Changes in the Park : Navy Move to New Hospital Gives City Land Options

High on a plateau between Park Boulevard and Pershing Drive sits a prime piece of real estate known as Inspiration Point, crowned, since 1922, by Navy Hospital, the world’s largest military medical facility.

The sweeping vistas from the front steps of the hospital’s venerable administration center, a longtime San Diego landmark, take in Balboa Park, Coronado, Point Loma, the downtown high-rises and San Diego Bay.

“The first time people see the city and the bay from there, the view takes their breath away,” said Herb Stoecklein, a retired admiral and former commander of the 77-acre Naval hospital base who first served at the hospital in 1944.

But even from the most idyllic lookouts, it is impossible to escape the frenetic pace of activity at the hospital, which is off limits to civilians not working or being cared for there. Over the course of 64 years, 78 buildings comprising 1.37 million square feet in a hodgepodge of architectural styles have been crowded onto the base. Many of them are in disrepair and do not meet earthquake code standards.

There is general agreement that a handful, notably the administration building, the Spanish-style garden courtyards to its rear, the three admirals’ homes and the Naval Chapel, are attractive elements. But even Stoecklein said most “are not much to look at” and described the stark, boxlike main surgical building, constructed in 1968, as an “architectural monstrosity.”

There are beds for 500 patients, and 3,000 outpatients are treated each day. More than 3,000 military and civilian personnel work there, and an additional 1,000 members of the Navy Medical Corps live on the base as they undergo training. The parking lots off Park Boulevard are constantly snarled.

In addition to the medical buildings and laboratories, there are barracks, a library, a helipad, garages, warehouses and recreational facilities. “Literally, it’s a small city, and there’s lots of activity on the base 24 hours a day,” said Lt. Cmdr. Rick Tittmann, a Navy spokesman. “The tight quarters, and the necessity to transfer patients and supplies between the various buildings, makes for a hectic situation. Sometimes we lose sight of what a beautiful piece of land this is.”

For the last six months, a City Council-chosen committee composed of architects, environmentalists, landscape experts, engineers, attorneys and retired military officers has been hard at work on what experts and city officials describe as one of the most important land use decisions facing San Diego in the ‘80s. They hope to devise a plan to enhance the site’s natural beauty by the time the Navy transfers 34 acres of the base back to Balboa Park and city ownership in June, 1988.

The land did not come cheaply to the city--it was given in exchange for a similar-sized plot in nearby Florida Canyon, which was an untouched ecological preserve before Congress condemned it in 1979 so the Navy could build a new, $293-million regional medical center to replace the aging and overcrowded Navy Hospital. The 750-bed facility opens in January. The Navy will retain ownership of the remainder of the base, and about 40 current structures adjacent to the new hospital will remain in use after the transition.

Committee members say they have not forgotten the bitter feelings that accompanied the Navy’s takeover of Florida Canyon, and they believe their charge is to devise a plan so that Balboa Park does not suffer from the land swap.

By April, the committee will forward its recommendations to the city Park and Recreation Board, which will evaluate the plan, as will the Planning Commission and the City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee. A final design for this newest addition to Balboa Park is expected to go before the full council in June, followed by a lengthy series of public hearings before the council decides the fate of the site.

Committee members now are laying the groundwork for their recommendations on which, if any, of the current hospital buildings should be saved, if there should be any new construction on the site, or if all of the land should be devoted to open space.

More than 20 local groups, ranging from fly-fishermen to thespians, are on record requesting space in the buildings that would remain or be built on the site. Suggestions for new development include a hotel, a major parking structure covered by a football field, an athletic complex, a performing arts center, a city day-care center, a new library and an Olympic training facility.

“The ideas will probably continue to pour in until the final decision is made by the council,” said Ann Hix, an environmental consultant who chairs the 17-member Balboa Park Naval Hospital Ad Hoc Committee. “Everybody wants a piece of Balboa Park. And, minus all the traffic and the less-than-beautiful buildings that are sure to be torn down, it’s a strikingly beautiful location.”

At the same time, there is growing sentiment for razing the hospital buildings and converting the property to open park. “There’s a strong feeling that we lost a significant piece of natural open space when the Navy took Florida Canyon, and that we should retain as much undeveloped space as possible on the new site,” Hix said.

The controversial decision in 1979 by Congress to condemn Florida Canyon for the new hospital caused a furor among local environmentalists and politicians. Many said the development would destroy the delicate ecological balance of one of the nation’s largest and most famous urban parklands.

“We face an extremely critical decision in the coming months,” said Robert Arnhym, a committee member and head of the Combined Arts and Education Council of San Diego (COMBO). “Balboa Park in essence symbolizes San Diego to people from across the nation, and this is probably the last time we’ll ever have a new piece of land in the park to work with.”

Committee members said they expect political pressure to intensify in coming weeks, as they come close to completing their blueprint for the Navy Hospital land’s future. “We’re still in a honeymoon situation, as nobody’s been on our backs yet politically,” Hix said.

“We asked the council members that they not give the committee direction at this point in the game, because we thought our evaluation should be free of that kind of pressure,” she said. “But once our plans have crystallized--and we’re getting close to that date--the situation is bound to change. Things will heat up at that point.

“When Balboa Park is involved, anybody working on land-use plans runs into a situation where he is bombarded by special interests from all sides. There’s a tendency to want to please everybody, because this park is important to virtually everyone who has ever lived in San Diego.”

