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Update: The hearing has been postponed until July 9.
By Karen Pearlman
June 13, 2025 (Rancho San Diego) – Technical difficulties with audiovisual needs postponed the San Diego County Planning Commission meeting today, delaying for at least a month an agenda item about a controversial sand mine being planned for East County.
The 9 a.m. meeting at the county’s Operations Center on Overland Avenue had three items on the agenda, including the sand mine proposed for part of the Cottonwood Golf Course in Rancho San Diego.
The County’s Planning & Development Services department, which analyzed the project with plans, zoning ordinances and other regulations, including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), is recommending denial of the project.
The group wrote in a report that they found the project “to have a harmful effect on desirable neighborhood character and that the site would not be suitable for the proposed type of development.”
More than 200 local residents packed the county auditorium Friday morning to give testimony and share concerns about a 10-year plan to mine the area along the Sweetwater River off Willow Glen Drive in the Valle De Oro Community Plan Area, but were turned away just after 10 a.m.
County officials could not assure that the California Brown Act would be upheld and the meeting open for public participation, according to Josan Feathers, a registered civil engineer and member of the Valle De Oro Cottonwood Subcommittee, who was at the hearing. People who planned to view or participate remotely were unable to do so due to the technical difficulties.
Barry Jantz, part of the Stop Cottonwood Sand Mine coalition looking to stop the project, said that the group was disappointed as it is well prepared to oppose the sand mine, but that the extra time could be considered a positive.
“With school out, there’s more opportunity for folks to attend, maybe with their kids,” he said.
The project seeks to unearth 4.3 million cubic yards of sand (about 6.4 million tons) on nearly 215 acres of the 280-acre golf course site, with mining in different phases in a 10-year period.
Another phase taking two more years would involve cleanup, equipment removal and a final reclamation.
County staff is recommending that the mining plan is rejected. See hearing report: https://shorturl.at/Hzsy7
The project site extends approximately 600 feet east of the intersection of Willow Glen Drive and Jamacha Road, to approximately a quarter mile west of the intersection of Willow Glen Drive and Hillsdale Drive.
The developer says the sand is needed for highways and construction locally, and will reduce the need to import sand for such projects.
Thousands of residents signed petitions and voiced opposition to the project, voicing concerns over water and air pollution, noise, traffic, impacts on local wildlife, potential property value declines and more.
The Valle de Oro Community Planning Group earlier this year voted 11-0 to recommend denying the project. The group also voted 10-1, with one abstention, to not agree with a design exception review to waive the undergrounding overhead utilities along Willow Glen Road.
At a Valle de Oro community meeting in March, residents, business owners and even San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District leadership expressed concerns about potential adverse health effects, environmental impacts and increased traffic along important community thoroughfares.
Los Angeles-based investor Michael Schlesinger purchased Cottonwood in 2015, four years after the golf course filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Representatives for the project have shared in a statement that “the Cottonwood Proposal would ultimately transform a defunct golf course property into 200 acres of permanent, preserved open space for the community to enjoy;
“In the near-term, it would provide critically needed sand supplies for housing and infrastructure projects through a phased approach that reduces community concerns around views. Creating a local sand supply at Cottonwood is a win for the San Diego region because it would reduce the increased costs and environmental damage caused by trucking sand in from outside the region and Mexico.”
Schlesinger has been planning to mine the site of the former Cottonwood Golf Course since 2018.
The golf course runs along the Sweetwater River watershed -- a nearly 230-square mile region that goes from the Cuyamaca Mountains out to San Diego Bay. Groundwater from its lower basin is also linked to the watershed. The site is upstream from a federal wildlife preserve.
Sweetwater Authority, which oversees the water in the region, has expressed concern in the past about the project’s impact on water levels and quality.
Correction: An earlier version of this story listed New West Investment as a co-purchaser of the property. In an email to ECM, New West Investment states, "We didn't purchase Cottonwood. We helped the owner in the beginning of the project, but we are no longer involved and haven't been involved in over 10 years since he first got a permit. Since then we haven't received any compensation or have any invested interest in the Cottonwood Sand Mine....Our name was on a permit and since then we get bombarded with hate mail and people mentioning us at the city meetings, but we don't own Cottonwood and haven't been involved in over 10 years. We thought we'd help the owner with a permit, but since then it's been a headache with the community thinking it's us who's trying to mine the Cottonwood Golf Course. We don't have any interest in this project. "
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