A report by Al Radick & John Pollard, March 2017
on the
Stealth “Joint-Use Parks” AKA “Joint-Use Facilities” of Mira Mesa

“Hey, you guys wanna go to the park?”

“Oh Wow, sure Mom!”

“Well I just heard of some new parks in Mira Mesa.”

“Where are they Mom?”

“Dunno, but I’ve got the address’. Let’s check out the one on Montongo. Be sure to use the bathroom before we leave, these parks may not have any.”

~~~~~~ and soon ~~~~~~

“O.K. we’re here.”

“But Mom, it’s a school, I think Petey goes here. Where’s the park?”

“Let’s go look around.”

“Mom, we’re not supposed to be around a closed school, somebody might call the cops!”

And so begins the saga of a typical family trying to use one of Mira Mesa’s stealth parks. Well, not really stealth, but knowing that they exist, finding the entrance and learning what hours they are available are formidable challenges at best, which makes them really stealthy to the general public and even to many Mira Mesa Recreation Council members.

They are Joint-Use because the acreage is jointly used by SDP&R and SDUSD. These areas are almost always adjacent to a public park and a public school.  Public, as in both are paid for by the tax payers!

The stealth Joint-Use areas in Mira Mesa include;

  • Mesa Viking Park – Ericson Elementary School
    5.5 acres of playing fields
  • Christa McAuliffe Park – Challenger Middle School
    7.5 acres of hardscape & playing fields
  • Westview Park – Hage Elementary School
    0.3 acre that is undefined and may not exist
  • Mesa Verde Park – Mason Elementary School
    1.0 acre of playing fields
  • Sandburg Park – Sandburg Elementary School
    3.0 acres of playing fields
  • Hickman Elementary School – NO adjacent park
    3.0 acres of playing fields

And, at the present time the Maddox-Salk Park and the Walker-Wangenheim Park are in design and both will include Joint-Use acreage albeit they should not be stealthy.

All of the stealth joint-use acreage is considered by the city to be existing park acreage thereby reducing the amount of Mira Mesa’s deficit in park acreage, doesn’t seem very fair if it can’t be easily located and utilized by the general public, does it?  And, why do they call them facilities rather than parks?

The undefined acreage at Hage School cannot be found and no one seems to know where the area is or if it ever existed The Joint-Use agreement should be terminated.

All Joint-Use areas need signs posted advising the general public of their  existence and the hours they are unlocked and available for use by the general public.

Should SDUSD not allow appropriate signage then consideration should be given to terminating the Joint-Use agreement in question.

And, for the record, Hourglass Field Community Park is, in its entirety, a Joint-Use Facility but with the SDCCD rather than SDUSD.

The signage we recommend for each park is as follows…….

  • Ericson School, one sign attached to the gate and another out in front directing folks to the gate.
  • Challenger School, one sign on the always locked north gate directing folks to the working south gate, one sign on the working south gate and a third sign out in front directing folks to the working South Gate. The walking distance from the North to the South Gate is over 1/2 mile, so it would seem to make better sense to simply unlock both the North and South gates.
  • Hage School, Joint Use area cannot be found and may have never existed. The agreement should be terminated.
  • Mason School, one sign on the gate and signs at both the Flanders and Gold Coast walkways directing folks to the gate.
  • Sandburg School, one sign attached to the gate and another out in front directing folks to the gate. Or better, much better, open the far west gate from Seawind Lane & Branco Way which goes directly into the playing fields, and not through the school, of course, with the appropriate signage.
  • Hickman School, one sign attached to the gate and another out in front directing folks to the gate.

We won’t be sure if signs are needed at the new Maddox-Salk and Walker-Wangenheim Parks until they are completed and operational.

We understand that there are new/correct signs already in the works for Hourglass Field Community Park, hopefully that is true.