Summer 2011, Volume 57, Number 3 - San Diego History Center

The Journal of San Diego History
The flooding caused the major landowners in the valley to propose a plan
to the city that would comply with the city’s new floodway regulations, safely
accommodate floods such as occurred in 1978 and 1980, and allow them to develop
their prime properties between the SR-163 and I-805 freeways. 38 This was the
start of planning for the first major flood control project in the valley, which
eventually carried the name, First San Diego River Improvement Project (FSDRIP),
affectionately pronounced “FizzDrip.”
This concept required some major work by the City Planning Department
but, by early 1982, the plan was completed and the Environmental Impact Report
for the project was ready for circulation. 39 The entire plan was approved by the
city council on November 16, 1982. It became a part of the newly prepared Draft
Mission Valley Community Plan, which had been six years in the making. 40 The
specifics of the proposed FSDRIP plan were embodied in a separate document,
the San Diego River Wetlands Management Plan. 41 The latter document included
floodplain concepts for all of Mission Valley eastward to Zion Street, not just for
the FSDRIP portion.
With the plans approved, the city was well into the process of acquiring all the
many permits needed to begin construction of the FSDRIP project by 1984. Work
was soon underway, and the project was completed in the early 1990s (Figure
14). Even before it was completed, there were good indications that it would be
a biological success. 42
Fig. 14. The FSDRIP channel nearing completion, November 1989. Photo by P.R. Pryde.
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