Issues surrounding the creation of a new stadium for the Chargers will be taken up by the San Diego City Council’s Budget Committee next month, Councilmen Todd Gloria and David Alvarez announced today.
The councilmembers announced the hearing, set for March 18, and outlined a series of “threshold issues” that need to be addressed in a memo to Mayor Kevin Faulconer.
“We are ready and willing to work with you, the Chargers and all stakeholders to develop a stadium plan that makes sense for everyone, and [we] are pleased to see the expedited schedule for the mayor’s task force,” Gloria and Alvarez wrote.
With the committee working on these issues concurrently, the city will be best positioned to meet the accelerated timeline sought by the Chargers for real progress,” they said.
Among the issues the councilmen said needed clarification:
• the funding sources for a stadium that Faulconer would find acceptable;
• the city’s capacity to issue future bonds;
• the amount the county of San Diego and other local cities are willing to contribute to the financing plan;
• how much money the Chargers will directly contribute to the project;
• the cost of moving the Metropolitan Transit System’s bus maintenance yard, which occupies one of the two sites under consideration for a stadium; and
* the price tag of a playing facility on the other possible site, next to Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley.
They also said the future of the proposed San Diego Convention Center expansion has to be resolved, because it could have an impact on where the Chargers stadium is located.
“Taxpayers need answers to key questions about a potential new football stadium,” said Gloria, who chairs the Budget Committee. “Recent events make it clear that the public needs this information sooner rather than later.”
“By resolving the threshold issues laid out in the memo, I am confident that the committee’s work will help the city move forward on a stadium plan that makes sense for everyone,” Alvarez said.
They said that since Council will have to consider any deal brought forward by the mayor, it’s “critical to get the answers to the questions now.” – City News Service