearly 220 parking spaces.
Unmissable is the 25-foot-tall sculpture of a wishbone – the forked bone found in birds. Titled “Rigors of Flight” by artist Roberto Salas, the piece is a nod to the bayfront’s role as a stopping point for migratory birds. There are also Kumeyaay signage and areas dedicated to bird watching.
Sweetwater Park is integral to the master plan to transform the Chula Vista waterfront from a mostly vacant, industrial area to a tourism and recreational destination. Its opening comes ahead of the Gaylord Pacific’s scheduled opening next month and the nearby Amara Bay project, which will bring 1,500 residential condos and retail and office space.
In a statement Wednesday, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann said the new park “is a significant project in creating a Chula Vista Bayfront for the people.”
The nearly $20 million recreational project was largely funded through a joint development agreement with Chula Vista, the Port and RIDA Development. The agreement, which was created to build the neighboring Gaylord Pacific, specified that the park be completed before the resort opens.
A federal program also covered $5 million in grant funding for the park.
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