Oceanside Residents can Influence San Diego's Growth with Interactive Website (Video)

Oceanside Residents can help decide what the landscape of Oceanside and San Diego County will look like for decades to come.

Tuesday, the San Diego Foundation launched, Show Your Love for a Greater San Diego, an interactive website that allows citizens to learn and choose how they’d like the planners to build the community.

Users can see how the Oceanside Sprinter station might change under different scenarios and choose their favorite. 

Foundation members find it important for residents to take part because of the region's expected growth. With projected 40 percent growth of population in the next 40 years in San Diego County, the county will need 400,000 more homes and 500,000 new jobs, according to the foundation.

Site users will use a moveable slider selecting how they stand on certain issues, or they can choose to remain neutral. Results will show renderings of what different scenarios would look like in real life and charts will show information such as carbon footprints and economic distribution. 

“This is an opportunity to really weigh in on the future,” said Mary Ball, vice president of Our Greater San Diego Vision. “It is something that’s fairly easy and simple to do and (citizens) can really be a part in what the future of the region will look like.”

In addition, residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on other topics, including:

• Redeveloping the Qualcomm Stadium into a new housing and job center
• Building homes on Rancho Guejito, one of the largest pieces of undeveloped land in the County
• Easing building height restrictions near the coast to allow for more density
• Developing a world class sports and entertainment complex to attract major cultural and sporting events
• Deciding if the region wants a new international airport
• Deciding on a new University in Chula Vista to spur job creation and higher education

The process takes minutes for the user to complete each portion and it can be completed in separate sittings.

The $2.4 million in project costs was provided by local companies, nonprofit organizations and community leaders Ball said. The foundation would like a large and diverse pool of opinions, so it is reaching out to sectors of the community, including seniors, minorities and refugees.

The site is expected to be live until mid to late January.

How would you like to see San Diego County change? Tell us in the comments.

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