Year in Review: Trash fees, Lake Hodges among the hot topics in Rancho Bernardo in 2025

From new trash fees to new sports fields, Lake Hodges Dam concerns and rallies tied to national protests, Rancho Bernardo had a number of big issues in 2025.

* * * * *

The first in a two-phase delivery of new trash and recycling bins began in Rancho Bernardo on Oct. 28, when gray trash bins were delivered and the black bins they were replacing were removed.

In Rancho Bernardo, the delivery of gray bins was expected by city officials to take a few months. Delivery of light blue recycling bins, to replace the dark blue versions, is to happen next spring.

The delivery was the physical manifestation of a new reality for 9,237 Rancho Bernardo property owners, who as of July 1 have to pay hundreds of dollars annually via their property taxes for city trash pickup. They are among 225,000 trash customers citywide.

As of early December, more than 75,600 addresses had gray bins delivered, officials said.

Another 20,000 properties citywide that had been receiving city trash service were told they were ineligible and would need to contract with a private hauling company.

In November 2022, voters narrowly approved Measure B, which repealed the People’s Ordinance of 1919 that did not allow the city to charge for trash service at most single-family homes along with many small townhome and apartment complexes.

Many city residents were not happy with the vote result, but anger intensified this year when many accused the City Council of a bait-and-switch since fees approved by the council were nearly double the estimated amount presented to voters. The reasons given for the low estimate were the city realizing it was costing more to provide trash service than initially thought, and there were roughly 60,000 fewer eligible customers than calculated.

It led some residents to file a lawsuit in May against the city in an attempt to block the fees. Their legal complaint claimed Proposition 218, a 30-year-old state ballot measure that prohibits government agencies from charging more for services than their actual cost, was being violated.

While they were not successful in halting the fees implemented as of July 1, legal challenges are ongoing.

The new monthly fee homeowners are being assessed through their property taxes is determined by bin size. For the 2025-26 year, the 95-gallon gray bin has a monthly fee of $43.60. The 65-gallon bin monthly fee is $38.94 and the 35-gallon gray bin monthly fee is $32.82. There is no change in fee if the blue recycling or green bin for organic waste is of a different size.

However, there is an extra fee for service if multiple bins of any color are requested for the property.

The fees are scheduled to rise in subsequent years.

A challenge for the city is that four times more customers than expected requested the smallest bin and lowest fee. Around 9% requested a 35-gallon gray bin, while city officials anticipated 2% would. This means less revenue for the city and officials have said if they knew this, the fees for all customers would have likely been set higher. Around 12% of customers requested the mid-size, 65-gallon bin.

In the fiscal year 2026 property tax bills, all households paying for the city’s trash service are being assessed $523.20,the fee for one year of service for those with a 95-gallon gray bin. Those who chose a smaller bin will be credited for the difference once their new bin is delivered.  Those credits are to appear on the 2026-27 property tax bill, city officials have said.

A subsidy program has yet to start to help those who are low-income.

Prior to July 1, the city charged customers $70 for additional black bins, or if the bin was being replaced due to damage, being lost or stolen. There was also a $25 delivery fee if the customer could not pick it up. The delivery fee also applied to blue and green bins. Those fees are no longer being assessed due to the new monthly trash fee.

“We’re excited for customers to experience the benefit of these new containers — newer bins will be less prone to breakage, feature helpful recycling labels to make sorting easier, and come in updated colors to help drivers quickly identify which containers to service,” said Jeremy Bauer, assistant director for Environmental Services.

He added, “Each new container also includes a scannable tag to help the city track performance and continually improve service, a key part of our commitment to serving customers better every day.”

Trash customers were to set up an online portal, where they could select bin sizes and sign up for notifications. As of early December, around 52% — nearly 116,000 — had done so. For details, visit sandiego.gov/trash or call 858-694-7000.

* * * * *

Rancho Bernardo Community Park gained two new multipurpose fields this summer, with their July 15 opening bringing a controversial project to its conclusion.

The roughly 35,000-square-foot fenced-in area was created on the former lawn bowling green that had been closed for a decade.

The space was divided in half to form two smaller fields – dubbed fields 9 and 10 — separated by an existing sidewalk that runs between them. Two new drinking fountains and a new irrigation system were also installed, while several existing benches were repainted.

The city-owned 38-acre park along West Bernardo Drive now has 10 sports fields due to the addition.

Among those present for the ribbon cutting and to be the first to enjoy it were members of the Friday Night Lights flag football program.

“This is a great addition … It is tough to find space to practice and we needed the extra fields,” said Kenny Sacks, who coaches his children’s flag football teams.

In December 2023, the Rancho Bernardo Community Recreation Group voted to recommend the space be turned into a grass field even though Ed Brown Center for Active Adults representatives had proposed 16 pickleball courts that the center wanted to run to raise operating funds. The Brown Center would have funded the court construction.

