Ward Canyon Dog Park

08/18/2024

Come see me try my hand at StandUp! I promise you'll laugh. This coming Saturday, August 24 at Point Loma Playhouse. Only $15.

07/26/2024

Want to talk to our council member's office about the permanent plan for the dog park?

A staff member from Sean Elo-Rivera’s office will meet with concerned dog owners next Tuesday, July 30 at 3 pm at the small dusty dog park off of 40th at Ward Canyon Park.

The agenda includes informing her of our concerns regarding unexpected change to the permanent plan for the off leash area.

Please be there to express your support for the largest possible area for our pooches.

And pass the word to your neighbors in person and on Nextdoor.

05/30/2024

As mentioned earlier, plans for the permanent off leash area are being "finalized". Your help is needed to encourage the city and CalTrans to agree on releasing their section of 40th street so that we get all the square footage we have been expecting. Come to the CRG meetings on the 4th Tuesday of the month.

05/07/2024

Normal Heights Community Planning Group Monthly Meeting
TONIGHT! Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 6:00 PM until approx. 8:30 PM
Normal Heights Community Center
4649 Hawley Avenue
also via Zoom at https://normalheightscpg.org/meet-now/

6:00 Call to order - AUDIO, CHAT, AND VIDEO WILL BE RECORDED
1. Opening “reflection”
2. Introductions of Board members. Virtual attendees are encouraged to enter their name for a record of their attendance in “Chat” or, if participating by audio only, to introduce themselves verbally. A reminder that other Chat entries will not be monitored by the Chair and are not considered official communications, even if to or from Board members.
3. Agenda Setting/modifications (Note: items may be addressed out of listed order and time)
4. Approval of meeting minutes for April as sent via email – Chair
5. Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer/ Frances Prichett
6:15 Non-Agenda Public Comment
6. Non-Agenda Public Comment regarding NH land use & related NH community issues (2min pp).
7. Digital Communications Monitoring from, nextdoor, Facebook, Email, etc.
6:30 Action/Decision Items (Board member roll call may be performed for recording votes)
8. PRJ- 1113452 Benton Place presented by Luis Espinoza
9. General Plan Refresh Blueprint SD presented by Chair
10. Overview of Agenda and Minutes Cycle - Chair
11. Goals for new cycle – Greg Stone
12. Review of committees and membership
8:00 Reports/Updates
13. City, County, and State government agency representatives, if present.
• District 9 Councilmember Elo-Rivera – Sara Al-Agha
• Mayor’s Office - Lucero Maganda
• County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe (or representative)
• State Senator Atkins –Andi McNew
• Assembly Member Ward – Christopher Gris
• District 51 U.S. Congressmember Sara Jacobs (or representative)
14. Chair Report
• Ad hoc subcommittee to submit to the County Grand Jury regarding SD Planning Dept.
15. Community Group updates when present
• Adams Avenue Business Association – Scott Kessler
• El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association – Gary Weber
• NH Community Association and NH Urban Arts – Greg Stone/Norma Stafford
• Adams “Community Recreation Advisory Group” – Nancy Lawler
• NH for Smart Growth – Paul Coogan
8:15 Standing Committees
16. Joint Mid-City Communities Plan Update Committee – Emilie Colwell
17. Historical Property Review Report – Dan Soderberg
8:30 Advisory Committees
18. Nominating Committee - Greg Stone, Jim Baross
19. Utility Undergrounding & Street Lighting MAD – Emilie Colwell & Francis Prichett
20. Community Garden - Paul Coogan
21. Tree Replacements - Greg Stone, Emilie Colwell, Gerald Schoelen
22. Traffic Issue Taskforce (Report on Vision Zero) – Allan Harjala
8:45 Adjournment
Paul Coogan
Chair, NHCPG

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04/30/2024

Just a quick note to let you know that the April monthly Community Recreation Group meetings on the 30th has been cancelled. There has been no additional information posted about the issues concerning the permanent plan for the Off-Leash area, so the Chair cancelled the meeting.

We will update you with information on the May meeting!

And if anyone is interested in helping secure the Community Garden sooner than later in the now closed Large Dog area, please attend the May 7 meeting of the Normal Heights Community Planning Group :: NHCPG.

