For years, Tom Ritz watched a dirt drainage ditch near his La Mesa home creep closer and closer to his house, gradually swallowing most of his yard. Now, construction crews are finally replacing that eroding channel with a concrete drainage system designed to stop the damage for good.
Ritz, who has owned his home at the corner of Johnson Drive since 1988, said he raised concerns with La Mesa city leaders as the erosion worsened over time. According to 10News, heavy rain accelerated the problem, and by the time crews arrived, the dirt ditch had consumed most of the family's yard. Ritz said he feels ecstatic about the construction now underway near his property.
Neighbor Laura Lothian described the condition of the ditch as absolute destruction before the fix began, per the same report. She said the drainage problem is finally being addressed after years of watching it grow worse. Ritz told the station the new drainage system is being installed exactly where the dirt ditch used to run.
From Open Dirt Ditch to Underground Concrete Pipes
City records show the La Mesa City Council approved changes in April 2026 intended to stop the erosion and drainage problems from worsening. Specifically, on April 14, the council approved a resolution accepting Bid 26-06 for the Johnson Drive Drainage Improvement Project and awarded a $230,420 construction contract to MJC Construction, according to city meeting documents filed with eScribe.
Engineering plans for the site at 9019 Johnson Drive call for replacing the eroding open dirt channel with a double reinforced concrete pipe system to convey stormwater, with the ground surface above the pipes restored to a native condition once work wraps up. The completed project will create a concrete drainage path intended to prevent the ditch from further consuming the Ritz family's yard, and the new infrastructure is engineered to accommodate a 100-year storm event in accordance with the city's Master Drainage Plan and General Plan Goal SE-1, according to city planning documents published on OpenGov.
Bidding, Funding, and Environmental Clearance
Getting to this point required both money and regulatory sign-off. When La Mesa advertised the project for public bidding in March 2026 against an initial engineer's estimate of $150,000, six construction firms submitted bids, with MJC Construction landing the lowest responsive base bid — one that still came in more than $80,000 over the city's original projection, per the eScribe filing.
To cover the gap, city officials transferred $150,000 in regional TransNet sales tax allocations from Fiscal Year 2027 into Fiscal Year 2026 and appropriated another $128,160 in unallocated roadway drainage funds under Capital Improvement Project No. 8503, the same eScribe records show. Before any of that construction money could be spent, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a formal notification to proceed on February 25, after the city determined the project was categorically exempt from environmental review under Section 15304 of the California Environmental Quality Act.
A 2024 Storm Left Its Mark Across East County
The urgency behind the Johnson Drive fix traces back to a historic regional rainstorm on January 22, 2024, when La Mesa received 3.89 inches of rainfall over three days as part of an atmospheric river that produced the fourth-wettest day in San Diego's recorded history, according to KPBS. That flooding eroded the ditch's banks near the Ritz property and worsened conditions that had already been building for years.
The storm's impact stretched well beyond one La Mesa backyard. The extreme weather forced Level Three Emergency Operations Center activations in La Mesa and surrounding East County cities, ultimately contributing to a federal disaster declaration DR-4758-CA after damaging more than 1,000 homes regionwide, per an after-action report from the County of San Diego.
Part of a Wider Drainage Overhaul
The Johnson Drive project is one piece of a broader municipal push to shore up aging stormwater infrastructure across La Mesa. In February 2024, the city council approved allocating federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, including $513,420 dedicated to the Boulevard Drive and 69th Street Storm Drain Infrastructure Capital Project, according to The East County Californian.
La Mesa's Capital Improvement Program also includes the La Mesita Park Drainage Repair project, which will replace failing corrugated metal pipe with 940 linear feet of new storm conveyance line, per the city's OpenGov planning documents. Together, the projects reflect years of deferred maintenance on drainage systems that buckled under the 2024 storm and left residents like Ritz waiting for relief.
For now, the sight of crews digging up the old dirt ditch outside his home is enough. Ritz has said the ongoing work finally gives his family peace of mind after years of watching flooding and erosion threaten the property he has called home since 1988.
