Ocean Beach Pier Renewal Project

It was a moment many in Ocean Beach and across the city of San Diego had been waiting for: the unveiling of a refined version of the preferred design concept for a potential replacement of the Ocean Beach Pier. Revealed during a community workshop in October, the concept was the culmination of over 18 months of community engagement on the Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project, which featured four other workshops to create a design made for and by the community.

The original preferred design concept was presented in April and incorporated iconic elements of the existing 58-year-old Ocean Beach Pier along with aesthetic elements that offered something modern and new for future generations to enjoy. This concept was based on community input and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. As a result, the refined preferred design concept retains much of the original concept, with updates to various features like lighting, shading and fishing amenities based on public input.

The project’s focus now shifts to acquiring the proper environmental permits and funding. The current estimated cost range for the Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project is $170 million to $190 million. Currently, $8.4 million in state funding is designated for the project.

The Ocean Beach Pier has been closed since it was damaged by high surf in October 2023. It will remain closed for public access while we work on a long-term solution to replace it.

For more information on the Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project, visit OBPierRenewal.com. 

In September, City staff met with world leaders to discuss American infrastructure and the success of our local projects.

International experts from the Indo-Pacific region, hosted by the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), sat down with Department of Finance staff, Mayor Todd Gloria's policy advisors and members of our E&CP team to discuss the importance of investing in infrastructure.

The IVLP helps build lasting relationships between American and international leaders and supports U.S. foreign policy goals. We are proud to be leaders in infrastructure and a model for countries around the world!

Award-Winning Work

Children's Park

Children’s Park in Downtown San Diego received the prestigious Orchid Award for Landscape Architecture from the 2024 Orchids & Onions Jury during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s annual gala. The park, originally built in the 1990s, reopened in November 2023 after a $9 million renovation in partnership with our nonprofit partner, Civic Communities. The improvements support the Downtown Community Plan’s vision of creating vibrant outdoor spaces for residents, workers and visitors.

The park’s transformation includes a new children’s play area, picnic tables, exercise equipment, an off-leash dog area, public restrooms, a multi-use lawn and a vendor building. San Diego-based artist Miki Iwasaki contributed a public art installation titled Petrichor. It’s a cloud-like sculpture that serves as a striking centerpiece for the space.

The Orchids & Onions program highlights excellence in architecture, planning and urban design in San Diego. Each year, a jury of design professionals and artists review public submissions to honor projects in categories such as architecture, interior design and historic preservation.

Ellen Browning Scripps Park Comfort Station

Children’s Park wasn’t the only City project to win an Orchid Award. The Ellen Browning Scripps Park comfort station received the award as well, in the Public Architecture category.

The new comfort station in La Jolla replaces the one originally built with the park back in 1967. The improved version provides visitors with showers, restrooms and changing rooms in a scenic spot overlooking the cove. It also has a unique design that includes a floating roof, positioned and shaped to resemble wings in flight.

Quality-Based Selection

For the second time this year, we have received a Quality-Based Selection (QBS) Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). The award recognizes organizations and individuals who make exemplary use of QBS methods for procuring engineering services for infrastructure projects at the federal, state or local level.

In April, ACEC California bestowed the QBS Champion Award upon the City. Then, in October, the National Society of Professional Engineers and ACEC chose the City of San Diego to receive the QBS Award in their State or Local Government Sector category at their national award ceremony in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The QBS process ensures the most highly qualified engineering firms are considered for projects by excluding cost as a factor in the initial evaluation and instead focusing on technical expertise and experience. The project owner — in this case, the City — evaluates and ranks the firms and negotiates with the top-ranked firm for a fair price.

This recognition is good news for all San Diegans and the benefits of quality-based selection are far-reaching. According to ACEC, QBS results in greater project value, better designs, fewer delays, higher owner satisfaction and more.

Elif Cetin (left), our Acting Director, and Claudia Abarca (right), Director of Purchasing and Contracting, were featured on ACEC's Engineering Influence podcast to share insights on the City's QBS journey.

Evaluation criteria for the QBS Award included a market survey, public notice, request for qualifications, evaluation methodology and others, and self-nominations were not permitted.

Park Progress

What was once an empty field in Otay Mesa is now an approximately 4.8-acre park. We opened Riviera Del Sol Neighborhood Park in October.

The $9.5 million park has a basketball court, open lawn areas, two playgrounds, fitness equipment, picnic shelters, a prefabricated restroom facility, security lighting, benches, a park monument sign, new landscaping, on-street parking designated for persons with disabilities and a crosswalk on Riviera Shores Street.

The park’s name – Riviera Del Sol – is represented through its features. Riviera comes from the Mediterranean coastal regions of Spain, Italy and France. The park’s designers created a Mediterranean oasis using palm tree clusters, blue rubber surfacing and sand to symbolize the beach. The park also has a sundial, included as a reference to “del sol,” which translates to “of the sun.”

We are making progress on parks all across the city. Check out these recent achievements!

Beyer Park in San Ysidro

Olive Grove Community Park in Clairemont

Mira Mesa Community Park in Mira Mesa

Marcy Neighborhood Park in University City

Cañon Street Pocket Park in Point Loma

Project Updates

Fire Station 52

We are proud to showcase Fire Station 52 in Torrey Pines, the newest and greenest fire station in the city.  

