Selection of Otay Reservoir as Olympic Training Site Near

In a major coup for San Diego County, the U. S. Olympic Committee this weekend is expected to approve the selection of a 150-acre site near Upper Otay Reservoir as a year-round training center for top Olympic athletes, officials said Wednesday.

The South Bay location was recommended by the USOC’s site selection subcommittee and the group’s executive board is expected to approve the site selection Saturday at its meeting in Minneapolis. The proposed training site, which is actually in Chula Vista, will be the biggest and only one of four Olympic training facilities in the United States where athletes will be able to train outdoors all year.

Owned by Salt Company

The Western Salt Co. now owns the site of the proposed training facility and the land is being developed by the Eastlake Development Co. The property still has to be purchased, and local use approvals and permits must be obtained before construction begins.

Dave Nielsen, executive director of the San Diego National Sports Training Foundation, the group that pushed for a local Olympic training center, said the center should be operational by the middle of 1991. He said that the site choice was a natural one for the USOC.

“We have two big things going for us. First, we have year-round training weather and, secondly, a lot of America’s Olympic athletes already live in Southern California,” said Nielsen.

In persuading the USOC to choose a local site, Nielsen and his group agreed to raise $15 million in contributions or pledges by the end of 1989 to finance construction of the center’s first phase. The first phase will accommodate about 300 athletes, but up to 1,000 are eventually expected to train and live at the facility, he said.

USOC officials will be responsible for the subsequent construction phases. When the facility is completed, it is expected to include 168,000 square feet of buildings and 1.4 million square feet of outdoor improvements, including training fields and swimming pools, Nielsen said.

Two Sites Considered

The total cost of the center and its final completion date are not yet known, said Nielsen, because “subsequent phases have not yet been defined by the USOC.”

Foundation and USOC officials were actually considering two South Bay locations before deciding on the Eastlake property. A nearby site offered by United Enterprises was also studied but rejected.

“They were both beautiful pieces of property. Either one would have worked for the facility. We just felt that the one we picked could be (developed) quickly and met our criteria better. But it was a difficult decision,” said Nielsen.

Local officials hope the center will lure people to San Diego County to watch the athletes train and to attend athletic events at the training center.