Drainage Improvement Planned for San Miguel Road

San Miguel Road has been the discussion of many a meeting regarding traffic concerns when the rainy season hits. The abundant water can make the road dangerous for drivers. It also is a concern to about three or four homes on the south side of the street because their properties are well below the road and water always flows downward.

At the April 1st, 2025 Sweetwater Community Planning Group meeting, three speakers from the County gave County Stormwater Updates. They were Kamilah James (Watercourse enforcement—creek), Moises Pinedo (Sweetwater Regional Park—ballfields drainage) and Samir Nuhaily (San Miguel Road drainage).

The County Stormwater Update was presented in about twenty minutes. That information may be found in the SCPG Minutes of April 1, 2025, item 8.

I asked if I could speak. That granted, I spoke for about 30 minutes on the state of the watershed in Bonita-Sunnyside. Luis De La Rosa and I have walked many of the creek beds and surrounding areas and are compiling a record of our findings. I mentioned that there were 16 sources of water dumping into the seasonal San Miguel Creek when legally only one was allowed.

Boardmembers Michael Garrod and Patty O'Mara suggested a subcommittee/ad hoc with a County engineer agreeing to meet as soon as possible, within the week if feasible. The ad hoc would include homeowners and SCPG members.

On May 6, 2025, the Sweetwater Community Planning Group created a San Miguel Community Watershed ad hoc committee to work with the County of San Diego to study the topic.

The ad hoc committee members selected were Mike Clowers, Luis De La Rosa, William Estrella, Alex Melchor, Harriet Taylor, Judy Tieber and myself. All the members selected live on San Miguel Road or in close vicinity except for Harriet Taylor and Judy Tieber.

In case you're not familiar with the term "ad hoc committee", it's a temporary group formed to address a specific topic and is disbanded once the task is completed. These committees are formed for a short period of time to tackle problems not covered by standing committees.

The contact person at the County is Leanne Crow, P.G. QSD, Project Manager for the County of San Diego, Department of Public Works, Capital Improvement Program.

We had our first zoom meeting on Wednesday, May 15, 2025. I joined the meeting a little late because I couldn't connect. I was wondering why everyone was so quiet but I asked a lot of questions and before long the others joined in. (I later found out that Judy Tieber—nominated by Mark Kukuchek to head up the committee—had instructed the group not to talk. I missed that direction being late).

During the meeting, Ms. Crow presented the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) shown below. I had missed the first five pages and asked if Ms. Crow could email me a copy and I would share some of my photos with her. Ms. Tieber interjected that everything had to be sent to Ms. Tieber. I felt like this was a little burdensome to inject a middle man into every action. Having sat on several ad hoc meetings in the past, I know that they are typically free-flowing and not this rigid.

This zoom meeting was a little uptight with members not allowed to speak. Ms. Tieber yelled at Ms. Taylor at one point and a fight ensued. I was embarrassed to be a witness to the squabble, especially with Ms. Crow on the call. I felt it was extremely unprofessional.

At the June 3, 2025 SCPG meeting, Ms. Tieber presented the slide show—as if it were her own—without giving credit to Ms. Crow. At that same meeting, Ms. Tieber thrashed out at me for voicing a concern about ad hoc leadership on other issues down the road.

Volunteerism should not be this hard or this insulting. I resigned from the ad hoc committee the next day.

Here is Ms. Crow's presentation. If you click on the first image, it will enlarge it and allow you to move through the entire presentation by using the arrows.

The committee voted for alternative 3. I was told that Alternative 3 would route the water to an existing storm drain on Loma Del Sol. I was not told about the curb inlets but I know the San Miguel Road residents do not want curbs. That has been voiced many times.

I have inquired of Ms. Crow if the water will go into a pipe and be whisked away or go into the San Miguel Creek. I have not received that information as of yet. I will now ask her about the curb inlets.

I have met with two individuals who shared their concerns with me and said that additional creek water will affect them and their neighbors. That story and photos will be coming soon.

If you have a San Miguel Creek issue, send it to sunnysidecommonsense@gmail.com along with your contact information. We will meet with you, listen to your concerns, take photos and file it in our record for future use.

You can also add comments to this article and get the conversation going.

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