The
OTAY RIVER VALLEY
A
Regional Park Reality
The Otay River Valley, located south of the City of Chula Vista, has
been inhabited since prehistoric times. The early Indians of the valley were
the Kumeyaay. The main Indian village in the valley was the village of Otay,
on the north side of the Otay River.
Prior to the secularization of the
missions, vast land tracts were granted to several prominent Spanish families
who settled in San Diego County. Later tracts were released to former soldiers.
Portions of the land located in the eastern reaches of the Otay River Valley,
were given to a brother and sister of the Estudillo family in 1829. Euro-American
settlement in the river valley began in earnest during the expansion of San
Diego, spearheaded by Alonzo Horton. Otay Town was established immediately
north of the Otay River. Development of the mesa on the south side of
the river began in the late 1880s. Within a decade, the small community of
Otay Mesa was well established.
Settlers in the river valley included several Italian immigrants. Among
these were the Deneri pioneer family, who set up ranching and wine making
operations in 1878 near the mouth of Dennery Canyon, on the south side of
the river. At the height of its productivity, the Deneri Winery was
one of the leading wine producers in San Diego County, making a significant
contribution to the community of Otay. The name Dennery is a modification
of Deneri. Stephen Birch assembled the current Otay Ranch in the late
1930s.
In 1916, during a five-year drought, rainmaker Charlie Hatfield was
commissioned by the San Diego City Council to produce rain. Hatfield built a
tower at the base of the Laguna Mountains where he mixed various chemical and
then set them afire. Coincidentally, the rising heat caused rain to fall
without ceasing for several days thereafter, causing the Lower Otay Dam
to overflow and burst. Over 13 billion
gallons of water spilled down the valley, wiping out the town
of Otay and killing 26 persons, including four from the Deneri Winery when it
was destroyed by floodwaters. Hatfield was never paid the $10,000 promised to
him by the City Council. The following year, the Sweetwater
Reservoir Dam located northwest of the Otay Reservoirs burst, releasing
approximately 16 billion gallons of water, flooding the Sweetwater Valley
These two dams' ruptures filled the South San Diego Bay with mud, effectively
curtailing sailing in the South Bay. The current Lower Otay Lakes Reservoir's
Savage Dam was built in 1919.
In April 1989, Chula Vista Mayor Greg Cox, San Diego Councilman Bob Filner, and
San Diego County Supervisor Brian Bilbray suggested that a plan be developed
for a regional park in the river valley. In 1990, a Joint Exercise
of Powers Agreement (JEPA) was developed to guide the acquisition and
development of an Otay Valley Regional Park (OVRP). A Focused Planning Area
(FPA) was established. Today, it acts as the outer limits of park
planning and a framework for creating the regional park. At the same time, a
30-person Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) was formed to advise the Policy
Committee on matters relating to park planning, acquisition, and design. Staff
from each jurisdiction provide technical support and administrative assistance
to the Policy Committee. The County of San Diego coordinates
administrative responsibilities and maintains the official record.
The Otay River Valley extends 11 miles, from the lower end of South San
Diego Bay to the Lower Otay Lakes Reservoir. The Otay Valley Regional Park
(OVRP) as envisioned, will provide South Bay residents and visitors
recreational opportunities such as playing fields, picnic areas, hiking, biking
and equestrian trails.
The
Concept Plan's goals include protection of environmentally sensitive areas,
cultural resources in the open space core, provides areas adjacent to the open
space for active and passive recreational developments, a trail system with
staging areas, view points, overlooks and connections to adjacent public lands
and trails.
For planning and development purposes, the regional park has been
divided into three parts. The Western OVRP extends from the southern end of San
Diego Bay east to Heritage Road. Eastern OVRP extends from Heritage Road
to the west end of Lower Otay Reservoir. The third part contains both lower and
upper Otay Reservoirs, including the Air Sports Field, located at the eastern
end of the Lower Otay Reservoir.
Prior to preparing the OVRP Concept Plan in 1997, information was gathered from
a variety of sources, eight formal studies and plans, and 19 public meetings.
Most of the information about existing land uses, biological, hydrology and
culture resources was compiled in the Otay River Resources Report by
Lettieri-McIntyre and Associates, Inc. (September 1994)
Today, the Otay River
Valley watershed consists of numerous streams in a pear-shaped area covering
approximately 143 square miles. Sixty-nine percent (99 square miles) of the
watershed is controlled by Savage Dam which forms the Lower Otay Reservoir.
The
maximum north-south and east-west dimensions are about 10 and 20 miles
respectively, with elevations ranging from 3,300 feet above sea level at White
Mountain, to sea level at the San Diego Bay. The Otay River's flood plain has
been a source of sand and gravel extraction from the 1920s to the mid-80s,
creating numerous small and large ponds which today provide breeding and
foraging habitat for numerous waterfowl, herons, rails and gulls. Nelson &
Sloan's sand extraction, with an average depth of 12 to 15 feet, has stopped.
