TakeBackTorrey.comThe primary goal for this web site is to restore the Torrey Pines Gliderport as a public flight park for fair and equal enjoyment by all unpowered glider pilots. This may be achieved in a variety of ways including:
The current 5-year (no cost) Gliderport lease expires on August 1st of 2008, so the time for action is NOW. This web site provides various resources to encourage a healthy bidding process. Please contact Bob Kuczewski (858-204-7499) if you would like to participate in this project. History and Current Status (January 2008)In 1998, the Torrey Pines Gliderport was leased from the City of San Diego at no cost to a private company in order to maintain the Gliderport as a historical, non-powered flight park*. The original lease was granted for a period of 5 years beginning on August 1st, 1998 with an option to extend for another term of 5 years. This means that the current 5-year extension should expire on August 1st, 2008. Unfortunately, the original lease did not provide for any meaningful public oversight (other than a brief mention of the Torrey Pines Soaring Council) and this lack of oversight has let to numerous problems at the Gliderport. It is not clear how the City will proceed when the current lease expires. Contact with the City as recently as December 17th has not revealed the City's intentions. However, comparison with other current concession bids may be helpful. For example, on December 11th of 2007, the City issued an RFP (Request for Proposals) for several Surf Instruction Concessions. The current Surf Instruction Concessions expire on May 31, 2008, and the proposals for this RFP are due on January 29th, 2008. If the same time table is applied to the Gliderport, then the proposals may be due in April (4 months before the award date). Similarly, the RFP may be issued with less than two months before the submission deadline. That means the RFP could be expected in February of 2008. On the other hand, the lease agreement for the Gliderport may require more lead time than similar agreements for Surf Instruction Concessions. For that reason, the City's RFP for the Gliderport could easily be issued at any time from December 2007 through February 2008. Current Goal (January 2008)The current goal for this project is to identify the people and organizations who would like to participate in the bidding process for the 2008 lease (if it is offered). So far, several individuals have offered financial backing, and others have offered to participate in running the operation (some full-time and others part-time). But we have not yet formed a solid organization with well-defined leadership to organize the process. Anyone interested in those roles should contact Bob Kuczewski (858-204-7499) as soon as possible. We would also like to hear from various clubs and user groups whose members use the Gliderport. Ideally, these groups should also be involved in the process so that the next Gliderport lease provides a mechanism for all users to be represented at the Gliderport. Overall GoalThe Torrey Pines Gliderport is similar to many other parks in San Diego. It is a million dollar site that has been generously provided for those who love a particular form of recreation. It is also an ideal location for all businesses who cater to those who fly, and it should be made available for those businesses to use and to prosper. But the business use of the Gliderport should always be secondary to (and compatible with) the public enjoyment of this world-famous site. This is public land. It is OUR land and it should be managed for OUR enjoyment. The overall goal of this project is to restore that sense of ownership to all members of the public who enjoy the Gliderport while providing an opportunity for compatible businesses to thrive. |
