Flood of Relief in Lakeside as Project Tames Los Coches Creek

It was nearly seven years ago when the heavens opened up and the waters of the normally meek Los Coches Creek rose in wrath, washing out roads and bridges, sweeping away outbuildings, drowning livestock and pets, leaving three feet of mud and silt in the living rooms of more than one rural ranch home and stranding more than 250 people.

It was the worst damage recorded in the county during the winter storms of 1979-80.

In the wake of the floods came a moratorium imposed by the county Board of Supervisors on the Los Coches Creek lowlands--a 50-square-mile strip along the creek as it passes through the rural communities of Flinn Springs and Blossom Valley to the center of Lakeside and to the banks of the San Diego River.

That moratorium, imposed Dec. 17, 1980, was lifted Tuesday by a 4-0 vote of the county supervisors, an action expected to bring an avalanche of building permit requests from developers who have been waiting for six years for completion of a flood control channel along the unpredictable stream.

Supervisor George Bailey proposed the resolution lifting the building freeze as an off-docket urgency measure that, upon its approval Tuesday, went into effect immediately. He pointed out that the six-year building ban could be ended because of the nearing completion of the $8.6-million Los Coches Creek flood control channel, paid for with federal, county and property owner contributions.

The channel, started May 8 with an estimated construction period of 18 months, is expected to be completed by the end of January--less than half the predicted time. Flood plain construction, which was controlled by banning all subdivision of land or lot splits, is expected to boom with the completion of the 1.8-mile-long concrete channel designed to protect the valley against floods of the greatest magnitude.

Flooding is nothing new to the Los Coches Creek area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began its study of the flooding problem and possible solutions in the early 1970s at the urging of the county board, but a flood control project was rejected because the benefits did not justify the costs. Then came the devastating floods of 1978, 1979 and 1980, which caused major property damage but provided a silver lining for flood-control efforts by producing a favorable cost-benefit ratio and winning Corps of Engineers approval and $4 million in federal funding for the channel.

During the intervening years, costs of the project have grown to about $10 million. About 10,300 property owners in the area are paying an average of $29 per year per single-family home in a five-year benefit assessment plan to raise $2.3 million for the project.

A formal dedication ceremony for the channel is planned for late January.