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Study Sizes Up Chula Vista for Chargers Stadium

A study of four prospective sites in Chula Vista for a possible new football stadium for the San Diego Chargers released Sept. 13 gave the highest marks to one on the San Diego bay front now occupied by the South Bay Power Plant, and another in the eastern part of the city near the Olympic Training Center.

The Chargers, which paid the $220,000 for the study, have been seeking an alternative site for a new stadium in Chula Vista and Oceanside, after giving up pursuing any plan at the team’s current home at Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley.

The team said it is unable to find a development partner for the project and has been thwarted by San Diego’s unwillingness or outright opposition to discussing a new stadium.

The bay front site, on 139 acres, offers premium transportation access, possible shared parking arrangements, and replacement of an unwanted power plant, the study states.

However, getting the plant retired, and environmental issues could present significant challenges.

The 500-acre Otay site is on property slated to be developed as a binational university campus that would include new commercial, retail and residential development. The biggest challenge is the site’s remoteness, and lack of any access. A toll freeway, state Route 125, will open shortly, but the site has no transit access that the team desires since about a third of its fans use transit to come to the games.

The study, done by Cooper Robertson & Partners, did not provide cost estimates, but team officials have said a stadium alone would cost about $800 million.

Chula Vista elected officials intend to discuss the study in a public meeting Sept. 18. The Chargers are awaiting the results of another analysis of a proposed site at a city-owned golf course in Oceanside.

The team said it wants to determine the best site and put the issue before voters for the November 2008 election.

, Mike Allen

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