Conservancy calls for creek garden project
ESCONDIDO
The Escondido Creek Conservancy is calling for construction of a series of community gardens in the city, as part of the restoration of its namesake waterway.
The project aims to revitalize Escondido Creek as it runs through the city, lining the f lood control channel with a trail, linear park and other recreational features. Among those could be small local gardens “where residents of the city could be assigned small plots to grow vegetables, f lowers, and the like,” Conservancy President Richard Murphy recommended in a letter to Escondido Community Services Director Joanna Axelrod, who had requested details on the proposal.
The addition of gardens would serve multiple purposes, including adding green space, creating the opportunity for locally grown food, and increasing trail security, he wrote.
Murphy cited six locations as possible sites for the gardens. Those include the area next to the Escondido Transit Center, a site where the creek crosses Broadway; the stretch of creek between Juniper and Hickory streets; the segment between Fig and Date streets; a section of land at Ash Street and Washington Avenue; and an area along the creek east of Rose Street.
The city has been working with the conservancy on creek restoration for several years. In 2019, the city submitted a competitive grant for state funding under the California parks measure, Proposition 68, and was awarded $8.5 million for the project.
Escondido Creek f lows 26 miles from its headwaters in Bear Valley above Lake Wohlford, to the ocean at San Elijo Lagoon. For most of that leng th, it f lows in its natural course, but for seven miles through the city of Escondido, it’s contained within concrete embankments and lined with chain-link fence.
That structure was designed in the 1960s to control f loodwater, but the creek conservancy has argued that it divides neighborhoods and reduces quality of life for residents. In 2017, the Conservancy received a state grant of $355,000 to develop preliminary designs to restore Escondido Creek through Grape Day Park.