DELLE WILLETT | Art on the Land

I wrote about East Village Green in October 2016 and am pleased to see that the park now has a green light to break ground in the summer of 2020, with the first phase ready by summer of 2022. In case you missed my column, I’m sharing it with you now. 

Where some people might see vacant lots and utility infrastructure, Nathan Elliott sees opportunity. Elliott is a principal with OJB Landscape Architecture, a national landscape architecture firm with a San Diego presence since 2003. 

Working with Civic San Diego, the city’s Park and Recreation Department and a team of local consultants, Elliott has led OJB’s preparation of East Village Green’s General Development Plan (GDP), and his team is currently preparing to begin the design process that will ultimately lead to the park’s construction. 

“Our work takes us across the country to pursue and develop these kinds of projects and it is extremely gratifying to work on such an important project in our own hometown,” said Elliott. 

Anticipated as a three-phase project, East Village Green’s GDP identifies a 4.1-acre park bound by 13th, 15th, F and G calles in the heart of San Diego’s growing East Village neighborhood. The block of 14th Street between F and G calles is envisioned as a pedestrian plaza that could be closed to accommodate street fairs, farmer’s markets and community events.

The project’s first phase will include the 40,000-square-foot city block east of the New School for Architecture and an additional 20,000-square-foot parcel on the block to the east. The East Village has precious little public open space, although it has been recently expanded by the addition of Fault Line Park in 2015.  

The OJB team, in collaboration with Civic San Diego, led a series of public workshops that solicited feedback from the community and offered a series of alternative concepts for the park. The park’s proposed plan reflects a hybrid solution integrating the best ideas for each concept and will include a wide range of program activities that will appeal to people from all walks of life. “East Village Green will truly have something for everyone,” said Elliott. 

Projects like Quartyard and Maker’s Quarter demonstrate the very real demand in the neighborhood for public space, Elliott believes. As more residential development is added to the neighborhood, the need for more public open space will increase. 

Currently an arts and industrial neighborhood in transition, the East Village is anticipated to evolve over the next decade to a mixed-use community of nearly 30,000 residents. This new urban park will be the signature open space for the neighborhood and is envisioned as the hub of community activity.?“It will be a place where everyone is welcome,” said Elliott. 

Urban sites often pose unique challenges to designers, and East Village Green’s site includes a number of challenges that the team hopes to leverage into new creative opportunities. The site contains a series of active seismic faults and a 22-foot elevation change from one end to another. Understanding key neighborhood assets like the new Central Library, Petco Park, Quartyard and Makers Quarter also offer insights as to how the park might be used. 

Elliott y su equipo creen que los modelos operativos y de financiación alternativos para el parque podrían proporcionar fondos para mitigar los problemas clave identificados por los residentes del vecindario en los talleres públicos, como la seguridad y el mantenimiento, aunque señaló que encontrar el "ajuste" adecuado para la comunidad es una parte clave de ese diálogo. 

The economic downturns often result in reduced municipal tax revenues, making the operations and maintenance of public open spaces more challenging for the city departments that care for them. An increasingly popular tool in this work is collaboration with nonprofit foundations or private entities to support park operations, Elliott explained. 

Elliott is excited about the project’s potential to be a hub for “creative collision” by becoming the neighborhood’s central gathering space. “I think the East Village is in the midst of an unprecedented transformation and we’re very optimistic about the ways this important new public open space will help catalyze that change,” he said. 

Features of East Village Green:

Community center with meeting rooms and basketball half-court  

Two-level underground parking structure  

11,000-square-foot event lawn with real turf  

Performance pavilion and plaza 

Children’s play area 

Interactive water feature  

Reading room  

Off-leash dog parks

“Bark Bar” pet-friendly outdoor dining

Food truck parking

Table games area

Generous pedestrian sidewalks 

Drought-tolerant landscape  

Moveable and fixed furniture

Stormwater cistern 

— Delle Willett has been a marketing and public relations professional for over 30 years, with an emphasis on conservation of the environment. She can be reached at [email protected].