In late January of this year, Surf Cup Sports installed a plat of synthetic turf filled with crumb rubber in the northeastern corner of the playing fields they lease from the City of San Diego next to the San Dieguito River.
The Performance Lab training facility for adults and young atheletes was placed just a few feet from the Coast-to-Crest Trail at the northeastern end of the playing fields.
This was followed soon after by the placement of a large metal shipping container a few feet from the Coast-to-Crest Trail, trenching to bring electricity from a nearby transformer, and the erection of a black chain-link fence to cordon off the area from public access and remove it from open space. There is no record at the City’s Development Services Department of any permits being applied for or approved for this work.
By the end of March the container on Field #5 had been painted black and filled with weight-lifting and other gym equipment such as ice baths, mats, cameras, and high-tech training equipment by Performance Lab SD for use as a semi-permanent training facility, presumably through some sort of sub-lease from Surf Sports, even though the Grant Deed that governs use of the fields – and the Surf lease – prohibits such commercial activity on the property.
Performance Lab’s social media post indicates they are training up to 500 atheletes a week at the facility.
The facility now is being used daily from morning until dark to train both young people and adults – some “300-500 athletes a week” – according to Performance Lab’s social media marketing. Music, an apparently integral part of the training, is blasted on speakers during all sessions creating an endless barrage of booming bass notes that invade nearby homes throughout the day. Despite numerous complaints the noise continues unabated. In addition, the number of cars using Field #5’s dirt parking lot has increased dramatically, adding to the hundreds of vehicles already bringing players and families there for daily soccer practices with a commensurate increase in noise and dust, especially during the busy afternoons.
Numerous letters and phone calls to the City of San Diego inquiring about permits and the presence of the training facility have met with predictable silence, allowing one more egregious violation of the Grant Deed – at least for the time being – to worm its way onto the fields without official City, public, or environmental review.