But Hix said that the committee realizes the importance of its task. “It’s the last chance to do something significant in Balboa Park,” she said. “Unless the city condemned some of the surrounding property, there simply isn’t going to be any new land available after this.”

Others also stress that the decision directing the new use for the park property will not be made lightly. “This is going to be one of the biggest issues facing the city in the coming months,” said acting Mayor Ed Struiksma, who is championing a strong movement to retain the chapel for a Navy memorial and the administration building for a museum highlighting local military history. “I expect it will be a major issue in the mayoral election, if there is a June runoff.”

“We’re all getting input on what we should do with the hospital, and there’s no way we can please everyone,” said Councilwoman Gloria McColl, who would like to see a city day-care center on the site. “This is a critical decision that will affect the city’s history for as long as there is a Balboa Park.”

When the political interests clash, it probably will be over how much of the Navy base should revert to open space. “There seem to be two strongly divergent attitudes expressed, regardless of the specifics involved,” said Jim Kelley-Markham, an architect and committee member. “One is that the buildings should be torn down and that we should have a maximum amount of unstructured parkland there. The second is to preserve some of the historic qualities represented by the structures that are there now, and perhaps do some new construction, thus bringing more people and activities into Balboa Park.”

Hix and Kelley-Markham were among six committee members who last month each submitted design proposals for the land, and their schemes are being weighed by the entire panel. “Eventually, we hope to reach one consensus that we can send on to the city,” Kelley-Markham said. “It’s bound to be a compromise proposal.”

Kelley-Markham said the designs divided the land into three sections--the Inspiration Point plateau where the administration center and many of the hospital buildings stand, the parking lots adjacent to Park Boulevard, and a low-lying plot southwest of the administration center, considered the least attractive of the three parcels.

If any building is likely to be saved, it is the picturesque Naval Chapel, which is graced by stained-glass windows donated by local veterans groups and a built-in organ. The chapel has remained open around the clock to all denominations since it opened in 1944. “The chapel is precious to anybody who has served here,” said Navy spokesman Tittmann. “If the city knocks it down, we’ll at least go in and save the windows so we can use them somewhere on the new hospital. The Navy has really resisted trying to exert any kind of pressure on the city in this decision-making process, because of all the tensions involved when Florida Canyon was condemned. But it’s safe to say we’d consider it a tragedy if the chapel was lost.”

Hix agreed that the Navy has “thought it prudent to steer clear of our planning, probably because of all the controversy over Florida Canyon.” She and other committee members said the sentiment to save the chapel was expressed by non-military people as well.

Many of the local special-interest groups hoping to move onto the Navy Hospital property are eyeing the administration center, and there is strong sentiment for retaining the structure for its historical value. Several of the land-design proposals suggest saving the building and its surrounding courtyards, which are envisioned as rose gardens from which the beautiful views of the city could be showcased.

“That building has been one of the most recognizable structures in San Diego for decades,” Struiksma said. “It’s part of San Diego’s heritage. I think it would be a shame to lose it.”

A major consideration in whether to save the administration center, or any of the other buildings, will be the cost of bringing them up to current earthquake and fire codes. “We’ve postponed any of the seismic or code reviews until after the decision is made on which buildings will be saved,” said Harvey Atkinson, a city Park and Recreation employee who has been working with the committee. “There’s no point in doing any of that if everything is coming down. But we do know a lot of work will have to be done to comply with the various codes.”

Another building that might be salvaged is the attractively landscaped, 9,200-square-foot medical library, which includes a modern auditorium with audio-visual facilities. “I’ve lost track of all the groups that have come through hoping they’ll be able to move in if the library is saved,” said librarian Marilyn Schwartz.

Below the buildings on the Inspiration Point plateau are the expansive grassy knolls and sprawling parking lots. Many of the committee members have suggested converting all of that land, adjacent to Park Boulevard, to open park space, although those groups favoring new developments that would be best located adjacent to the park museums have their eyes on the plot as well.

“It could be a natural place to build a performing arts center or to construct a new building to house some of the museums proposed for the site, if the ultimate decision is to go with this kind of new construction,” Hix said. “But there also are those who envision it as the perfect park space, a lushly landscaped area leading up to the chapel and the administration building and courtyards, if they are saved.”

“This land is the most attractive as far as potential new park land goes,” Kelley-Markham said. “It would be natural for there to be an expansive greenbelt separating the existing museums and the Navy Hospital buildings that are saved.”

The least attractive section of land being acquired by the city spreads into a deep gully southwest of the central hospital buildings and ending at the busy freeway interchange of Interstate 5 and California 163.

“If ever there were a spot for a commercial revenue generator in Balboa Park, this is it,” Kelley-Markham said. “And a hotel, for example, would be an acceptable use in Balboa Park if the revenues were poured back into the park, based on what has happened in Mission Bay Park.

“I know the whole idea of a hotel in the park is controversial and that it raises the hairs on some people’s backs. But we all must realize that this depression area essentially is going to be a dead end, and that the noise there, what with the freeways and its location directly under the (Lindbergh Field) flight path, is extremely high.

“There is a fear that this could become an area of high criminal activity if something isn’t done there, because it would be out of the way and not an attractive place for picnics or other park-type activities. The best way to get a maximum use out of this property might be to do something that would attract people there.”

Hix said the hotel is a “remote possibility.”

Carol Landsman, a committee member active in North Park planning groups, echoed the sentiments of several of her colleagues when she said, “I’m dead set against any hotel. It sets a bad precedent for the future of the park, which is just what we’re trying to protect against. In the long run, preserving and enhancing the longtime integrity of the park is our most important task.”