Quick Take
The emergency repairs to sections of the Pajaro River levee that breached and crumbled during last winter's floods have run into unexpected delays. A vow by the federal government to finish the project by late November has now been pushed to January/February, but could take until summer if heavy rains return to the region this winter.
When federal, state and local officials gathered to formally start repairs to the Pajaro River levee in late August, they made their announcement a few feet from the levee’s bank as tractors and bulldozers roared in the background. It was as if to say: See? The work is happening.
Holly Costa, emergency management chief for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said all three repair sites would wrap up by the end of November. That was deeper into the rainy season (October through March) than many had hoped, but at least the people and livelihoods around the Pajaro River could lean on a repaired levee for most of the forthcoming wet months.
Now, the people and businesses around the river will have to wait a little longer, or possibly much longer, before the levee is reinforced. Site 1, the location of the main levee breach, was completed last month. Everyone agrees that was the highest priority, with the biggest impact on life and livelihood. Repairs at Site 3, near Pajaro Dunes where the levee also breached and flooded agricultural land, are only in the early stages and could take until early January; Site 2, which sits under and around where Highway 1 crosses the Pajaro River and didn’t breach but was heavily damaged by rushing floodwater, does not yet have a contractor, and might take until February to complete.
Or, both projects might take until the spring and summer, said Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency. It will all depend on the weather.
This creates an unfortunate paradox for the region. A mild rain season makes the repairs less consequential but would allow crews to stay on site and more likely hit those early deadlines. A reinforced levee would be absolutely critical if the winter is packed with atmospheric rivers and heavy storms; however, such weather would likely force crews to halt construction and leave the levee incomplete until June or July.
“Sometimes things take longer than we want them to. This time, there is public safety and economic security at risk and no one is happy about that,” Tommy Williams, director of legislative affairs for the Army Corps of Engineers, said. “That’s troubling. We’re working to get this done as expeditiously as possible. This is the one and only priority for [the Army Corps] most days.”
Site 3 and Site 2 have run into different issues, Williams said. Site 3, near Pajaro Dunes, ran into some early delays through the process of acquiring land from private property owners. The main issue, however, has been removing water from the project area, which officials say is a key first step in the construction process.
Site 2 initially encountered delays after a Monterey County-owned sewer pipe was discovered in the area and had to be relocated. Strudley and Williams said the main culprit for the sluggishness has been negotiating with property owners. In order to access the land and perform the reinforcing repairs, the government first has to own the land. This acquisition has taken longer than expected.
Williams said no single person or specific property owner has been particularly difficult; however, he said the federal government’s process to acquire private land is thorny and vulnerable to these kinds of delays. He said the Army Corps is “imminently close” to finishing the land purchases and soliciting a contract for the project.
In a Nov. 15 letter to the Army Corps, Strudley and Monterey County Water Resources Agency head Ara Azhderian asked the federal agency to refrain from using San Mateo-based SEA Construction for the Site 2 project, because the company was already working on Site 3, and the local water agencies wanted the projects to happen concurrently rather than sequentially. However, Williams said the Army Corps will likely choose SEA Construction for the Site 2 project since it has worked on the previous two sites.
Congressman Jimmy Panetta, who represents much of the Central Coast in Washington, said he empathized with the concerns about delays. He said his office, as well that of Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who now represents Pajaro after 2021’s redistricting, has kept the pressure on the Army Corps of Engineers through weekly calls and regular updates.
“Considering what that community went through already, these types of fears about delays are understandable,” but also create pressure at all levels of government, Panetta said. “This type of project takes a lot of levers to be pulled and a lot of people.”
Sites 1 and 2 will eventually be replaced as part of the $600 million levee replacement project the federal, state and local government are taking on over the next five years. It’s a project the community has asked for over the past 70 years, since the disastrous levee breach in 1955. In November, the federal government and local officials signed an agreement that formally kicks off the project. The local flood management agency will now begin negotiating with private property owners to purchase land needed for the levee replacement. Construction is set to begin by summer 2024.
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