The City of San Diego was scheduled to complete the grass conversion early last year, but the designated city money was diverted after flooding in the southern part of San Diego in January 2024.

With the grass field project stalled, Brown Center representatives made a second attempt to get the space adjacent to their center for pickleball courts. But when about 80 supporters filled the rec group’s September 2024 meeting, they learned new funding had been secured. The month prior, the San Diego Parks Foundation had received an anonymous $250,000 donation specifically for the creation of a sports field. With the field project now fully funded, that ended the Brown Center’s hope for the space being turned into pickleball courts.

Recreation officials said in addition to sports, the fields are available for other uses, including picnicking, summer movie nights and community events, such as the park’s annual egg hunt.

* * * * *

The Rancho Bernardo Community Council voted on Sept. 4 to support an effort started by residents living around Lake Hodges who advocate for raising the lake’s level by 13 feet.

They say keeping the water level to 280 feet, at least 35 feet below the Lake Hodges Dam spillway, has led to extensive vegetation growth in the former lake bed. This has greatly increased the risk of wildfire devastating Rancho Bernardo and other communities adjacent to the lake, they said.

The RB council decided to send a letter to the San Diego County Water Authority board expressing strong support for not only restoring the Lake Hodges Dam, but maintaining the lake at a 293-foot operating level “to reduce wildfire risk.”

The Raise Lake Hodges Citizens Advisory Committee first presented its reasoning for raising the water during the council’s Aug. 7 meeting. The committee’s members were speaking to various community groups to rally support.

Since a 2023 state order that declared the dam to be in “unsatisfactory” condition, the dam has been kept below its 315 feet above sea level maximum. When full, it creates 1,234 surface acres of water in Lake Hodges. Over the last four years, around 12 billion gallons of water have been released.

As of July 21, the lake was 15% full, according to the city’s website, even lower than the 280 feet level allowed, due to a lack of rain in the region.

The long-term goal is to replace the dam built in 1918. But City of San Diego officials estimated that might not happen until at least 2034, if funding for the projected $474 million to $679 million endeavor is available. Around $260 million was available as of this summer, but since part of it was contingent on construction starting in 2028, some could be lost in the future. In addition, construction costs are likely to increase.

In August, the San Diego County Water Authority announced it no longer wanted to pay half of the replacement because of increased cost, further jeopardizing the dam’s replacement.

The city has stated there is no imminent threat of the dam’s failure. It is also making repairs to address deteriorated concrete.

Noting this, and citing their own experts, the advisory committee members claim wildfire is much more likely and damaging than flooding due to dam failure following a 7.0 or higher earthquake.

“The chance of a devastating fire coming through the area is about 35% to 50% over the next 10 years,” Kevin Kidd, committee member and president of the Del Dios Town Council told the RB council in August. “The chance of an earthquake coming through the area is less than 1%.”

The City of San Diego has not removed the trees and grasses that have grown over hundreds of acres of the lake in the absence of water. In the Rancho Bernardo portion of Lake Hodges, adjacent to West Bernardo Drive and spanned by the David Kreitzer Lake Hodges Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge, the lake was filled with water in years of sufficient rainfall.

During years of drought, when the water level dropped, trees grew in the lake bed, but when water returned following heavy rainfalls, the trees lost all their leaves and were just bare trunks and branches. With the lake now being kept low, the area is once again filled with trees and grasses that the advisory committee said present a wildfire hazard.

* * * * *

Political expression against President Donald Trump and his administration came to the streets of Rancho Bernardo this year as at least four rallies tied to national events were held at intersections along Bernardo Center Drive.

These were in addition to regular rallies often held for many years by both Republicans and Democrats at frequently traveled intersections in Poway.

On April 5, a “Hands Off” rally drew around 1,500 people to Bernardo Center Drive, according to RB resident Susan McCormick, a volunteer with the grassroots organization Invisible.

The group’s website states that its mission was “to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy and defeat the Trump agenda.”

On April 19, an estimated 700 gathered in RB to express their displeasure with Trump and Elon Musk. Their signs and chants demanded accountability from the Trump administration and unhappiness with Musk’s leadership in the Department of Government Efficiency effort. There were no counter-demonstrators observed at this rally.

Invisible organized the RB rally, along with others that day throughout San Diego County. This included rallies in Carlsbad, El Cajon, Encinitas, Escondido, Oceanside, Ramona and San Marcos.

A “No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance” protest drew an estimated 3,000 participants on June 14, lining both sides of Bernardo Center Drive from Lomica Drive to Rancho Bernardo Road. Among those in attendance were members of the Poway Democratic Club.

It was one of more than 2,000 similar events held the same day as a military parade in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday, which coincided with Trump’s 79th birthday.

Another “No Kings” protest was held nationally on Oct. 18. This time around 5,000 protesters were estimated to converge along Bernardo Center Drive with signs stating their opposition to the Trump administration.