Flood Control Philosopher : Official’s Views Are at the Forefront of Conservation

Say the words “flood control district” to most environmentalists or wildlife biologists and the outcome is frequently predictable: They bristle, or as one biologist put it, they “pull out their hair.”

After all, it has been the flood control districts of the nation that stripped vegetation from barrancas and built concrete ditches to replace streams, washes and in some cases, rivers.

But in Ventura County the top Flood Control official has earned a different reception in most circles.

Alex Sheydayi, deputy director of public works in charge of flood control since 1991 and a 30-year employee of the district, takes a much broader approach to his job and to the environment than have his predecessors, many developers and environmentalists agree.

“Flood control districts have often been at odds with the (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service” said Cat Brown, a Ventura-based biologist with the service. “But Alex is progressive. He doesn’t see protecting the environment and flood control as opposing objectives. He doesn’t see the only way to provide flood protection is to destroy a river by encasing it in concrete.”

Brown said that at one time, it was her job to act as liaison with Ventura County agencies.

“Some of the biologists working with other nearby counties were pulling out their hair because the flood control districts were too entrenched to even consider doing business a different way,” Brown said. “I used to wonder what they were complaining about. But I found that Alex’s philosophy was very different from other directors.”

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One example of his progressive approach came after the great storms and floods of 1992, which killed a homeless man when he was swept down the raging Ventura River and claimed the lives of an Oak View couple and their unborn child when a hillside slid into their home.

The owner of the Ventura Beach RV Resort, whose river bottom park turned into a sea of damaged or destroyed motor homes, was pressing Sheydayi and the district to clear the river of its considerable vegetation.

Owner Arnold Hubbard claimed that the vegetation, and not the location of his RV park in the river’s flood plain, was to blame for the damage to his property.

“He’s not entitled to any protection,” Sheydayi said in an interview after the floods. “He’s in the river bottom. We don’t protect people who intentionally go and build in the river bottom.”

Mark Capelli, executive director of the Friends of the Ventura River and a biologist who teaches at U.C. Santa Barbara, said a less broad-minded man would have looked at the situation differently.

“I think almost any other district would have used that opportunity as an excuse to go in and engage in traditional flood control activities,” Capelli said, citing brush clearing or altering the channel as typical actions.

“Alex is extremely bright, he’s honest, he’s practical and he gives you straight answers,” Capelli said.

In addition, Sheydayi is at the forefront of conservation in working to develop watershed management plans for the county’s main waterways--plans that look beyond a single problem related to one development and instead evaluate and plan for the entire area that feeds the rivers and creeks.

“We were sitting in a coffee shop in Oakland after a watershed conference, and Alex remarked that there are not many other flood control districts interested in this,” said Reed Holderman, program manager with the California Coastal Conservancy. “I told him, ‘Alex, you’re probably the only district in the state that is this far along with this kind of planning.’ ”

But a group of Newbury Park residents say Sheydayi was neither open-minded nor progressive when it came to their concerns about a debris catch basin being constructed near their homes.

Michelle Koetke, a resident and activist in Newbury Park, said her group of homeowners could not get the Flood Control District’s attention to voice their concerns.

“We were ignored on all of this,” she said. The district should have done an environmental impact study on the large catch basin before the project was built, whether or not it was required by law, she said.

“If it’s not illegal, it’s at least sleazy,” she said.

Albert Cohen, who has been at odds with the Flood Control District for more than 10 years over property he and his family want to develop in Newbury Park, said his problems with the department predate Sheydayi’s tenure as the district’s leader.

“In fact, Mr. Sheydayi has been very helpful to us,” said Cohen, whose family has sued the city of Thousand Oaks over the proposed project. “He looks at a problem with all possible points of view and he has been able to come up with some ingenious solutions.”

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Sheydayi expressed surprise at Cohen’s response. “You mean he didn’t say I was a jerk?” he laughed.

At 57, Sheydayi is fit and calm despite 13- and 14-hour work days. His work still presents a challenge, though he is sometimes frustrated at the lack of time he has to devote to all his projects.

But he has many interests that take him outside his role as engineer. He is a builder and remodeler at home; he and his wife of 35 years, Joan, like to folk dance; he enjoys travel and is a serious lover of classical music.

“That’s often what we talk about when I see him,” Capelli said. “One of the first times I ran into him outside of work was at a Mozart concert.”

Born Alexei Sheydayi in 1937 in Iran to an Azerbaijani father and Russian mother, Sheydayi’s first language was Russian.

That was followed by Farsi, the language of Iran, and then English. But he also learned some French, German and Italian--”enough to get by”--at a boarding school run by Italian monks that he and his brother attended after his mother died.

As a fair-skinned, freckled child in Iran with a distinctly Russian name, Sheydayi (he pronounces it SHAY-day) said he stood out as a foreigner and was teased by other children. “Kids would kid me about my name, they called me Alaska,” he said.

He came to the United States to earn a bachelor’s degree. He studied at the University of Arizona and, as his father did before him and his son did after him, Sheydayi became an engineer.

Sheydayi is the father of three and grandfather of five, counting twin girls born to his daughter in San Diego last week.

Joan Sheydayi describes her husband as a “modest man, kind of reserved.”

But she also uses the same word that his boss, Arthur Goulet, picks to describe Sheydayi: brilliant.

“He’s always thinking of better ways to do things,” said Goulet, the director of Public Works for the county. “I characterize him as a brilliant guy. The only criticism I’ve ever heard about him is that he’s brusque and rigid. But he’s not really, it’s just that his mind moves so fast.”

When Sheydayi wanted to become the co-chairman of a Santa Clara River watershed management plan, which includes more than 20 farmers, property owners, developers, environmentalists and other diverse interests, Goulet said he discouraged him.

“I told him that was a death wish,” Goulet said, referring to the problems involved with bringing so many points of view to the same negotiating table. “But he said if we get something out of it, it would be worth the trouble.”

After 30 years, Sheydayi said, he occasionally thinks about retirement.

“I think about it from time to time, but not very seriously,” he said. When first asked about a legacy he would leave, he dismissed the idea.

But on reflection, he added: “I have always pressed for a high standard. I insist we do a good job. I guess I’m somewhat persnickety about that.”