Crystal Pier Improvements

The Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach is getting new support as construction crews install piles ahead of the upcoming winter storm season. 

Pacific Highlands Ranch Library

Book lovers have a new resource as we celebrate the completion of the 37th San Diego Public Library: Pacific Highlands Ranch Library.

Harbor Drive Trunk Sewer

An underground sewer main replacement continues along Harbor Drive in Downtown San Diego. 

La Media Road

An alleviation for cross-border commercial traffic after construction crews reopen a portion of La Media Road in Otay Mesa as part of a major roadway improvement.

More asphalt overlay across the city! If you don't already know, an asphalt overlay is a type of road resurfacing, a process in which construction crews remove the damaged outer layer — usually 2-3 inches deep, as seen in the photo above — and lay new asphalt on top. This new asphalt is expected to last at least 15 years.

Take a look at asphalt overlay work from around San Diego!

North Park • City Heights • Carmel Mountain

Del Cerro • Otay Mesa • Kearny Mesa

Pure Water San Diego is continuing to move forward, one underground foot at a time.

The initiative, which aims to provide a sustainable water supply for San Diego, comprises a myriad of interconnected infrastructure projects. These investments in the City’s infrastructure include state-of-the-art water treatment facilities and miles of subaqueous pipelines.

Before pipelines can be installed underground, crews need to create the space for them – hence, Pure Water’s many tunneling projects. Several of these tunnels have recently been completed, including tunnels under Interstate 15 and Via Pasar in Miramar. Crews are now installing carrier pipe at both locations.

Three tunnels at San Clemente Creek and Rose Canyon have also been completed and more than 15,000 linear feet of pipeline have been installed. The San Clemente Creek and Rose Canyon tunnels are part of the Morena Conveyance North project, which completed nearly 1,600 feet of tunnel in November alone.

While the completion of the three Morena Conveyance North tunnels marks a major milestone, work on the project is ongoing. Crews are installing carrier pipe at the Rose Canyon South tunnel and they are completing the pipe connections at the San Clemente tunneling shafts. Crews working on the Morena Conveyance South and Middle project have already constructed more than three miles of pipeline and they are quickly approaching the 50% completion milestone.

We continue making progress on each of the Pure Water project elements, including the pipeline currently being installed below Via Excelencia in Miramar, as well as the Morena Pump Station at the intersection of Sherman and Custer Streets in Morena. With these efforts we are moving closer to reaching the initiative’s ambitious goal: to transform recycled water into clean – pure – drinking water and to provide nearly half of the City’s water supply by the end of 2035.

USD Conscious Leadership Academy

This fall, we partnered with Dr. Lorri Sulpizio and the University of San Diego Conscious Leadership Academy for an eight-session training that focused on building skills that help teams engage more effectively and productively and create a positive culture in which conflicts can be easily addressed and resolved.

One of the most important aspects of the academy was its focus on addressing leadership challenges through succession planning. In recent months, we have seen a number of employees move on from the department. This enabled us to promote from within and hire new staff, but with new staff comes less leadership experience. The Conscious Leadership Academy trained and empowered these new leaders to make choices that positively impact the department, and in turn, help us provide better infrastructure for San Diegans.

We spoke with Christina Fernandez, an Administrative Aide 2 in E&CP's Business Operations and Employee Services Division, to learn a little about her position. She has been with the City for nine years and was recently named employee of the quarter for her outstanding work and commitment to the department’s success.  

Q: What are your duties? 

A: My duties include providing customer service to our hiring managers by coordinating their recruitments, sending email notifications to candidates, collecting resumes and letters of interest, scheduling candidates, putting together physical and electronic interview binders, working with personnel to obtain new certifications, and obtaining conditional offers and hire clearances.

Q: What are the challenges and benefits of recruiting?

A: Challenges may include time constraints, as we often handle multiple recruitments simultaneously, and these can overlap. We also need to wait for the hiring manager to provide interview materials, including the panel board, interview questions, rating sheets and schedules. While our goal is to have these documents at least two weeks before the interviews, this timeline isn’t always met.

The benefits include supporting E&CP's divisions in filling their vacancies, collaborating with and getting to know hiring managers, experiencing a sense of accomplishment as positions are successfully filled and being a valuable resource for the team.

Q: How do you recruit?

A: I’ve participated in job fairs at local universities like SDSU, USD and UCSD, as well as community events such as Jobtoberfest and the City-wide job fair. I engage with attendees, answer questions and promote City positions — even those outside of E&CP — to attract a diverse pool of candidates.

Q: How does your job impact E&CP?

A: I contribute to the department's efficiency and success by streamlining the recruitment and hiring processes. By coordinating interviews, preparing necessary interview materials and ensuring compliance with timelines, this allows the department to fill positions faster, which lowers our vacancy rate and avoids delays in our work.

Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

A: I take pride in knowing that I’m supporting both E&CP and the City of San Diego, where I live, by helping to create financial and wellness opportunities for the community.

Join our team!

The City and E&CP are seeking highly skilled candidates to join our team. Currently, the City has more than 11,000 diverse and dedicated employees serving our communities. If you are interested in learning more about the available positions, check out the City's open jobs.

E&CP offers a collaborative and inclusive workplace with opportunities to contribute to our culture through employee-driven committees, a mentoring program and an extensive learning and development program. We invite you to learn more about working for E&CP by visiting our hiring page.

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