Removal of Point Loma Bike Track Halted – Temporarily – Over Questions of Property Ownership

Wednesday morning, April 12th, a crew was all set to plow under the Point Loma bike track when a local neighbor raised questions about whether the San Diego Housing Commission actually owned the property the crew was working on.  It was a crew hired by the Housing Commission as the Commission is planning to build 78 units on the land.

At the dirt tract this particular morning, Kate Bendixen, the neighbor, approached Anthony George of Mayor Faulconer’s office – who was at the site Wednesday morning – she and he had been emailing each other over this issue. She has been researching ownership documents of the different parcels of land that make up the property where the track – called by locals the Famosa Pump Track – is located. Kate showed Anthony a document and raised the issue of who owned the parcels the work crew were on.

George then spoke with the work crew – and they halted work. A CBS8 news crew told this reporter that the workers have to come back next week.

Kate told the OB Rag, we stopped the tractor again. She had been down on the site on March 19th when the first bobcat showed up nearly a month ago – and was blocked from proceeding by Darren Miller, another local. Miller had been involved in a recent meeting with Anthony George and reps from the Housing Commission, where the Housing Commission made it known it wasn’t interested in working with the community to resolve the issue of the track – even temporarily. They want us gone, Miller told this reporter.

Meanwhile Kate said she had received no response from the SDHC in getting help locating the property documents, and went out and did her own research, requesting documents from various government entities. Last week she received the map on file in the city showing the area designated as Collier Park and this week she found a 1981 deed that did not include the parcel numbers for the sites in question.

Kate pressed George that the SDHC needed to show proof of ownership before they proceeded to knock the track down. George agreed they needed to before any demolition – and that’s when he convinced the work crew to come back next week.

Kate told us she looks forward to when they show the community documents confirming their ownership. She fears the SDHC has been bullying the local neighborhood about their right to use the open space, and even potentially infringing on the property rights of adjacent homeowners.

Kate also raised the point that if and when the work crew returns to demolish the tracks, they couldn’t do so without harming the natural state of the area. Are they going to drive a bulldozer through Famosa wetlands just to destroy the kids ‘track? she asked.