A bureaucratic blunder in San Diego’s Barrio Logan plan quietly shifted two parcels, including a vacant lot beside southbound I‑5, into commercial zoning. One of those parcels was later sold off to a private buyer. Neighborhood leaders say the mistake wiped out land long promised as park space and threatens to further clog and pollute the area around Chicano Park. City officials have spent this week racing to reverse the reclassification.
According to city staff, the mix‑up dates back to the California Coastal Commission’s 2023 adoption of the updated Barrio Logan plan, when both the Boston Avenue parcel and Chicano Park ended up labeled for commercial use in official documents. NBC 7 San Diego reports that Caltrans sold the Boston Avenue lot to a car‑wash company in December 2025, even though construction of a new park on the site had been scheduled to start in 2029. Staff materials from the Coastal Commission’s June 2023 hearing show the commission’s action on the Barrio Logan Local Coastal Program, per the California Coastal Commission.
Boston Avenue Was Supposed To Be a New Linear Park
The Boston Avenue parcel is part of Caltrans’ Clean California improvements, a roughly 3.5‑acre project that would turn state right‑of‑way between 29th and 32nd streets into green space, bike and walking paths, and play areas. Caltrans has said it intends to hand the land over to the city for public use as part of that effort. Caltrans describes the work as coordinated with the Barrio Logan community plan and local environmental groups. The City of San Diego signed off on the Barrio Logan Community Plan update in December 2021, and the city’s planning documents spell out park designations and implementation steps for the Boston Avenue area, per the City of San Diego.
Why Caltrans Says It Was Allowed To Sell
Caltrans has told reporters that state rules dictate how it must shed surplus real estate and that certain extra parcels can be sold through competitive processes. Under California law, the agency is required to offer “excess real property” to park and recreation agencies first, with specific timelines and procedures for moving other surplus land onto the market. That framework is laid out in the California Streets and Highways Code. See §118.6 of the Streets and Highways Code for the statutory language.
What City Hall and the Neighborhood Want Now
This week, the City Council voted to fix the mapping errors and restore park zoning to both affected parcels. The move now heads back to the Coastal Commission for certification, according to NBC 7 San Diego. Neighborhood advocates, including Julia Corrales of the Barrio Logan Community Planning Group, have argued that more traffic and commercial activity on the site would worsen already harsh environmental conditions in the community. Councilmember Vivian Moreno called the errors “mistakes that shouldn’t happen in decisions with such a significant impact on communities.”
Public‑notice documents tied to Tuesday's council hearing lay out the exact acreage and rezones the city says are needed to fully restore the park designations. For the details, see the City of San Diego materials.
