Grant to Get Project Flying in Otay Mesa

A $700,000 Department of Commerce grant for development of an industrial park in Brown Field “could be a catalyst for the development of the entire Otay Mesa,” Mayor Roger Hedgecock said Friday.

“The fish are already nibbling at the hook, and I think they’re going to start hitting next year,” Hedgecock said. “There needed to be a start on the Mesa--now we will begin to see the product.”

The project, slated to begin in January, 1986, will improve utility services, bring new roads and prepare industrial lots for lease in the southwestern corner of Brown Field. It is part of an ambitious economic development plan for Otay Mesa that San Diego city officials hope will generate housing for 47,000 people and 70,000 new jobs over the next two decades, alleviating some of the blight in the southeastern part of the city.

A new border crossing was opened near the airfield this year, and plans for a foreign trade zone, an auto raceway and a state prison are in the works. San Diego annexed about 4,000 acres of land adjacent to the airfield earlier this year, in part to assure potential investors that police, fire and other basic services would be provided in the area targeted for development.

“Those issues are now settled,” Hedgecock said. “We will be able to offer interested companies a developable lot beginning in 1987.”

Two “very large multinational corporations” had already expressed interest in setting up assembly operations in Otay Mesa, Hedgecock said, but he declined to name the companies.

There have been no improvements on Brown Field since the city received the land from the federal government after World War II. There are some airport-related businesses on the field now, but “the area is in need of some serious redevelopment and attention,” said the mayor’s policy director, Laurie McKinley.

Hedgecock said he was “pleased” with the pace of progress in Otay Mesa. “This is a 20-year project--the speculators want us to move faster, but nothing is going to happen overnight.”

The land parcels on Brown Field, carved up by several small streets, are too small for industrial use, said Deputy Director of Airports Jerry Groomes, and there is not a clear division between airport and commercial uses of the area. The development project, in addition to bringing better water, sewage and electricity service to the airfield, will replace the current street alignment with a single main road, he said.

“We will be preparing the ground for the companies to come in and put up their own buildings,” Groomes said. “Naturally, we will be trying to attract clean industries that create a lot of jobs.”

The terms of the federal grant from the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration stipulate that the project must be completed within 12 months. Additional funds for the $1.6-million project will be a mix of Federal Revenue Sharing money and Airport Enterprise Fund Reserves.