Otay Mesa ( ) is a community in the southern exclave of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, just north of the U.S.–Mexico border. It is bordered by the

Otay River The Otay River () is a river in southern San Diego County, California. The river begins at San Miguel Mountain, flows through the Upper and Lower Otay Reservoirs, and continues on between the southern part of the Chula Vista and the Otay Mesa ...

Valley and the city of

Chula Vista Chula Vista ( ; , ) is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. It is the second-most populous city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh-most populous city in Southern California, the 15th-most populous city in the ...

on the north;

Interstate 805 Interstate 805 (I-805) is a major north–south List of auxiliary Interstate Highways, auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. It is a bypass (road), bypass auxiliary route of Interstate 5 in California, I-5, running roughly t ...

and the neighborhoods of Ocean View Hills and San Ysidro on the west; unincorporated

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...

on the north and east including

East Otay Mesa East Otay Mesa is an as-yet undeveloped area in the South Bay region of unincorporated San Diego County, California. It is located along the northern side of the Mexico–United States border, with plans for future developments, including a bo ...

and the

San Ysidro Mountains The San Ysidro Mountains are a mountain range in southern San Diego County, California, and Baja California, Mexico. The mountains are a rugged coastal foothill range of the Peninsular Ranges system. Major peaks include the highest summit of the ...

; and the

Otay Centenario Otay Centenario is a borough of the municipality of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico. It is the result of a merger between the former boroughs of Mesa de Otay and Centenario which took place on January 1, 2014. The borough is located east of ...

borough of

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

, Mexico, on the south. Major thoroughfares include Otay Mesa Road/

California State Route 905 State Route 905 (SR 905), also known as the Otay Mesa Freeway, is an state highway in San Diego, in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of California. It connects I-5 and I-805 in San Ysidro to the Mexican border at Otay Mes ...

, Otay Valley Road/Heritage Road, Siempre Viva Road, and

California State Route 125 State Route 125 (SR 125) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves as a north–south route in San Diego County. It runs from SR 11 and SR 905 in Otay Mesa, near the Mexican border, to SR 52 in Sa ...

. Otay Mesa is the second-least walkable neighborhood of San Diego.

History

''Otay'' is derived from the

Kumeyaay language Kumeyaay (Kumiai), also known as Central Diegueño, Kamia, 'Iipay Aa, and Campo, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of southern San Diego and Imperial counties in California as well as five Kumiai communities in Baja ...

. Although its meaning is disputed, possible derivations include "otai", meaning "brushy"; "Tou-ti" meaning "big mountain"; or "etaay" meaning "big". ''Mesa'' is the Spanish word for

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

, table or tableland. Aviation pioneer

John J. Montgomery John Joseph Montgomery (February 15, 1858 – October 31, 1911) was an American inventor, physicist, engineer, and professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, who is best known for his invention of controlled heavier-than-air ...

made the first controlled flights in the western hemisphere using a series of gliders from the west rim of Otay Mesa in 1883/1884. The area which now includes Otay Mesa was annexed from

along with other portions of South San Diego in 1957. Additional annexation of almost four thousand acres was approved in 1985. Since 2010, seven cross-border tunnels have been found linking warehouses in Otay Mesa with entry points within Mexico.

Climate

Otay Mesa has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Bsk'') with mild winters and warm, almost rainless summers.

Border crossings

The

Otay Mesa Port of Entry The Otay Mesa Port of Entry ( Spanish: ''Puerto de Entrada Mesa de Otay'') is one of three ports of entry (POE) in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region, in the U.S. state of California, connecting Otay Mesa in San Diego with the Otay Cen ...

is one of two border crossings within the city of

, the other being the

San Ysidro Port of Entry __NOTOC__ The San Ysidro Port of Entry (aka the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry or the San Ysidro LPOE) is the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, and the fourth- busiest land border crossing in the world (second-busiest exc ...

six miles to the west. Trucks are generally instructed to use the border crossing in Otay Mesa instead of the San Ysidro one. Otay Mesa also houses an immigration detention center. Two miles east of the Otay Mesa border crossing in the unincorporated area of

, the new

Otay Mesa East Port of Entry The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry is a planned border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, approximately two miles east of the existing Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The crossing will connect the Otay Centenario borough of Tijuana with East Otay Mes ...

is planned to be in service as early as 2028. The

Cross Border Xpress The Cross Border Xpress (CBX) is a border crossing and port of entry that connects San Diego in the United States and Tijuana International Airport in Mexico. Operational since December 2015, CBX consists of a terminal building located in the ...

(CBX) is a terminal serving and a pedestrian bridge crossing to the main terminal of

Tijuana International Airport Tijuana International Airport (); officially ''Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez'' (General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport) , is an international airport located northeast of downtown Tijuana, Baja Califo ...

. This crossing has a facility in Otay Mesa. It was established by Otay-Tijuana Ventures LLC and had a cost of $78 million and opened in 2015. CBX makes Tijuana Airport the world's first geographically binational airport, because unlike the binational airports serving the Swiss cities of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

(entirely on French territory) and

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

(entirely on Swiss territory), the CBX terminal is physically located in the United States but serves an airport whose main terminal and runways are in Mexico.

Highways

(Future I-905)

Other landmarks and facilities

Located 1.5 miles north of the Mexico-United States Border, is the 603 megawatt Otay Mesa Energy Center, which came online in 2009. This

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

will be joined with the Pio Pico Energy Center peaker, which will generate an additional 300 megawatts. Pacific Gateway Park is located between Otay Mesa Road and the international border. Five major law-enforcement facilities are located in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the Otay Mesa region: * the state's Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility * Otay Mesa Detention Center, privately operated by CoreCivic, formerly called Corrections Corporation of America(CCA) * the George Bailey County Detention facility * the East Mesa Detention facility, operated by the City of San Diego * and a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement firearms training complex used by the FBI, the Customs Service, and local police forces *

Education

Otay Mesa is in the San Ysidro School District (SYSD) and the

Sweetwater Union High School District Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) is a school district headquartered in Chula Vista, California. The union high school district serves over 42,000 high school-aged students and over 32,000 adult learners. Overseen by a five-membe ...

(SUHSD). Public schools in and near Otay Mesa include: * Finney Elementary School * Juarez Lincon Elementary School * Los Altos Elementary School * Howard Pence Elementary School * Silverwing Elementary School * San Ysidro Elementary School The area is zoned to Montgomery High School.
Shown as approved
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References

External links

Otay Mesa community profile, city of San Diego

* ttp://www.sandiego.edu/tbi Trans-Border Instituteat the University of San Diego
Mesa de Otay Delegation, Tijuana, Mexico (In Spanish)
{{Authority control Neighborhoods in San Diego South Bay (San Diego County)