If the Santa Clara Valley Water District can produce a completed
design, maybe the federal government will finally cough up its
share of funding for a long-stalled project that would protect
downtown Morgan Hill from flooding.
Morgan Hill
If the Santa Clara Valley Water District can produce a completed design, maybe the federal government will finally cough up its share of funding for a long-stalled project that would protect downtown Morgan Hill from flooding.
At least that’s what the district and the city are hoping, as they have a tentative agreement to share the cost of the $6.6 million design and Environmental Impact Report for the remainder of the Llagas Creek Flood Protection Project.
Construction on the project, the intent of which is to prevent flooding along the banks of Llagas Creek through south Santa Clara County, began in the 1950s with the federal government as the lead sponsor and the water district as the local sponsor.
About half the project along the lower part of the creek running through Gilroy is complete, but since 1999 the remainder has stalled due to a lack of federal funds, according to officials from the city and the water district.
The water district board voted in February to proceed with the design phase, whose costs will be split with the city. Last week, Morgan Hill councilman Larry Carr was in Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress to appropriate the remaining $80 million or so that is needed for construction.
Carr, who was in D.C. for his full-time job at San Jose State University, said he and Morgan Hill Recreation Department Director Steve Rymer, who also happened to be there on personal business, met with staff for Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein. They also met with the deputy chief for the Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the need for funding.
He said they presented photos of the damage caused by floods in downtown Morgan Hill in January 2008, and everyone they spoke with understood the importance of the Llagas Creek project.
Arranging such meetings “puts that personal feel on what a project like this means to a community like Morgan Hill,” Carr said.
Although the city is not responsible for any costs or work, it has offered to pay for about $3 million of the water district’s design and report work in order to hasten the process and illustrate the importance of the project to Congress. In fact, the design work approved by the district board is normally a federal responsibility and local jurisdictions are hoping to be reimbursed in the future.
“We’ve said we would pay for half just to encourage the project to move ahead,” said Morgan Hill Director of Public Works Jim Ashcraft. “We think it’s at a critical stage such that we (and the district) need to spend $6 million so the federal government can see the design.”
Morgan Hill is susceptible to flooding from Llagas Creek during heavy rains. The downtown area flooded during storms in January 2008. This project, which would consist of widening the creek in areas likely to overflow, would prevent such floods, Ashcraft said.
The city council has not yet approved the funds and will probably vote on the issue in the next two to three months, Ashcraft said. He added the money will likely come from the city’s redevelopment agency.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the assessment, design, and construction of about 12.5 miles of remaining creek improvements. The water district has to come up with about $50 million to pay for acquisition of property and easements, and relocating utility lines, bridges and culverts that are currently in the way, according to water district’s Deputy Operating Officer Katherine Oven.
The design and report, which will be conducted by hired consultants, could take at least two to three years, Oven said. However, it is unlikely that the federal government will be prepared to do its part by then.
“The future funding isn’t that secure right now,” Oven said. “We’re not sure if Congress will appropriate more funds.”
There was some hope that funding for the local project would be available from the federal stimulus bill that was approved by Congress in February. But Oven said that money is likely to go only toward projects that are “shovel ready,” and the Llagas Creek project is not.
The water district’s $3.6 million share of the design process will be paid for with funds collected from the Clean Safe Creeks program, a parcel tax approved by local voters in 2000, Oven said.
Currently, the total projected cost of the remainder of the project is about $130 million, according to a staff memo presented to the water district board in February. Oven said in 1999, the projected cost was about $50 million.
