Why the Arbolitos Flood Control Basin should remain as it was designed, Part 2

Don of Poway wrote:

The reason there is a flood control basin is this.

a. When it rains hard, and it will, water from upstream is retained in the basin so that it does not run down and flood the residential and commercial areas downstream.

b. Without the basin it was common that the water channel overflowed. That was even before there was a Target shopping strip mall or a Twin Peaks Road too. Heck Pomorado Road was two lanes without sidewalks. The shopping areas and the residence areas downstream were huge puddles mainly because the channel runs downstream under paved areas near the intersection of Pomorado and Poway Roads.. Safeway in 1978 (now Big Lots) and sections of Pomorado Road and Oak Knoll Road were under water. Now, with the build up of more and more paved areas upstream the retention basin is vital and must remain capable of holding back flood water.

c. Technology to drain the artificial turf will only add to the runoff, therefore not do what the basin is designed to do: flood control.

d. The channels downstream have never been widened or made deeper. The channel under the shopping areas on Poway Road and under Pomorado Road have never been altered in 30 years.

e. The channel is "cleaned" of rubbish and growth twice a year. Should a heavy rain fall occur before the channel cleaning, all that stuff will dam up the channel and create an even greater potential for flooding. Like Oak Knoll Road for example.

f. Letting artificial turf drain into the channel and not function as a flood control basin defeats the primary purpose of the basin: to hold rain water and prevent flooding.

g. The fields were placed on the basin as an secondary use of the basin, not as the primary purpose. Altering the primary purpose of the basin puts the residences and commercial areas downstream at risk.

Why the Arbolitos Flood Control Basin should remain as it was designed

Don of Poway wrote:

This issue just doesn't seem to go away. One representative after another wants to forget these points.

1. This is a flood control basin. There continues to be further construction upstream that prevents water soaking into the ground and creates more run off. Where will it go? To the basin of course.

2. The statement by one of the proponents of artificial turf stated, "We will be able to use the fields after a heavy rainstorm where we can't now, because the rain won't pool on the artificial turf as it does on the natural grass." If that were true it's because the turf has to drain the rain water away and where will it go? The idea of the basin is to hold and retain rain water, not have it run off.

3. Computer models of lighting do not model the noise, parking issues, congestion, night time hassle, garbage, and potential detriment to the peaceful quiet residential neighbors. It's a nice idea to save money by doing computer modeling of the lighting, but it avoids all the other related issues.

4. "If not Arbolitos, then where?" This was a mantra brought up at the Council and seemingly endorsed by the mayor. Well how about a mantra of "If this isn't a residential neighborhood, then where?" It seems ridiculous to turn a residential neighborhood into a raucous sports environment simply because some, who aren't even Poway residents, want to play at night. How about putting the night-lit sports park in Waldon's backyard?