03/09/2024

Greetings Dog Park friends. Just letting you know that the new butterfly mosaic is going to be installed this coming week at the Rec Center at 35th and Adams.

Here is the information from Kim Emerson - the designer/artist.

"We are very happy to announce that we will be installing the “Kaleidoscope of Butterflies” mosaic mural next Thursday, March 14th! The mosaic butterflies and are ready to fly out our studio doors, and the contractor, Fortress Fence & Landscape, Inc., will be installing all 11 panels starting early AM. I will be on site at the Adams Recreation Center and Community Park the 2 days afterwards with Dennis to finish the last details. Please stop by and say hello and take pictures and/or videos.

And, it just so happens that March 14th is “National Learn About Butterflies Day”. We did not originally plan to install this particular day, but we believe that it is meant to be!

The dedication/unveiling day of the mural will be announced soon. Thank you to ALL for your kindness and support of this project. We look forward to seeing you at the Adams Rec Center soon.

Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone who you think would be interested.

We hope and trust that the color, beauty, and influence of this permanent mosaic art installation will invite and inspire positive energy and activities in our little community park, and that it will help create a sense of pride and hope for our neighborhood!"

01/24/2024

Plans are underway for a dedication of the butterfly mural at the Rec Center (Adams and 35th) on March 29 during the Spring Fling. More details as we get them. Kim Emerson reported that they are finishing up the last panel and hope to install by early March!

01/24/2024

This Saturday...

01/24/2024

Update on Ward Canyon Dog Park plans. Lydia from the City Engineering and Capital Projects department gave a briefing on some of the possible changes to the plan that was initially developed in 2013. She will come to future meetings to get our input as we get closer to a final plan. Please be there to provide your input.

- CalTrans and the City are still in discussion about the piece of 40th Street that CalTrans "owns." The issue here is that CalTrans says that it will take 3.2 to 3.5 million dollars to "reconfigure" the on/off ramp to the 15.
- The City will not close our existing dog parks at Ward Canyon until a new one has been built. Please come to the CRG meetings to remind them of this promise.
- There is 8 million dollars available to start work on the overall park plan, minus this small section that is still in dispute.
- 40th Street will NOT be opened again according to Lydia. Please put that rumor to bed. But please come to the CRG meetings to hold the City to this.
- The former Police sub-station building on the corner of Adams and 39th is set to be demolished this year and a perimeter fence installed so that the playground can safely be expanded.
- The new Rec Center building will need to be relocated from where it is on the initial plan due to site issues with fill dirt. The new building will include restrooms and the existing restrooms will be removed.

Please become a Wagger and come to these monthly meetings...4th Tuesday at 6 PM at the Rec Center at 35th and Adams. You can also Zoom in. We will post the link here.

01/23/2024

Tomorrow evening at 6 PM - please be at the Adams Rec Center at 35th and Adams to get an update from a City Planner on their proposed changes to the Permanent Plan in Ward Canyon. Your input is needed.

The information we have so far is bad enough - that CalTrans doesn't want to "reconfigure" the off-ramp which would cut into the off-leash area footprint. But some people are thinking that the City might want to open 40th street up again. This is just a rumor, but it is something to ask the City Planner about. If it is even remotely true, then there would be no additional acreage other than the now closed Large dog area.

As I said, this is purely a rumor at this point. Get the real story - TOMORROW night.

You can call in or Zoom, but your best option is in person.

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01/18/2024

Want to hear from Parks and Rec about the potential changes to Ward Canyon Dog Park? Please attend this meeting on Jan 23rd.

The City Park Planner, Lydia Marshall, will answer questions about the Ward Canyon Park General Development Plan (GDP) potential changes.

Adams Recreation Center, 3491 Adams Avenue
(619) 235-1149

Join the Meeting In-Person or via Teleconference
Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 6:00 PM.

If you can't be there in person, please Zoom in!
To Join via the Zoom Teleconference Meeting -

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12/05/2023

And now a letter from the Chair of the Adams CRG to Parks and Rec and CalTrans.

********************
The Adams Community Recreation Group has been informed that the City and CalTrans are proposing changes to the Ward Canyon Park General Development Plan (GDP). We have surmised that they have yet to be able to agree on the planned reconfiguring of the on/off ramp on 40th and SR-15. We have been informed that reconfiguration would reduce the intended size and activity area in the approved GDP of Ward Canyon Park. We are led to believe that cost is the source of the need to change the GDP.

