ESCONDIDO – Three unincorporated properties near the border of Escondido will receive city sewer services in anticipation of a future annexation.
Two of the properties within San Diego County are near the southern limits of the city, while the third is to the north. The properties rest on 2.94 acres of land combined, according to city documents.
The Escondido City Council unanimously voted to execute emergency Out-of-Agency Sewer Service Agreements with the properties as part of the consent calendar at the April 8 meeting.
The largest of the properties contains a 576-square-foot, single-family residence developed in 1945 at 3216 North Broadway, according to the documents. The 1.23-acre property rests north of the city.
The existing septic system had failed due to high seasonal groundwater, according to a letter dated April 22, 2025 from Conner Jordan, environmental health specialist with the county.
Jordan wrote that the Department of Environmental Health and Quality “determined that there is no suitable location on the property for [a] replacement” onsite wastewater treatment system.
Given the proximity to both groundwater and Reidy Creek, he wrote that the department requested the property connect to a local water agency “as soon as possible to minimize the risk to public health and the environment.”
The larger of the two properties south of the city was developed in 1990 as a single-family residence on a 1.09-acre site using underground septic disposal, according to the documents.
In a letter dated Nov. 12, 2025, Cara Schiksnis, environmental health specialist with the county, wrote that the septic system at 2417 Haas Street “has failed and is in urgent need of replacing.”
Schiksnis wrote that the leach field was “particularly encumbered by intrusive roots” which do not allow for proper drainage and that the property had “limited usable area” for a replacement while the public sewer alternative exists within 100 feet of the home.
The third property involves a split lot. The 0.62-acre property at 452 Bear Valley Parkway exists in an unincorporated part of the county, according to the documents.
This property received the 452 address after being split from 450 Bear Valley Parkway. The 450 address has an existing Out-of-Agency Sewer Service Agreement with Escondido and is connected to its sewer system as a result of a 2022 septic system emergency.
City Manager Sean McGlynn wrote, in a letter dated Sept. 13, 2024, that the 452 property is “within the City’s sphere of influence in advance of a future change of organization to annex the property” and adjacent to existing infrastructure.
McGlynn wrote that the “property owner would be responsible for all connection costs and fees.”
Formal annexation of the properties into Escondido were not included in the council’s actions and would have to occur at a later time.
