Former Stadium Option Open to Other Uses

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 10, 2008 at 11:36 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Oceanside residents will offer ideas on possible future uses of the Goat Hill Golf Course, one of the sites the Chargers considered for a new stadium. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Oceanside residents will offer ideas on possible future uses of the Goat Hill Golf Course, one of the sites the Chargers considered for a new stadium. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

It’s a prime piece of real estate: half a mile along Interstate Five with ocean views, but far enough from the beach to be free of Coastal Commission control.

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Oceanside residents were divided over whether they wanted to see an NFL stadium on the site, but now they’ll have the chance to come up with other ideas.
Oceanside senior planner Peter Katz says it’s always been a hot property.

Katz: I know from stories people have told me that before the golf course was there, discussions about this property were fairly heated and emotional, and once the golf course use was decided upon there was a sense of relief that we can put it in use as a golf course and it can be revisited at a future time.. So this appears to be that future time.

Katz says the lease with the golf course is up in 2012. Any future change of use will have to go to the voters.

Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.