Military

Navy Holds Hearings On Expanding Training On Silver Strand

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published February 23, 2010 at 3:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

The Navy will hold the first of two public meetings tonight, on plans to expand training activities along the Silver Strand.

The Navy will hold the first of two public meetings tonight on plans to expand training activities along the Silver Strand.

The Silver Strand, the thin strip of land that runs between Coronado and Imperial Beach, is already a highly-prized training area for the Navy. It offers access to both San Diego Bay and the open ocean. The Navy wants to increase the tempo of training and add new activities.

Project manager Delfin Lee says it’s part of the overall growth of the Navy in San Diego.

Become a KPBS sponsor

"There’s a general build-up or growth of force in the Southern California area," Lee said. "A lot of it has to do with the shifting towards Southern California, a concentration of personnel and equipment and infrastructure. Because of that, the commands that use Silver Strand are also increasing, and that would translate into increased use at Silver Strand."

The Navy does not propose to expand its training area, but the beaches and boat lanes will be used more intensively. Activities include ship to shore exercises, sometimes involving a helicopter, and equipment to transfer fuel.

Many bird species inhabit the area. Underwater exercises, like mine countermeasure training, also have an impact on marine mammals.

Tags

Alison St John

twitter

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.