Countywide : Funds Sought for Area Projects

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) has asked a congressional panel to approve $7.4 million for flood-control and harbor improvements throughout Ventura County next fiscal year.

Gallegly asked members of the House Energy and Water Development subcommittee on Wednesday for aid to improve the Port of Hueneme and Ventura Harbor and to plan flood-control projects on Calleguas and Santa Paula creeks.

The projects “will have the dual effect of providing flood control and economic development benefits for Ventura County,” Gallegly said in a written statement.

The lion’s share of the funding would go to Ventura Harbor, with $1.2 million for annual dredging and another $4.8 million to complete a breakwater expansion to make the entrance safer. Congress allocated $500,000 last year to begin construction of the project, which has been opposed by the Ventura chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

Gallegly also called for $350,000 to continue a study that began last year on the possible deepening and widening of the entrance to the Port of Hueneme.

He also requested nearly $1 million to study ways to prevent the flooding of Calleguas Creek and protect Mugu Lagoon, which is downstream from the creek, and to plan a project to protect the city of Santa Paula from flooding on Santa Paula Creek.

The hearing before the House subcommittee was the first step in a lengthy congressional budget process for the next fiscal year , which begins Oct. 1.