Hansen Aggregates, which purchased the Nelson & Sloan facilities, operates
three facilities: 1) a rock quarry east of Heritage Road, referred to as Rock
Mountain, 2) a processing sand/gravel/cement plant off 7th Street in Chula
Vista, and 3) a batch processing plant for sand/gravel/ cement/asphalt east
of 27th Street in San Diego. The Otay River flows around the north side
of this plant, exiting under the San Diego Trolley Line and Hollister Street
prior to entering Hollister Pond, and then the south end of San Diego Bay,
adjacent to the salt flats.
Currently, the river
valley has approximately 32 miles of dirt trails created by people traversing
the area and about 24 miles of dirt utility maintenance roads and old farm
roads, which will be reduced when the Trails Master Plan is implemented.
The Trails Master Plan will provide for multi-use trails on both the
north and south side of the river, with interconnecting loop trails between over
look facilities, historic, wildlife viewing and staging areas.
The Otay Valley Regional Park is a diverse ecosystem containing at least 16
habitats of rare and endangered plant and animal species. Vegetation
communities include Maritime succulent scrub, Diegan coastal sage scrub,
Southern Riparian Cypress Forest, and Tamarisk scrub. In all, 63
sensitive plant species are known to exist in the valley.
Nineteen different birds inhabit the valley: six types of herons, including
the rare little blue heron, three types of hawks, California least tern,
burrowing
owl, willow flycatcher, coastal cactus wren, California gnatcatcher, quail, and
doves. Mammals such as bobcats, raccoons, opossums, striped skunks, desert
cottontails, desert wood rats, long-tailed weasels, and California ground
squirrels live in the valley. A variety of reptiles exist here, too, such as
the red diamond rattlesnake, diamond and western rattlesnake, the whiptail
lizard, western fence lizard, coast horned lizard, garter snake, the
common king snake and western pond turtle.
The
Western Otay Valley Regional Park, Nestor Creek east to Heritage Road
currently has four commercial recreational activities. A golf practice
range and a go-cart track are located on the west side of Hollister
Street. The 20,000-seat Coors Amphitheater, built in 1998 on the west
side of Heritage Road east of I-805, contains reserved seating for 10,000
and lawn seating for an additional 10,000 guests. Knott's Soak City Water Slide
Park, on the west side of the amphitheater, was built in 1997.
The Eastern Otay Valley Regional Park, Heritage Road east to around the
Lower Otay Reservoir, contains San Diego County's Otay Lakes Park, in the
vicinity of Savage Dam and overlooking the reservoir to the north and the Otay
River Valley to the west. Nearby are a picnic area and fishing pier with
rental boats, the United States Olympic Training Center's Canoe, Kayak and
Rowing facility, and the San Diego Air Sports Field at the eastern of the
Lower Otay Reservoir.
The
Otay Valley Regional Park has regional significance in terms of its location as
a part of a greenbelt corridor between the Cities of South San Diego (Otay Mesa
/ Nester) and Chula Vista. This corridor constitutes a portion of the Chula
Vista Greenbelt, a 28-mile continuous open space and park system around the
City, linking its communities with principal parks and recreational resources
that extend throughout Chula Vista.
Five
major projects are currently being pursued within the Otay Valley Regional
Park, each with a Citizens Advisory sub-committee assigned to monitor action.
These include the Otay River Valley Clean-up Project, Finney Elementary School
Overlook, Otay Valley Sports Complex, a Trails Master Plan (connecting to Chula
Vista and County of San Diego trails, National Wildlife and Federal Wilderness
area, and the California Hiking and Riding Trail).
The Otay River Valley Clean-up Project was started
on October 15, 1999. The initial Clean-up Project was designed to do the
following: 1) remove debris in the valley from Nestor Creek east to Heritage
Road; 2) encourage homeless living in unsanitary encampments to leave the
area in order to protect sensitive habitat and create safer surroundings;
and 3) improve the security of the area by installing gates and fences.
From October 1999 through February 2003, over 11,000 labor hours have been expended
in removing 1,044 tons of trash, requiring over 200 trips to the landfill.
The Finney Elementary
School Overlook will be located on the south side of the river valley on school
property. It will provide two outdoor classroom amphitheaters, a public overlook
with interpretive signage, and picnic and game tables for visitors and students.
The Overlook is a joint project between the Chula Vista Elementary School
District, the Cities of Chula Vista and San Diego, and the County of San Diego.
The final concept plan includes design recommendations by the Finney Elementary
School Site Committee, Otay Valley Regional Park CAC sub-committee,
and public members' comments.
