CA’s LAKE COUNTY — The contract with an engineering company to develop a project to clear gravel and silt buildup from the levee channels protecting the town of Upper Lake was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The Lake County Watershed Protection District Board of Directors approved Water Resources Director Scott De Leon‘s request to waive the county’s formal bidding procedure and sign an agreement with Peterson Brustad Inc. for engineering design services for the Clover Creek Bypass Gravel Removal Project without having to go through the formal bidding process.
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The Folsom-based business will receive $44,820 in compensation for the work. The agreement’s duration expires on March 31, 2023. The Middle Creek Flood Control Feasibility Study, which addresses the Middle Creek and Clover Creek diversion levees, the diversion structure, and the Old Clover Creek closure structure in Flood Zone 8, was completed by the company Peterson Brustad. The work is still in progress.
The modelling carried out last year and shown in a video on the feasibility study showed that if the levees broke, it could be devastating for Upper Lake, as Lake County News has reported. Those levees do not offer protection in 100-year flood events. Last week, a special session on the levees was held at the Western Region Town Hall.
According to De Leon, the contract calls for the creation of preliminary drawings for the Clover Creek bypass as well as for the entirety of the Clover Creek and Ally Creek facilities in Upper Lake. According to De Leon, those waterways’ levees were built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s.
De Leon claimed that one of the initiatives chosen to address the levees’ condition is the removal of the “large gravel buildup within the channels.” De Leon, however, stated that before moving forward with that project, his organisation needs to have preliminary blueprints to establish the project’s scope, which includes how many yards of waste must be removed. Additionally, they must begin the preparatory environmental work.
“That is all crucial to writing grant applications,” he said. The project would be highly expensive, therefore we need as much information as we can, he continued. De Leon suggested using Peterson Brustad because the firm is already conducting a feasibility assessment of the entire creek region, has been investigating the levees, and has been simulating how the levees function in various storm scenarios.
They, therefore, have complete topographic data on the channels. According to De Leon, there are prospective funding sources for the extraction project, including the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At the Western Region Town Hall on June 15, which Lake County News attended, that choice was explored. Jim Rienstra, an NRCS representative who participated in the conference via Zoom, affirmed that the organisation could finance the project through its initiatives.
The sooner we can complete some plans and a project description, the sooner we can start looking for grant money to try to complete the project, according to De Leon. He continued, “We also think that an extensive environmental evaluation will be necessary.”
Bruno Sabatier, a supervisor, stated that he didn’t necessarily concur with the grounds for waiving the bid procedure, stating instead that it was more of an adjustment to the existing contract with Peterson Brustad. Additionally, according to Sabatier, there isn’t currently an emergency, but one could arise if the area receives a significant quantity of rain.
County Counsel Anita Grant argued that the applicable exception would not have any economic effect and that Sabatier was correct about the exemption from competitive bidding. The county should consider removing gravel from all nearby creeks, according to supervisor Moke Simon, as it is accumulating everywhere and has an adverse effect on everyone.
It’s crucial to remove some of this gravel from our waterways, he said. In response to Simon’s assertion, Sabatier recognised that it is a bigger problem and enquired as to whether the same procedure being utilised for Upper Lake’s levees may be applied elsewhere.
De Leon remarked, “That’s a tremendously challenging question. It’s conceivable. He claimed that while he didn’t believe the environmental work could be reused, the plan could. According to Peterson Brustad, the feasibility study explored the inclusion of buildings or locations where gravel would gather rather than entering the canal and obstructing it.
According to De Leon, there are several design possibilities that could be applied in this situation. A project for routine maintenance could also be carried out. The board voted 4-0 to support Sabatier’s motion to waive the bid-process requirement and permit contract signing.
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