To cut flooding risk, O.C. to repair levee

The Orange County Board of Supervisors declared a local emergency Tuesday amid concern that a crumbling levee in Huntington Beach could fail in heavy rain, threatening as many as 400 homes and exposing the county to millions of dollars in liability.

The levee forms the north side of a channel that slices through Huntington Beach near the environmentally sensitive Bolsa Chica wetlands. Although homeowners in the area said they had no recollection of flooding, county officials said the situation was precarious.

Supervisors voted unanimously to begin a $10-million repair job on the East Garden Grove-Wintersburg Channel that calls for shoring up a 3,800-foot section of the levee from roughly Graham Street to the channel outlet near Pacific Coast Highway.

The county will ask the California Coastal Commission to issue an emergency permit, but flood control design manager Phil Jones said officials would begin repairs with or without one. He said the job probably could be completed in 75 days.

Metal sheets 15 inches deep, 22 inches wide and 45 feet long will be driven through the roadway on top of the levee to form a barrier to hold back the water. Jones said the sheets should prevent water from soaking through the earthen levee, which has been damaged by erosion and gophers. Temporary repairs were made in 2005 after big winter storms soaked the county.

Supervisor Bill Campbell blasted the Coastal Commission for failing to act on an application the city filed more than eight months ago for the levee repair. He said the agency was “out of line” by delaying the request to make repairs to the levee.

Supervisor John Moorlach, whose district includes the flood channel, said the decision to move expeditiously “was not made cavalierly” because homeowners’ lawsuits could cost the county tens of millions of dollars if the levee breaks.

“If the commission says remove [the plates] and anything happens, then they have to pay” for damages, Moorlach said. “I would think that at the end of the day the Coastal Commission will concur with what we’re doing.”

Coastal Commission officials could not be reached for comment.

A report by Orange County Flood Control District staff said commission officials inspected the levee recently at the district’s invitation “in hopes that they would recognize the seriousness of the situation.” The report concluded that the deteriorating levee required prompt attention. The commission’s request for more detailed mitigation plans for three environmentally sensitive areas, including a nearby eucalyptus grove, affected by permanent repairs contributed to the delay in approving the application submitted in January, Jones said.

The wall of metal that will be pounded into the levee was not part of the original construction plan, but Jones said he hoped the structures would “be part of the permanent solution.” The plan is also to pack dirt on the land side of the levee to reinforce it, he said.

Moorlach said his office had received e-mails and letters from homeowners concerned about flooding and the condition of levees in his district.

But Tuesday, there were few worries about either a flood or the levee among homeowners living close to the channel. If anything, most were upset over having to pay flood insurance.

Shea Homes, which wants to build 170 homes on 40 acres east of the wetlands and alongside the north levee, made the county aware of the levee’s degraded condition after the 2005 storms, said spokesman Laer Pearce. The builder received a building permit in 2002 from the Huntington Beach City Council and has been waiting since 2003 for Coastal Commission approval to begin its project, Parkside Estates.

On Tuesday, county supervisors voted to bill Shea, other landowners and government agencies that will benefit from the repairs. Pearce said the company had budgeted $15 million for flood-control improvements that would benefit all nearby homeowners.

Huntington Beach officials required Shea to repair or rebuild the area of the levee that borders the project. But county staff said the builder was not likely to get Coastal Commission approval for levee repairs quickly, and the county should move forward with the repairs.

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