The Draft Otay Valley Regional Park Trails Master
Plan Project proposes multi-purpose and single use trails within the 11 mile,
3000 acre Otay Valley Regional Park. The Trails Master Plan serves as
policy document to guide the development, management, operations and
maintenance of the OVRP trail system. The plan's goal is to provide a system of
"non-motorized Trails" that meets the needs of residents and visitors
by providing opportunities to hikers, bicyclists and equestrians, that
include connections with other public facilities, such as parks, open space,
trail systems of to other jurisdictions, points of interest. The
development plan divides the park into five segments, South San Diego Bay to
I-5, I-5 to I-805, I-805 to Heritage Road, Heritage Road to Otay Lakes, and
Otay Lakes. CAC trails subcommittee members have assisted the Park
Rangers in using Global Positioning System (GPS) to document Multipurpose and
Hiker / Bicyclists Trails, and bridge locations into a Global Information
System (GIS) for the regional park.
The City and County of San Diego have funded a study to construct a
Otay Valley Sports Complex consisting of a skateboard park, soccer and baseball
fields, swimming pool and recreation center within the proposed 35-acre
Recreational Area #1, at the north end of Saturn Blvd., between Nestor Creek
and Interstate I-5.
The Otay Valley
Regional Park Citizens Advisory Committee's Sports Complex sub-committee coordinated
five public community meetings to determine what the public would like to have
in this complex.
On Saturday, October
26, 2002, OVRP CAC members and Park staff from three jurisdictions were joined
by 187 volunteers to plant 500 trees in four hours:
Coast Live Oak, Western Cottonwood, Western Sycamore, Toyon (Christmas
Berry) and Mexican Elderberry. Trees were planted in the Fenton Pond area (west
side of Beyer Blvd.) and Hollister Pond area (west side of Hollister St.)
The trees were purchased through a grant from PG&E, Calpine, and the County
of San Diego (District 1). Trees were planted in order to improve the
River Valley's image and the quality for the birds and animals that inhabit it.
On
Saturday, April 12, 2003, coordinated by the OVRP CAC, 72
volunteers (12 adults, 26 Junior College, 24 High School and 8 Elementary
students from 11 different activities in the South Bay area participated in
"Creek to Bay Clean-up" project. Promoted by the San Diego County of
Supervisors, over 1200 lbs of trash was collected from the Hollister Pond area,
underneath Interstate I-5 bridge and east to Hollister St. Hollister Pond area
was one of over 30 locations selected to participate in the "I Love a
Clean San Diego" clean-up project.
In 1996, a non-profit "Friends of Otay Valley Regional Park"
organization was established. Its objective is to offer South Bay
residents and visitors an opportunity to assist in nature and educational programs,
public outreach, restoration and preservation, volunteer patrol, neighborhood
park watch and docent programs. For further information contact Steve Palma,
President of the Friends of "Otay Valley Regional Park", 121 Orange
Ave, #90, Chula Vista, CA 91912.
In January 2001, a
Otay Valley Regional Park Web Site (www.ovrp.org) became a reality,
thanks to the development and hosting by the Otay Real-estate Company. The OVRP
web site contains pictures and information on park planning updates, news,
valley history, clean-up project, concept plan, events calendar, area maps,
favorite links, Policy and Citizens Advisory Committee members.. The web
master's email address is frank@otayrealestate.com
The Otay Valley Regional Park
is becoming a reality thanks to the participation of many groups and
individuals:
Allied Waste Industries,
ALPHA Project, California Department of Fish & Game,
California State Coastal Conservancy, Chula Vista Elementary School District, Church
of Christ, Rio Drive Volunteers, Chula
Vista City Council, Planning & Building.
Police Department, Public Works, Office of Building
and Park
Construction, Parks and Recreation and Recycling Division,
DeLorenzo Incorporated, Estrada Land Planning, Finney Elementary School,
Friends of Otay
Valley Regional Park, Hanson Aggregates, Lettieri-McIntyre and Associates, O'Neill
Construction Company, Otay Landfill, Otay Mesa / Nestor Planning
Committee, Otay Ranch Project Team, Otay Real EstateCompany, Otay Valley Regional
Park, Citizens Advisory Committee,
Otay Valley Regional Park Technical Staff, Pacific Waste Management, R.J.
Donovan Prison Community Work Crews, San Diego County Board of Supervisors,
District #1 and County Parks and Recreation Department,
San Diego City Council, District 8, Police Department South, Parks and
Recreation , Planning, URBAN Corps and Environmental Services, Senator
Denise Ducheny, 40th District, Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. National Wildlife Refuge Service, Wallace
Roberts & Todd.
Additional information is
available on 2 websites for the OVRP: www.ovrp.org, and San Diego County
Parks: www.co.san-diego.ca.us/ cntydepts/ parks/ovrp, and by contacting
the OVRP CAC Chair, John Willett: jawillett@cox.net.
June 2003