Chula Vista’s Harborside Park, shuttered for nearly two years, is set to reopen later this year with an unexpected addition: a soccer mini-pitch.
The U.S. Soccer Foundation is set to install the compact playing court as part of a donation from hometown professional soccer player Paul Arriola that the City Council accepted on Tuesday. Arriola plays for the Major League Soccer club FC Dallas.
“Thank you to Paul Arriola, who is from Chula Vista, born in Chula Vista,” Mayor John McCann said.
It all started in March, according to the city, when the foundation offered to install an acrylic mini-pitch surface with goals and lighting, worth about $100,000, anywhere in Chula Vista. City staff suggested Harborside Park, particularly in an area that would remain underused until the final renovation phase. The city will spend about $160,000 to build the concrete pad and set up electrical for the soccer site.
A mini-pitch is typically a colorful court with goals and a rebound board system in its surroundings to keep the ball in constant play.
“Mini-pitches serve as community hubs, encourage physical activity, and provide more opportunities for play,” the Soccer Foundation says on its website.
It also shows having donated more than 400 mini-pitches across the nation, including in San Diego County. The only other court in Chula Vista was installed at Valle Lindo Park in 2020, according to an interactive map on its website.
Harborside Park, on Oxford Street near Industrial Boulevard, is slated to reopen in the fall with security measures, such as a new ranger station, and several repairs as part of a three-phased reopening the city has worked on for several months. It will be open from 3-7 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends.
The 5-acre park shut down in August 2022 after reports of illicit activities and a surge in camps set up by homeless people.
McCann said the City Council will revisit enacting a homeless encampment ban next month.
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