The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved spending up to $250,000 for a shade structure at the open-air amphitheater at Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita.
The shade structure will allow the park’s department and the community to use the amphitheater for more events, said County Supervisor Greg Cox, who represents District 1 which includes Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City, and the unincorporated community of Bonita.
“We can get a more enjoyable use and probably more usage if we had some shade over the existing park amphitheater to provide a little more enhanced, more comfortable recreational experience for the park,” Cox said.
The open-air amphitheater is often shared with a community room which has been a place for weddings, community meetings, outdoor classroom activities and a variety of other uses. Cox said the amphitheater seats about 75 to 100 people. Cox said project construction will begin this summer and is scheduled to be completed this fall.
Of the $225,000 construction cost, only $25,000 will be used for related costs including design, inspection, environmental services and project administration. Funding for the project will come out of the Neighborhood Reinvestment program.
Cox said the design for the shade structures are currently being designed and staff is working on the environmental review.
“(The shade structures) will cover the whole amphitheater,” Cox said. “It will provide shade and protection for anybody that is going to be sitting in the bleacher-type seating that we have out there.”
Once the project is completed, Cox said the biggest benefit for the community with the shade structures will not come until the summer months.
“It opens (the amphitheater) up for more (community) groups during the summer,” Cox said. “Sometimes it doesn’t get as much usage (during the summer) as it should because it’s just bare heat bearing down on you.”
Sweetwater Summit Regional Park is a 500-acre facility at 328 Summit Meadow Road. The park offers a variety of recreational activities and amenities to the public including a camp ground, hiking trails, a playground, a picnic pavilion and a community building.
