Navy Rejects Switch in Its Chula Vista Housing Plan

Navy officials in Washington have rejected a plan proposed by Navy officials here that would substitute existing housing sites for an unspecified portion of a planned 200-unit Navy housing project, a Navy official said.

The once-controversial housing development, which is expected to cost $15.2 million, is scheduled to begin construction in September on a scenic 34.3-acre site at Telegraph Point, said Cmdr. Gene Talmadge, spokesman for the project in San Diego.

Talmadge gave a rough schedule of the construction process, saying the Navy will begin accepting proposals from contractors in late March. The contract will be awarded around May or June, and construction is to begin several months later, he said.

Chula Vista City Planning Director George Krempl said late last year that the Navy housing project was “kind of in a holding pattern” while the Navy examined the city’s real estate market to see if there was any previously built housing that met its criteria. The Navy agreed that, if such housing could be found, the Navy would attempt to purchase it and scale back the Telegraph Point project proportionally.

Talmadge said that his office received proposals concerning existing housing developments between Sept. 12 and Nov. 1. The proposals were then submitted to Washington for evaluation. Talmadge said that the Pentagon sent a written reply in late December saying that the alternative housing was unacceptable. Final confirmation was received by phone on Jan. 6.

The Navy first announced plans to build the housing development in November, 1984. Some Chula Vista residents who lived near the proposed site opposed the project, unhappy at the prospect of suddenly having hundreds of new neighbors and fearing that property values might plunge.

Soon thereafter, a citizens task force was formed that worked closely with the Navy to try to iron out concerns on both sides, including the design of the proposed housing. The development’s appearance was one of the major concerns of residents, who feared that the Navy structures wouldn’t blend in with the rest of the neighborhood. Discussions among the task force, the city and Navy officials resulted in an agreement under which the Navy would attempt to find previously built structures to house the families of personnel.

With the failure of that effort, Mondo Liuag, a spokesman for the citizens’ task force, said that the next step in the process is for his group to review the request for proposal. If the group has further objections, they will be presented to Navy officials before February, when the proposal is due to be presented to the Chula Vista City Council, he said.