Building a Path to a Park and Preservation : County Has $10 Million to Spend in Tijuana River Valley

There are a million people to the south, 2 million to the north and almost nobody in between. But the empty expanse of land known as the Tijuana River Valley might someday be a 1,000-acre regional park--a gigantic nature preserve open to the public--if county officials get their way.

No one knows precisely where the park will be or exactly what it will include, because the land has not been bought and completion of the project is at least 20 years away.

But one thing is certain: $10 million was earmarked for the Tijuana River Valley in Proposition 70, the state parks bond issue approved by California voters last June. County officials, including County Supervisor Brian Bilbray, whose district includes the valley, are now figuring out how to spend it.

The money will be used to buy land, primarily in an area bordered by the following San Diego streets: Monument Road on the south, 19th Street on the west and Sunset Avenue, Servando Avenue and Calle Primera on the north. The east end of the park will probably stop just short of Sycamore Road and the San Ysidro Sports Field, said Jim Massey, a planner with the county Department of Parks and Recreation.

County officials have met with property owners in the area and say they will pay market value for the land, then lease it back to the owners. People such as Floyd Wirthlin, president of American Sod Farms, will be able to continue their businesses, as long as they are compatible with the “passive recreational use” the city of San Diego has deemed appropriate for the valley.

“We’re not interested in putting in big ball fields,” Massey said. “We’re interested in low-key, very passive recreation activities like bird-watching areas, horseback riding and hiking trails.”

Wirthlin, whose 300-acre sod farm provides a habitat for birds and other wildlife, said there are about 70 property owners in the area, and “basically they would like to keep things the way they are.”

Most residents welcome the idea of a park, he said, and would probably sell their property if appraisers hired by the county came up with “acceptable” market value prices for their land.

Endangered Species Live Nearby

The park is meant to preserve the valley’s rural atmosphere and to protect vegetation along the Tijuana River. Endangered species, including the light-footed clapper rail, the California least tern and the California brown pelican, live nearby.

“(Our) highest priority is preserving the biological habitat and the agricultural character of the valley,” Massey said. “Hopefully, we’ll have (the public) on the property in less than five years.”

Bilbray, who grew up in Imperial Beach and played in the Tijuana River Valley when he was young, said his motive for wanting to preserve the area is to improve public access to parkland and not necessarily to deter development.

“The issue of building there is moot because the city abandoned

about 15 years ago the construction of a flood control channel . . . so the ability to build there is very restricted,” he said.

“Our point is there is a place for public access in the valley and we want to guarantee it. We don’t want the public barred with the excuse that it’s good for the birds. We think we can do both.”

Directly to the west of the proposed park boundary lies the Tijuana River National Estuarine Sanctuary, a 2,300-acre nature preserve, most of which is owned and operated by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Parks and Recreation.

“It’s dedicated to the preservation of coastal salt marsh habitat, sand dune habitat and . . . the trees along the river,” said Martin Kenney, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service. State and federal wildlife officials hope to eventually build trails for hikers there.

Campsites and Golf Course?

Bilbray said he hopes the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park will not only extend the estuarine sanctuary’s preservation eastward, but also provide more recreational use than the federal parkland provides. Among the ideas under consideration, he said, are turning the Dairy Mart ponds into fishing lakes and adding campsites and a golf course.

Bilbray has spearheaded the drive to create a park out of a patchwork quilt of more than 50 parcels of land now owned by the city of San Diego, the federal government, various companies, including General Telephone, H. G. Fenton Materials, Title Insurance and American Sod, as well as more than a dozen individuals.

Several property owners have already contacted the county with offers to sell their land. “We would hope to begin acquiring parcels out there within the next several months. . . . Some people have certainly expressed an interest, but we haven’t done any appraisals yet,” Massey said.

Concerned About Future

Lane McClelland, who makes furniture out of willow trees in an abandoned dairy barn off Monument Road, wanted to buy the land he lives on, but his landlord wasn’t interested.

“I’m concerned. I’d like to know that this land is preserved even after I’m gone,” McClelland said.

“I think it’s a good idea to have a park in this area. . . . We need a way of protecting the wildlife.”

In addition to bobcats and coyotes, McClelland said, “we have probably one of the greatest concentrations of birds of prey in the country, everything from hawks and golden eagles to burrowing owls.”

Jack Jones, a retired Navy commander who owns property off Monument Road, thinks the park is “a nice idea. Better a park than concrete and steel.” But he is concerned about the sewage in the river.

Indeed, there are formidable problems to address before the park can be made completely accessible to the public, such as the raw sewage that flows into the river from Tijuana, the disease-spreading mosquitoes that breed in the stagnant sewage and the undocumented workers who cross through the area illegally.

Turns on Funding

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and other federal officials called last month for a $192-million sewage treatment plant that would carry Tijuana’s waste out to sea, but whether or not it is built depends on the availability of funds both in Washington and Mexico City.

“The border situation is a major stumbling block,” Bilbray said. “It’s an area that is severely impacted by the immigration and drug-smuggling issues,” for which, he pointed out, the federal government has responsibility.

Complete public access cannot occur “until there’s a secure border situation,” he said, but he expects the sewage and immigration problems to be addressed within five years so people can begin using the park.

“In the long run, government will have to open up the boundaries, which will mean no one sneaking through the park, or else they will have to secure the border so that immigration is done legally and not through our wildlife preserves,” he said.

Meanwhile, a master plan for the park is not expected for several years. The project was approved by the Board of Supervisors in November.

County officials met once with property owners in March and are planning more meetings this summer, said Nancy Nieto, administrative services manager for the county parks department. “We have contracted for an appraisal, and we’ll be getting back the results probably between 90 to 120 days,” she said.

No Development Funds

The county will then contact owners and offer to buy their land. But, before any purchases are made, officials said, public hearings will be held. The Board of Supervisors must approve any purchase.

“How things will proceed will depend on the dynamics of each acquisition. . . . We would deal with each owner separately,” Nieto said.

Proposition 70 funds will not pay for all of the acquisition. And no money has been set aside for development of the park.

According to the county parks department, more money could be applied for from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and other sources managed by the Coastal Conservancy and the state parks department.

Bilbray compares the project favorably to the proposed San Dieguito River Valley Regional Park, a 43-mile-long strip of green that will stretch from Del Mar to Julian.

“We’ll be able to do it a little faster because we don’t have a bunch of rich people fighting among themselves,” he said. “You can buy a lot more land with $10 in the Tijuana River Valley than (you can) in the San Dieguito River Valley. We have a lot more problems, but we have more cooperation. It’s the greatest challenge.

“This is the working man’s version of the San Dieguito park. You’re talking about people living on 4-acre housing estates there. People here are living in . . . housing tract projects that have gang problems. You won’t recognize the valley 10 years from now.”