San Diego County is hosting a virtual public meeting to share Alpine county park concept plans on Thursday, Jan. 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
The proposed 25-acre destination park site is located adjacent to Wright’s Field and is currently slated to include a skate park, sports facilities and other amenities.
However some residents say the park is ill-placed on traffic-heavy South Grade Road and does not reflect the rural character of Alpine.
A group of people who gathered in early December under the name Save Wright’s Field have since renamed the group Preserve Alpine’s Heritage and want to see the county reconsider plans based on resident feedback at the upcoming meeting.
One group leader, Julie Simper, said the unofficial members are “starting to realize that working with the county is not going to be as collaborative as we hoped” after a meeting in which county representatives said they plan to create more than 270 parking spaces at the rural site.
Simper said it was disheartening to hear county representatives cite internal metrics over what Alpine residents said they wanted to see in a local park.
“We want to see a more appropriately sized park with less concrete, less invasive materials, more aligned with the rural location. Ultimately we’re pragmatists and understand they’re going to do something with this land, but drawing people to over 270 parking spots with no answer on how the park can be accessed without going through Wright’s Field — they do not seem to care about that,” Simper said.
Back Country Land Trust Program Director Jon Green said the organization, which is unconnected with Preserve Alpine’s Heritage, is working with the county and other stakeholders to ensure the new park fits with the character of Wright’s Field and the needs of the community while also minimizing impacts to the trail system and native habitat.”
Two of the most endangered species in San Diego County, the Hermes Copper Butterfly and San Diego Thornmint make their home at Wright’s Field, a 245-acre open-space conservation property owned by Back Country Land Trust and sits adjacent to the proposed park site.
County representative Jessica Geiszler said they continue to evaluate the design plan, reconfiguring it as needed to improve flow and reduce user conflicts while also making sure there are adequate buffers between park uses.
Members of Preserve Alpine’s Heritage hope residents attend the meeting, Simper said, “so we can get a better assessment of who is out there” and increase awareness of county plans.
The upcoming meeting will be held through Zoom and the link can be accessed at: sdparks. org/publicmeetings.
I value the butterfly, the thornmint, and most other life forms, but I am particularly concerned about our youth. I live in an apartment complex that nearly borders Wrights Field. The neighboring complex, Alpine Village, is our neighbor. The children, who are all ages, that live in Alpine apartment complexes, and condos, are presented with a challenge: They have nowhere to play. It does not surprise me to see the kids playing in the dumpster, skateboarding down the middle of their complex’s streets, or playing in the parking lots because the complexes don’t feel that kids lives are important enough to provide play equipment or playgrounds.
Now I see the same attitude rearing it’s head at “Save Alpine’s Heritage” group.Our children are our most important heritage! Especially with the Covid virus mutating and threatening more ‘Stay At Home Orders”, and school closures, providing adequate recreation resources is incredibly important. Psychologists tell us how the masking and social isolation is affecting the mental health of our youth. It is a Need not a Want when it comes to providing for their needs to have a meeting place to socialize with their friends, to meet new friends that can bond through common interests that are healthy for their physical bodies as well as their emotional well being.
This park is, by the way, 98 acres, not 25 acres as the author states. The County purchased land designated for a County Park. All 98 acres.
The group concerned with saving our heritage and preserving the country vibe has a lot of areas where they can do good. How bout starting with opposing the major housing development being planned for East Alpine, or the development of two, or maybe even three story condos on Marshall Road? But the park amenities were voted on by hundreds of survey takers and then more through the County outreaches. A fully developed 98 acre active park is what the County has been working on, and we should be thanking our lucky stars that the County opened their coffers to finally give us a fully functioning County maintained park, with a Dog Park, and including the amenities that were voted on. We should be thankful that the County will build a Skate Park so that our youth have a way to channel their energy and develop skills like coordination, teamwork, and a physical workout that their young bodies need.. Instead the new group is fighting with the County and begging them to do less for us, not more. Wrights has at least 230 acres. The efforts they have made at BCLT have been minimal as far as preserving or maintaining anything, as far as many of us can see, but now they want to undermine the County’s efforts in our behalf, even after so many of us begged the County to stop ignoring Alpine and give us a park equal to or better than the beautiful parks in our surrounding areas. Please be informed that this has taken over twenty years!Don’t blow it!