New Life Breathed Into Plans for Aquatic Complex at Liberty Station’s NTC Park

New life has been breathed into plans for a multi-pool aquatic complex at Liberty Station’s NTC Park. The plans have been around for years but after multiple delays, funding and interest dried up.

But now after the city of San Diego has completed a feasibility study, the project is experiencing the most momentum it has had in years, says Stephen Rodi, chairman of the Peninsula Aquatic Complex Council and president of Point Loma High School’s aquatic boosters program, as quoted recently by Pt Loma-OB Monthly.

Details of the feasibility study are expected after the holiday season, Rodi said.

The Peninsula Aquatic Complex Council, a community advocacy group, was created in 2017 by Point Loma High School parents and alumni, swimmers, kayakers, civic leaders and other community members to try to reignite interest in the project, reports Tyler Faurot in his Dec. 8 piece.

Faurot wrote:

The development plan, prepared by the city and McMillin NTC, reads, “It is anticipated that candidates for the active use area include a community swimming pool or aquatic center and a lighted multi-use sports field and/or areas for court sports or general play such as might be found on open-space lawn areas.” …

A request for proposals to develop the pool and the now-abandoned Building 619 at NTC Park was issued in mid-2014. The YMCA was the only respondent, but indications were it could not engage in a lease or concessions beyond 10 years, and the project stalled.

The city is “eyeing the area along the waterfront at NTC Park. Rodi said the abandoned Building 619 south of the playground and its surrounding grass area is the site of interest. “We were told there is a separate project by [the San Diego Parks & Recreation Department] to repurpose that building and that they were considering rebuilding it as a rec center with an aquatic center along with it,” Rodi said.

The property was used as a child-care facility for military families when the naval base was active, but it has been vacant for many years.

Currently it’s a maze of dilapidated buildings, surrounded by a fence. Lisa Johnson, president and chief executive of the NTC Foundation, says the building eyed for a new aquatic center is currently “a blight in the middle of the park.”and adds that “fences don’t necessarily keep people out.”

“[The U.S. Department of the Interior has] really strict guidelines on what is acceptable and what is not, and those restrictions, on top of the fact that the city did not have a plan on how to operate it, were the biggest stumbling blocks,” Rodi said. “It just got delayed and delayed and the funding went away. It never got off the ground.”

Faurot reports that City spokesman Benny Cartwright emailed him and stated the aquatic project aims to create a “modern, flexible facility that caters to a diverse range of users and meets the city’s program requirements and vision.”

He said the city will coordinate community outreach events to solicit input that will influence the city’s conceptual designs. Rodi said the events will give the public an opportunity to let the city know the need for a regional pool. “This could be a central aquatic center for the region, not just the Point Loma community,” Rodi said.

A May 2020 update on PACC’s website estimated the project would cost $20 million to $25 million. Cartwright said a more solid cost estimate is expected to be available by next summer, following completion of a schematic design.