As it stands now, approximately 3,700 feet of the Bradley Canyon Extension Levee remains incomplete—but not for long.
With help from the office of Congresswoman Lois Capps, the city of Santa Maria successfully advocated for levee repairs to protect approximately 20,000 properties from flooding.
On Feb. 8, Capps announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allocated more than $6 million in federal funding to finish the remaining section of the Santa Maria River Levee, providing protection against flooding to the city of Santa Maria.
“I am delighted that the Army Corps of Engineers has provided the necessary funding to complete construction of the repairs to the Santa Maria levee that protect our community from flooding,” Mayor Larry Lavagnino said.
The 6.3-mile stretch of levee that was strengthened over the last two years was funded through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. The 3,700-foot section, which extends east of the Santa Maria Regional Landfill, was mistakenly left out of the original planning.
The estimated cost of completing this project is $11 million. The city of Santa Maria must contribute about $4 million, and a financial proposal is in the works; it will go before the Santa Maria City Council and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in March.
Funding for the project completion has been a top legislative priority for the Board of Supervisors. In May of last year, Lavagnino and Utilities Director Rick Sweet went to Washington, D.C., where they pled their case to representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In December 2010, Capps pushed the Obama Administration to include funding for this critical project in its 2012 budget plan.
“This is extremely good news, as it will eliminate the need for homeowners in Santa Maria to purchase additional flood insurance,” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said.
Aside from providing protection against a 100-year flood, completion of the levee will also relieve homeowners from collectively having to pay millions in insurance premiums as required by the Federal Emergency Management Association.
FEMA draft maps from 2007 show that about 17,000 structures north of Betteravia Road would be flooded during the seemingly inevitable 100-year flood. The agency is currently working to update these maps.
While city officials believe completion should only take a couple of months, it’s not yet clear if the project will be finished this summer or later in the year. The city and the county will soon be meeting with the Corps to develop a construction timeline.
The Corps originally built the levee, and maintenance falls to Santa Barbara County.
“This is a major victory for Santa Maria homeowners and small businesses and for our local economy,” Capps said. “This has been a wonderful collaboration, and I’m looking forward to seeing construction work start again as soon as possible.”
This article appears in Feb 16-23, 2012.