County officials blocked a proposal by the Pajaro River
Watershed Flood Protection Authority that could have forced local
residents to pay for the levee system in Santa Cruz County.
San Benito and Santa Clara County officials stymied an attempt
by Monterey and Santa Cruz counties to suggest the state should
consider charging San Benito and a portion of Santa Clara County to
help maintain the levees along the lower Pajaro River.
County officials blocked a proposal by the Pajaro River Watershed Flood Protection Authority that could have forced local residents to pay for the levee system in Santa Cruz County.
San Benito and Santa Clara County officials stymied an attempt by Monterey and Santa Cruz counties to suggest the state should consider charging San Benito and a portion of Santa Clara County to help maintain the levees along the lower Pajaro River.
With a 4-4 vote, officials from San Benito and Santa Clara counties who sit on the flood protection authority’s board deadlocked with Monterey and Santa Cruz officials over a proposal to amend a letter to the state’s Department of Water Resources. Officials believed the letter, if changed, could make it appear San Benito and Santa Clara Counties were partially responsible for the 1998 floods that overflowed the levees and washed out portions of Pajaro, Watsonville and the Moss Landing area.
During Friday’s meeting of the flood protection authority, officials from San Benito and Santa Clara counties objected to the proposed change in the letter to the DWR because it opened the door for the two counties to be taxed by the state to pay for the care and maintenance of the levees in Santa Cruz County.
Local officials said the assumption by Santa Cruz and Monterey counties that development in San Benito and southern Santa Clara counties from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, contributed to an increase in the flow of water in the Pajaro River during the 1998 floods.
“An independent consultant, hired by the flood protection authority, examined the water flow and his report said the upstream counties (San Benito and Santa Clara) had no significant impact on water flow,” San Benito County Supervisor Richard Scagliotti said at a previous meeting.
The statement was confirmed Friday by one of the flood protection authority’s staff members who said the current development and planned uses in the two counties did not impact the water flow, saying, “We have a lower water flow now than we did in 1947,” the staff member said Friday.
Santa Cruz County Supervisor Tony Campos said despite the way that it may appear to some people, Santa Cruz County was not trying to force San Benito or Santa Clara to pay for the maintenance of the levees.
“I’m not looking at San Benito County and Santa Clara County to raise a bunch of money and giving it to us to fix our river,” Campos said. “It’s not a question of raising $500,000 and handing it over to Santa Cruz County to put in the river, that wouldn’t be fair.”
But Campos said a tax on San Benito and Santa Clara Counties could help them raise money to pay for their flood prevention projects.
“The primary concern is whether San Benito and Santa Clara counties have a direct benefit from us because of all the water going into the drainage ditch,” Campos said. “Maybe there is less water going in the river now than there was in 1947, but in 1947 the river was designed to go to a 30-year life, but now we have less than a seven-year life.”
The levees have become an issue recently as Santa Cruz County has become strapped for funds during continuing state budget problems. Santa Cruz cannot afford to maintain the levees and officials are proposing to abandon their previous obligation to maintain the levees, Santa Cruz County Public Information Officer Diana Phillips said.
“The county is requesting that the state take back control of the levees,” Phillips said. “It is because of a combination of monetary considerations and conflicting regulations from the Department of Fish and Game.”
The Pajaro River Levee system was built in 1949 by the Army Corps of Engineers following a devastating flood in 1947. It was intended to protect communities along the lower Pajaro River from winter flooding.
The levees were supposedly strong enough to survive a 100-year flood – the largest flooding an area experiences every 100 years.
However, within six years of being built, the Pajaro River flooded its banks causing millions of dollars worth of damage.
Since the levees were built, there have been six separate major flooding events along the Pajaro River and its tributaries, which includes the San Benito River, and several communities are still trying to recover from the floods of 1995 and 1998, Campos said.
