Downtown Parks

Parks Plazas & Pocket Parks Green Streets Freeway Lids Downtown San Diego Needs Assessment for Open Space, Parks and Recreational Opportunities Future Parks Existing Parks Park Naming Paying for Parks

Open space is vital to downtown's quality of life. Parks and open space are critical to satisfying the diverse recreational needs of downtown residents visitors and workforce, especially given high development intensities and the region's mild climate conducive to outdoor living. These spaces encourage social interaction and sense of community that define the public realm and urban culture.

The recently adopted Downtown Community Plan takes these principles to heart. It calls for downtown to add more than 50 acres of open space to the existing 75 acres. The implementation strategy prioritizes the development of seven new major public open spaces, which will act as the nuclei for the various neighborhoods, putting every downtown resident within a five- to ten-minute walk of public open space.

The updated Downtown Community Plan outlines four types of open space that are crucial to achieving downtown's overall quality of life goals:

1. Parks

Parks consist of large expanses of open space which are designed for active recreational and leisurely activities, as well as gatherings and events. Building height restrictions on southern and western blocks will allow infiltration of sunlight, and prevent heavy shading of the parks year round. Additionally, many new parks will contain underground parking, as a creative solution to increase downtown's parking capacity.

2. Plazas & Pocket Parks

Flexible spaces and plazas, in conjunction with development projects, can serve as privately owned and maintained public space. Smaller "pocket parks," with seating and landscaping, connect larger parks and create a linkage of green space. Linear "finger parks" can also be built along fault lines, to take advantage of otherwise unbuildable land. Many new buildings will also take advantage of the density bonuses granted to developers who design "green roofs" into their buildings, or landscaped tops that help reduce building runoff and improve water quality.

3. Green Streets

Designated green streets will serve as paths connecting downtown parks, the waterfront, neighborhood centers and other activity centers. Wider sidewalks and richer landscaping on these streets will extend the open space presence through the neighborhoods.

4. Freeway Lids

'Lids' are envisaged to reconnect downtown to Balboa Park and Sherman Heights, spanning the I-5 in select locations and providing new open spaces to serve downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.

5. Downtown San Diego Needs Assessment for Open Space, Parks and Recreational Opportunities

To assist CCDC in determining the needs of existing and future downtown residents, workers and visitors and translate those needs into recommendations about the types of parks, recreational facilities and open spaces needed in each neighborhood, Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc. conducted an Open Space, Parks and Recreational Opportunities Assessment. Contact Associate Planner Tara Lake at lake@ccdc.com for more information.

• Downtown San Diego Needs Assessment for Open Space, Parks and Recreational Opportunities Executive Summary (April 2009) [PDF 73MB]

• Downtown San Diego Needs Assessment for Open Space, Parks and Recreational Opportunities (April 2009) [PDF 71MB]

• May 5, 2009 Open House Powerpoint Presentation.ppt [PPT 68MB]

Future Parks

CCDC has made the creation of open space and parks a priority. Several new parks are in the pipeline to compliment the existing space, and provide even more opportunity for rest, relaxation and recreation.

Existing Parks

Downtown is 2.2 square miles and is the most intensely developed part of the city, making open space incredibly valuable. There are currently many different park options, from full block green fields for active recreation, to smaller pocket parks that offer a respite from the built environment.

• Downtown Parks Map [PDF 404KB]
• For more information, download a copy of our 'Urban Oasis' newsletter.
• Children's Park Enhancement Update [PDF 1.5MB]

Park Naming

Click here, or on the icon above to submit a suggestion for one of the future downtown parks.

To comment on a proposed park name, or if you would like to be kept informed regarding progress on a specific project, please email downtownparks@ccdc.com

Paying for Parks

The Downtown Community Plan has several tools to acquire and construct additional open space.

• In April 2005, CCDC worked with the City and building community to create a Development Impact Fee (DIF) schedule, that would assess a fee on new development to help pay for seven new parks and two new fire stations. The program will raise an estimated $218 million for land acquisition and development costs.

• Because land prices have risen dramatically since the DIF program was enacted, CCDC and the City of San Diego will develop an updated fee schedule to ensure the planned open space goals are enacted. In addition, in certain mapped portions of downtown, developers can "purchase" a bonus of 1 to 2 Floor Area Ratio (FAR). (Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is the calculation of buildable space for a particular parcel. For example a 10,000 square-foot site with an FAR of 2 would be eligible for 20,000 square feet of building space.) This bonus provision is expected to raise more than $100 million dollars for parks.

• CCDC's Board of Directors also authorized a $79 million bond issuance in February 2006, a portion of which will be used for park acquisition and development.

• Transfer of development rights (TDR) allow developers whose sites have been designated for parks, to sell the development rights to any eligible "receiving site" mapped in downtown. This lowers the price CCDC will have to pay to acquire the sites, by giving the landowner the ability to realize the financial potential of the land without having the Redevelopment Agency purchase it outright.