Oceanside has serious competition for Chargers

When it comes to the San Diego Chargers looking for a new home, Oceanside isn't the only city in the game, according to leaders of Chula Vista and National City.

"I would have to put my money on my own city," Chula Vista Councilman John McCann said last week when asked where he expected the football team to build a stadium.

During interviews last week, leaders of Chula Vista and National City discussed the numerous benefits and drawbacks of several stadium sites that the Chargers are studying in the two South Bay cities.

The team says it wants to leave aging Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley within the next decade for a facility that is state of the art, and it has identified Chula Vista, National City and Oceanside as potential homes.

Oceanside and Chargers officials expressed interest earlier this month in the team building a stadium on a 70-plus-acre, city-owned golf course near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Oceanside Boulevard.

The Chargers have said they are interested in the Oceanside site because of its proximity to I-5 and rail lines, and because it's close to fans in North County as well as Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties. Oceanside has 42 square miles and 180,000 residents.

Officials with Chula Vista and National City, who began talks with the Chargers last year, said they weren't surprised that the National Football League team is now talking to Oceanside.

"I think competition with other cities would be healthy," McCann said.

Chargers officials have said they want to stay in San Diego County and are looking for a city that could provide it with land for both a $700 million stadium and a development, saying revenues from a housing, business or entertainment project would help pay for the stadium.

Team officials have said they want to put a stadium issue on the ballot in November 2008 no matter which city they choose. Chula Vista and National City officials said they hadn't spoken with anyone in Oceanside about the Chargers, although one National City councilman appears to have thrown his support behind Oceanside.

"I think Oceanside is the best location and it's a great idea," said Louie Natividad, who has served on the National City council since 2002.

But other National City officials said they want to explore the possibility of forming a partnership with other cities and the county to find a way to bring the Chargers to their city.

For its part, Chula Vista says it has hired consultants, paid for by the Chargers, to review possible sites in the city.

Here is a look at possible stadium sites in the South Bay cities:

Chula Vista: Many sites, many options

Chula Vista Councilman McCann said he lobbied the Chargers to consider moving to his city for more than two years, and team and city officials officially began discussions in May.

The rapidly growing city of more than 235,000 residents has several potential sites on the eastern edge of town as well as along San Diego Bay, he said.

McCann said Chula Vista, which is 55 square miles and next to the U.S.-Mexico border, has about 2,000 acres of developable land on the eastern portion of the city near the ARCO Olympic Training Center, the Otay Reservoir and a site planned for a future university.

"We could put not only a stadium, but we would look to build an entire village community based around the stadium," McCann said.

He said there were "multiple private developers interested in participating in the Charger deal," and he added that Highway 125 is slated to be extended to run through the area.

The site is bare today and would require extensive road infrastructure and mass transit, but McCann said the city would be able to start clean and wouldn't have to "deal with any existing issues."

McCann said a stadium near San Diego Bay could be appealing because of the proximity to Interstates 5 and 15 as well as railroad and trolley tracks lines. He said there is a mix of public and private land along the bay front that would offer beautiful views for a stadium.

He said a stadium in Chula Vista could help the Chargers reach the Latino market, noting that Tijuana, with more than 1 million people, is close by and that at least half of Chula Vista's residents are Latino. He said Chula Vista has had success with regional recreation and entertainment venues such as the Coors Amphitheatre and the Knotts Soak City USA waterpark.

Chula Vista Councilman Steve Castaneda said that any possible stadium deal would need to benefit the city economically and not disturb existing communities.

He cautioned that sites on the end of town could be hard to access, while the bay-front properties are more constrained and would need approval from the California Coastal Commission.

Chula Vista will know what sites will work best after a New York-based consulting firm completes a 12-week study of all the possible locations for a stadium. Chargers officials said they agreed to pay $200,000 for the study because they don't want to place the burden of finding a location on local cities.

"My understanding of talking with the Chargers is they are very interested in Chula Vista and Oceanside," Castaneda said. "They are working very hard to see if one of those locations will be a solution for their problem."

National City: Beautiful bay-front real estate

Leaders of National City said last week that they also have a viable site for a stadium.

About four months ago, National City officials began discussions with the Chargers about building a stadium in their city of 60,000 residents south of San Diego and north of Chula Vista.

The city and team say they are looking at a 60-plus acres along San Diego Bay west of I-5 and south of Bay Marina Drive.

National City Mayor Ron Morrison said "its a pretty spacious site that is used very little" and owned by the San Diego Port Authority.

The city said it sent out more than 19,000 surveys to residents last year about what they want to see on the property, and that more than 55 percent of the 1,800 respondents supported the idea of an entertainment center or sports facility near the waterfront.

"I think people were extremely positive (about the Chargers)," Morrison said. "We saw there is extremely high level of community support."

But several business owners on the property have said there are many jobs that would be lost if the site was turned into a stadium.

The site includes a range of businesses such as a lumber company, automotive services businesses and some county government offices.

Chris Zapata, the city manager of National City, said there are about 350 people who work at businesses on the property, but many of them could be relocated.

"I respect (the business owners') argument (about losing jobs), but I don't agree with it," Zapata said.

He said the city had been in contact with leaders of Chula Vista, the city of San Diego, San Diego County and San Diego State University about the possibility forming a joint powers authority that would allow the agencies to work together under one leadership.

"This is a regional question that requires a regional solution," Zapata said. "The bottom line is that the region needs to keep the Chargers in the county."

Morrison said the bay-front property would make a great site because it's near downtown San Diego, I-5 and trolley lines. He said the site is not big enough for a development the Chargers could build to help pay for the stadium.

National City would consider partnering with another city or county to find property off the site that the Chargers could use to develop, and then would share potential revenue generated by a stadium in National City.

But several National City council members said there were many issues that needed to be studied before they could support a stadium.

Natividad said he believed that a football stadium would be too large for the site and would generate too much traffic for a city of 9 square miles.

The site needs to be better utilized because the city only received about $48,000 in revenue last year for more than 50 acres of waterfront property, said Councilman Frank Parra.

He said National City has a few more hurdles to attracting the Chargers than the other cities because the bay-front property is tightly constrained.

"I think Oceanside has potential," Parra said. "The city of Chula Vista also has some sites around the bay."

Chargers fever

Chula Vista's McCann said he was aware of National City's plan to put together a partnership to help keep the Chargers in the county.

"Right now, we want to focus on a Chula Vista site," McCann said. "We really don't want to help another city get a site right now."

Chula Vista and Oceanside appear to have taken the lead on finding a stadium site for the Chargers, according to Chula Vista's Castaneda.

He said "some people love the idea and some people hate the idea" of building a stadium in Chula Vista, but that the issue has attracted interest throughout the county.

"We all have Chargers fever," said McCann.

Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood said he doesn't want the cities to start bidding against each other for the team. Wood said he believes Oceanside is one of the prime candidates for a stadium, but that the Chargers are seriously considering all three cities.

"We can all speculate on what is going to happen," Wood said. "But no one will know until the Chargers finally make up their minds."