The previously approved GDP incorporating a section of closed-to-through traffic 40th street into park space had been worked through in the extensive initial park planning. A change at this point is unexpected and frankly unfair to those waiting and following this process for years. Brett Weise (when Chris Ward was our City Councilmember) reported that CalTrans relinquished the land to the City of San Diego upon an agreement dated February 24th, 2010.

Currently, the Normal Heights community has yet to be given any specifics. We first heard about this from Area Manager Michele Cicarelli at the ACRG meeting in October when we asked her for any updates regarding Ward Canyon Park. Paraphrased here, “Caltrans does not want to spend $3 million to reconfigure the I-15 southbound ramp as was designed, and neither does the City. So, therefore, the dog park may have to be made smaller…”

The community has yet to receive more information on the Ward Canyon GDP. No effort has been made to include the Normal Heights community in decisions about potential modifications to the GDP. The last response from Lydia Marshall, Park Planner, was, “We are working with our consultant to evaluate other opportunity areas within existing park property for the dog park and that there will be a community engagement process for this and the new recreation building. The other improvements in the GDP Amendment will be incorporated into the new park design.”

We'd like to know the details of these discussions; what has CalTrans communicated? We would like specific information on what SR-15 ramp re-configuration changes mean. Please forward the names and contact information of the people who can provide the details.

Besides the potential for reducing the size and activities of Ward Canyon Park, a fear is that CalTrans intends to reopen 40th Street through traffic. We recall the major uprising approximately 20 years ago about the community’s desire to close 40th Street because if opened to through traffic, it would have made that residential street into a short-cut raceway access to the SR-15 onramp, dangerous to residents, especially where the pedestrian bridge joins 40th St. The nearby residents were adamant, causing those barricades to be installed. Opening 40th St to the onramp will set something off for sure.

The idea that the City and the State need more money to complete the on-ramp closure to 40th Street seems specious since the permanent closing was worked out and became part of the Ward Canyon General Development Plan. If you remember the dog park controversy scene, it will be nothing like the reaction to opening up 40th St. to through traffic.

Sincerely,
Jim Baross, Chair Adams Ave Community Recreation Group

11/26/2023

Brief update on CalTrans/City of San Diego 40th Street to I-15 Ramp modifications for permanent dog park. I received an email from Andy Field (Director of Park and Rec). Please read the correspondence below. I will be following up. And try to attend the 4th Tuesday meetings at the 35th and Adams Rec Center at 6PM - with your concerns about the completion of the Ward Canyon permanent off-leash area.
*******************
Hi Connie,

Thank you for your email and apologies for the delay in information sharing. We are reviewing the concerns you have raised and will have an answer for you in the next month. Please reach out to me directly if you have concerns with timing or have additional questions beyond those you’ve provided below.

I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Thanks,

Andy Field
Director, Parks and Recreation Department
City of San Diego
T (619) 235-1110

- Opportunity in every neighborhood, excellent service for every San Diegan - City of San Diego Strategic Plan Vision

From: Connie Terwilliger
Sent: Tuesday, November 7, 2023 5:22 PM
To: Chicarelli, Michele ; Barros, Ernesto ; Mendoza, Benjamin ; Johnson, Ashante ; Field, Andy ; Dulay, Gina
Subject: Need contact information for Ward Canyon Park Completion planners

________________________________________

Greetings, I have been informed that the city and CalTrans have not been able to agree on reconfiguring the on/off ramp on 40th and I-15 which would reduce the size of the permanent dog park in Ward Canyon. I was told that it was a disagreement on the cost.

I would like more details on this discussion. Please forward the names and contact information for the people I can talk to about more details.

A couple of years ago, I spoke to someone at CalTrans about this particular road and what would be happening when the permanent plan went into effect. We even went online together so that he could show me on Google maps where the city road ended and the CalTrans road began.

This reconfiguration has been in the initial planning since the beginning and a change in attitude at this point is unexpected and frankly unfair to those of us who have been following this process for years. I hope what I heard was misinformation.

Thank you in advance.
Connie Terwilliger

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