Blog
May Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WEDNESDAY May 28, 2025 MEETING:
Meeting held at Cocina del Charro, 1020 West San Marcos Blvd, San Marcos, CA. The meeting was called to order by Vice-President Dave Caron at 7:05 PM
Our guest speaker for the evening was Jeff McNamarra, Vice President of McNamara Pump and Electric Inc.. He was introduced by David Caron, our Vice-President.
The following items were discussed: *Jeff is now the owner of the company, (started by his father in 1978), having worked his way up to primary system designer. *He provided two handouts, The first was for “Submersible Pump Station Design: Engineering and Field Practices”. *The second dealt with design data including friction losses in various sizes and pipe materials; the selection process for choosing the correct pump based on sewage flows; dealing with power requirements; Simplex and Duplex systems. It also included charts for flow rate calculations, basin sizing, electrical power needs etc. *I’m sure that Jeff will prove to be a terrific resource for all of your questions regarding pump systems.
OTHER NEWS
The May Board of Director’s meeting was held at Broken Yolk Restaurant on Las Posas Road in San Marcos on May 1, 2025. Our next meeting will our social event and will be held on June 25,2025 at the Draft Republic in San Marcos.
ATTENDANCE/MEALS USED: 22-people attended our meeting representing 12 member firms. The following firms have used all of their free meals, Civil Engineering Consulting Services, Civil Landworks, Marc Boogay, Rancho Coastal Engineering, PLSA, San Dieguito Engineering, S.R. Clarke Landscape Arch., The Sea Bright Co., Tory R. Walker Engineering, Value Engineering, U.C. Iacuaniello II, Will Rogers Landscape Arch., and Wynn Engineering. Please note that if you haven’t used all of your free meals, there are only 2 meetings left to use them, (June is our Social and July we are dark).
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM.
Bob Sukup, Secretary
April Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WEDNESDAY April 30, 2025 MEETING:
Meeting held at Cocina del Charro, 1020 West San Marcos Blvd, San Marcos, CA
The meeting was called to order by President Tory Walker at 7:15 PM
Our guest speaker for the evening was Colm Kenney, Senior Civil Engineer at Universal Engineering Sciences (UES) in their
Escondido office. He was joined by Debbie Brock, their Business Development Manager. He was introduced by David Caron, our
Vice-President.
The following items were discussed:
- Colm’s discussion was centered around Geotechnical issues.
- He talked about the need to do a good site reconnaissance and then implement adequate soil testing/investigation to know what
you are dealing with. - In today’s world Storm Water management has become a big deal with onsite treatment/detention basins. The basins are
typically ending up on the compacted pads which reduces the infiltration which in turn reduces the detention times. - You can only do so much. It is also very important to place the detention basins away from the structures on site and away
from the top of fill slopes. - Good drainage facilities are critical.
- During the course of the presentation Colm answered multiple questions from the audience
OTHER NEWS - The April Board of Director’s meeting was held at Broken Yolk Restaurant on Las Posas Road in San Marcos on April 3,
2025. - The County of San Diego Development Services approached us regarding our support for their projected increase in
processing fees. They want full cost recovery which we will not support without accountability. The President wrote a
letter on our behalf expressing our dissatisfaction with response and plan check times and explaining the reasons for not
supporting their proposal. - Dennis Howe in the County’s Land Development Section indicated to a couple of our Board Members that people are
filling in their Bio Basins. These bio basins in new construction are required and are meant to promote water infiltration,
water detention and enhanced water quality discharge. It’s a real problem for the County to see these basins destroyed - Our next meeting will be held on May 28,2025 and our speaker will be McNamara Pump.
ATTENDANCE/MEALS USED: 24-people attended our meeting representing 12 member firms. The following firms have used
all of their free meals, Civil Engineering Consulting Services, Civil Landworks, Marc Boogay, Rancho Coastal Engineering, PLSA,
San Dieguito Engineering, S.R. Clarke Landscape Arch., The Sea Bright Co., Tory R. Walker Engineering, Value Engineering, U.C.
Iacuaniello II, Will Rogers Landscape Arch., and Wynn Engineering. Please note that if you haven’t used all of your free meals,
there are only 3 meetings left to use them, (June is our Social and July we are dark).
The meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM.
Bob Sukup, Secretary
March Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WEDNESDAY March 26, 2025 MEETING:
Meeting held at Cocina del Charro, 1020 West San Marcos Blvd, San Marcos, CA
The meeting was called to order by Vice President David Caron at 7:12 PM
Our guest speakers for the evening were Joe Napier and Justin J. Lofredo of the Valley Center Fire Protection District. He was
introduced by Gary Wynn, our Past-President.
The following items were discussed:
- Fire Chief Joe Napier let us know they were more that higher up paper pushers. The night before they were both called out to
a fire at 2:00 A.M. that needed their attention. - Growth in the region is here and their job is to make sure that it is Safe Growth. They spend a lot of time reviewing the Fire
Code and interpreting it. - In the Big Picture they not only are looking out for the safety of the neighborhoods, but also the safety of their Fire Fighters.
Justin Lofredo is the Fire Marshal and he reviewed requirements for Senate Bill (SB63) a new bill, dealing with Fire Hazard
Severity Zones. The bill has some very specific requirements such as:
A. The first 5’ around a new structure has to be concrete or a non-flammable material (Zone “0”).
B. The 5’ to 30’ area around a house has to have low combustible plants and be irrigated.
C. Attic vents need to be ember resistant.
D. They are looking for 100’ defensible area around the house with a checkered planting pattern from 30’ to 100’.
These apply only to certain designated fire risk areas. - They are reviewing all of the existing access roads for steep grades, sharp turns that may impede their equipment to navigate,
and secondary access and exits which is crucial for all. In some cases, they are looking to see if they can possibly get two
secondary outlets. - They are currently reviewing the 2025 Code which will go into effect on January 1, 2026. They urged us to review the new
code and get any concerns to them so that they can possibly be modified. - Both Joe and Justin were both professional and passionate in what they do.
- Joe forwarded us a link on the Fire Hazard Severity Zones:
https://fire-hazard-severity-zones-rollout-calfire-forestry.hub.arcgis.com/pages/about-fhsz-in-lra
that includes a power point discussion of the Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
OTHER NEWS - The March Board of Director’s meeting was held at Broken Yolk Restaurant on Las Posas Road in San Marcos on March 6,
2025. - Our next meeting will be held on April 30,2025 and our speaker will be Colm Kenny of UES who will be speaking on
Geotechnical issues.