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Local rivers get state funding for better flood protection
Water district's plan showcases environmental preservation
By Kate Carter
Flood-prone areas of Willow Glen near the Guadalupe River and Canoas and Ross creeks moved closer to safety when Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill into law on Sept. 30 that will allow state money to partially fund a flood protection project on those waterways.
Assembly Bill 1147, authored by Assemblyman Mike Honda and sponsored by Assemblywoman Elaine Alquist, allocates state funds to reimburse the Santa Clara Valley Water District for 70 percent of their expenditures on the Upper Guadalupe River Flood Control Project, Water District Spokesman Mike Dimarco said. The project will implement ecological protection measures along the river from Interstate 280 in the north to Blossom Hill Road, as well as from Highway 101 to Interstate 880.
The Guadalupe River has flooded five times since 1982, most recently in 1998.
The Upper Guadalupe project will include levees, floodwalls, bypass channels and some channel widening that will protect an estimated 7,500 homes and businesses, six elementary schools and Highway 87-- over 2,200 acres--from the worst flood that could be expected within a 100-year period, Dimarco said. He said the project could prevent damage costs of up to $280 million.
Federal funds will match water district funds to pay for the $154 million flood control project that is scheduled to begin in 2004 and be completed by 2010, Dimarco said. The water district would not be able to cover their share of the costs without help from the state.
The bill makes available up to $50 million of state funds for the project, and also allocates state money to help fund eight other flood control projects throughout California, Honda representative Sheri Pemberton said.
The bill also reduces the amount of state funds available for local flood control projects from the current 70 percent to 50 percent beginning in 2002. However, flood control projects that meet specific environmental protection requirements would qualify to receive the previous 70 percent state funding.
Honda said that the Upper Guadalupe River project is a model for the kind of flood control projects that will be eligible for the 70 percent state funding. "It is one of the best flood protection projects statewide in terms of the quality of environmental protection and stream restoration," he said.
The project would also remove barriers that prevent chinook salmon and steelhead trout from migrating to spawning grounds, restore more than 13 miles of spawning and rearing habitat of the threatened fish species and add trees and shrubbery along the river. This would be another step toward the completion of a six-mile park and trail along the river connecting Almaden Valley to downtown.
The Upper Guadalupe project has been in the planning stages for 15 years. It is the next step of the water district's project to flood-protect the entire Guadalupe River that has already begun on the river north of Interstate 280.
Part of the proposed plan would include adding a channel east of the Guadalupe River from Interstate 280 to the north to Willow Glen Way and channel widening on the eastern bank of the river south to Almaden Expressway.
This proposal would likely require the relocation of the Elks Lodge on West Alma Avenue and Lelong Street, said Lodge President Chuck Doubleday. He said that they have been waiting six years for something to be done about the flooding in their parking lot near the river. He said they hope to work with the water district to sell their property and locate a new facility.
A two-thirds voter approval of the county's Measure B on the November ballot would authorize a 15-year tax to the water district to help fund local flood protection projects, including the Guadalupe River project, said water district Vice Chairman Tony Estremera.
If Measure B doesn't pass, the 70 percent state reimbursement, as well as the federal funding through the Army Corps of Engineers, for the project would be unlikely, said Yes on B campaign spokesman Rick Callender. "The federal government wants a local commitment," he said.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
