After yesterday’s announcement from the Chargers, one question remained in my head: so how long does this promise not to talk to parties outside the county last?
Today we got a little more clarity on that. Mark Fabiani, the team’s special counsel, said this in an e-mail:
our goal is to see the process through so that we can come to reasoned conclusions about likely sites. my guess is that this will take at least another six months, but i also reserve the right to change my rough prediction as we continue work into the new year!
John McCann, the Chula Vista city councilman leading the city’s charge, said six months is “the reasonable thing.”
“We need to be able to demonstrate to them that we have a viable product,” he said.
The city will also shortly be looking at bringing on a consultant to study all the possible stadium locations within Chula Vista. So far, a large tract in the east part of the city owned by HomeFed Corp. has gotten the most attention. But team and city officials are also scheduled to meet soon with Jim Baldwin, a developer and significant landholder in the Otay Ranch area.
A number of sites are also being talked about along the bayfront in Chula Vista.
And despite recent bad news regarding environmental and financial concerns in National City, Chris Zapata, the city manager there, remains optimistic. He said any project will come with different hurdles and said the current issues aren’t the kind of things that can’t be solved. The results of a survey questioning residents about their interest in the Chargers will be released after Jan. 1, Zapata said.
The city is also trying to cobble together different pieces of land from throughout the county to make a stadium-and-development deal possible.
“We’re getting ready to develop what I would call a very aggressive approach. We want to know whether we can or can’t,” Zapata said. “I think we’re getting closer to that.”