The SDSU Mission Valley plan that includes a new stadium will undergo an environmental review process, a step needed to obtain the SDCCU Stadium site.
In November, San Diego voters considered competing ballot initiatives to redevelop the SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm Stadium) site, including SDSU West–a plan for a new San Diego State University football stadium and surrounding amenities–as well as the SoccerCity proposal centered around an MLS stadium and new development. Voters soundly rejected SoccerCity while giving majority approval to SDSU West, effectively allowing the city and university to enter into negotiations over a sale of the property.
Any effort to obtain control of the property will require a publicly notified environmental review, and SDSU president Adela de la Torre announced last week to students and community members that the university was getting it underway. Formal negotiations over the site will begin after the new year, while the environmental review process is expected to result in a draft report that will be released at some point in 2019. More from the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“The city and SDSU are in the process of putting together negotiation teams in preparation for formal negotiations beginning after the new year,” said Christina Chadwick, a spokeswoman for Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “Right now we are in regular communication as both sides assemble their respective negotiating teams. The mayor’s top priorities remain a world-class river park, housing and multi-use stadium.”
Any land sale, however, will require a publicly noticed environmental review before it can be considered by San Diego’s City Council, hence the preemptive note to students and community members last week.
“SDSU plans to move quickly on the environmental review process and intends to issue a draft (environmental impact report) in 2019,” said La Monica Everett-Haynes, a spokeswoman for the university. “The formal public input process will include input from the community and public agencies. For that reason, it was important that we inform community members of the forthcoming process as soon as possible.”
SDSU’s vision for the site includes a new stadium, along with an outpost for the university. The stadium would provide a new home for SDSU Aztecs football, be designed to accommodate professional soccer, and have the ability to expand from 35,000 seats to 55,000 seats in the event that the NFL returns to San Diego. The university’s current goal is to begin construction in 2020 and open the new football stadium in 2022, but that timeline is contingent on gaining the necessary approvals.
SDSU football currently plays at SDCCU Stadium, the former home of the NFL’s Chargers and MLB’s Padres, but development of the Mission Valley proposal would trigger the demolition of the currently 51-year-old facility. You can read more about the SDSU plan here.
Rendering courtesy Populous and San Diego State University.
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