Proponents of a new stadium in Mission Valley have collected 108,000 signatures in support of the proposal, they announced Wednesday. The number is more than enough to get the issue in front of the San Diego City Council.
The group behind the proposal, La Jolla-based FS Investors, said they plan to circulate petitions for a few more days before submitting them to the City of San Diego.
FS hopes to build a complex with commercial and office buildings, housing, a river park and a hybrid soccer-college football stadium on 166 acres where Qualcomm Stadium is located.
The land is up for grabs after Dean Spanos moved his professional football team to Los Angeles.
"As many of you know, I did not support the Spanos Chargers measure for the downtown stadium because I didn't think it was a good deal, but I think this is a good deal for the City of San Diego and the people in it," said April Boling,former chairperson of the County Taxpayers Association and now treasurer of investor group Goal SD.
The so-called "Soccer City SD" project would include nearly 5,000 residential units, two hotels and a 55-acre river park along with the soccer stadium.
The City of San Diego requires signatures from at least 5 percent of registered voters before a referendary petition may be submitted. The registrar still needs to validate 71,646 of those signatures for it to get to the San Diego City Council for consideration.
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Once submitted, the petition may be approved by councilmembers or be put up for a public vote.
The project is likely to face challenges from other developers and environmental groups.
Major League Soccer (MLS) will decide by the fall on whether San Diego will be awarded a franchise.
