“Bonita,” former long term Supervisor Greg Cox often said,” is a state of mind.” When I moved here in 1966 Bonita Road was a two-lane winding road and children rode their horses down its center. Little by little, civilization crept into our valley, first with housing developers, then with shopping centers nudging small shops out. As the developers grabbed more land, a group of citizens got together and persuaded the County to get the developers to grant easements for trails. These trails, some of which are almost 60 years old, are still there.
Last year In-Site Property Group, who calls this building Secure Space Self Storage, has come up with a final plan that, when finished, will cover 131,200 square feet on three levels, with 119 stalls for recreational vehicles, and be located at the corner of Quarry and Sweetwater Road.
There are already 35 storage facilities within five miles of this proposed facility. Why add one more storage facility in a completely residential neighborhood?
Sweetwater Community Planning Group voted against the facility. The developer then went to the San Diego Planning Commission. Planning Group was there to represent the residents of Bonita and Sunnyside who were adamantly against it. The vote of the Commission was four to allow the project to proceed and three against the project. The three against the project felt the project site would be better used for housing.
Now the only way to prevent the storage facility from being built was to appeal to the Board of Supervisors. District One, which is the district Sweetwater is in, however, currently has no Supervisor to represent the residents of Bonita and Sunnyside. On April 9, 2025, at 9 a.m., Sweetwater Community Planning Group plans to take their opposition to having In-Site Property Group’s commercial self-storage facility built in their area to the County Board of Supervisors.
According to the County’s General Plan adopted in 2014, and Sweetwater Community Planning Group’s Community Guidelines, commercial facilities are to be built in the area for the use of the residents only. Most residents who live here have medium to large lots and really don’t need places to store things: they just build another shed.
Planning Group, along with many other throughout the County was established to rein-in developers from overrunning open space. Sweetwater is almost built-out: there is very little usable land to build on. With homeowners with land building ADUs at an accelerated rate, with still more housing needed, what little land is available for building should be used for housing. When reached for comment, Felix M. Felix, Chair of Planning Group stated, “Storage units are contrary to the recent movement to build more homes not only in San Diego County, but in the state of California. Planning Group also fears construction of such a massive project along a rural road would cause serious traffic issues.
Quarry Road, where the project would be built, is an undeveloped strip of asphalt that is so narrow that cars cannot easily turn around without going into one of the four driveways available to do it. In-Site has promised to widen the road, but the plans only show it being widened for the distance of their property without regard to the rest of the road. Another issue with this development is the RV parking. The intersections from Quarry Road to Sweetwater Road, which is a two-lane at that spot, is tricky at best, and downright dangerous at worst. “If there are one hundred nineteen RVs at the facility,” local resident Stephen Stonehouse, former Co-Chair of Planning Group said, “can you imagine the mess along Sweetwater Road if they all decided to leave at once due to an emergency such as a wildfire? They alone would block one of the major exits from the Valley.” Sweetwater Road at this spot is on a very steep incline. It could be very taxing for recreational vehicles to safely use.
Since this facility is within two miles of the Spring Valley Swap Meet, if vendors from the swap meet choose to store their supplies or equipment at this facility, there would be a massive traffic jam on Saturday and Sunday morning and evening, while swap meet people come and go, which would directly impact equestrians accessing their horses, going to shows, or just riding, as they are forced to use Sweetwater Road at the same time. Should there be an accident involving a horse van or trailer the results could be catastrophic.
When this first came before Planning Group, neighbors from the immediate surrounding area came to the meeting as well as many residents of Bonita and Sunnyside. They were all soundly against it. Eighty letters of complaint were sent to The County explaining why it was not wanted in the area. Among those complaints were, “it’s an eyesore”, “it doesn’t follow the community plan”, “the building will disturb the nearby horses even after it is constructed with its loud roll-up doors, noisy air conditioners and night lights.”
This writer, along with the Sweetwater Community Planning Group, and with many area residents, are planning to take their A game to the Supervisors hoping that they will see that a rural residential area is not a place for a humongous storage facility.
Elizabeth Stonehouse resides in Bonita.
