Wilson Vetoes Put Brakes to Otay Mesa Off-Road Park

Hopes for an off-road vehicle park on Otay Mesa were dashed late Monday when Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed two bills allocating money for that and other park projects.

Wilson vetoed the bills, which would have provided $6.2 million to lease more than 1,233 acres for the new off-road park from Otay Mesa landowner Roque de la Fuente for 20 years. At the end of the lease, the land would revert to De la Fuente.

San Diego has one of the highest registrations of off-roaders in the state, and they have been asking the state for years to build a place nearby to ride their dune-buggies, dirt bikes and ATVs (all-terrain vehicles). Questions about the unusual leasing arrangement with De la Fuente and successive budget crises have frustrated the off-roaders’ repeated attempts to build a park within a few minutes of San Diego.

Robert Ham, a lobbyist for De la Fuente, said he was “disappointed” with Wilson’s veto but added that he and off-roaders won’t give up their campaign for approval of a San Diego park when the Legislature returns next year.

“We hoped to be riding there this spring; now we’re telling our guys they won’t be riding--they’ll be writing again,” Ham said, referring to a concerted letter-writing campaign by off-roaders on behalf of the project.

In his veto message, Wilson said he vetoed all the park money because he had “some concerns over the merits of some of the projects” and his administration didn’t have “adequate opportunity to review each project prior to its passage in the Legislature.” The governor didn’t specify which projects concerned him.

Wilson also instructed the secretary of the Resources Agency to put together a “consensus” park bill with lawmakers when they return for work in Sacramento next year.