Publication Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Tackling the sinuous creek
Tackling the sinuous creek
(March 31, 2004) Creek gradually invading nearby property
by Bill D'Agostino
The playground at the Children's Health Council sits innocently inside a sharp S-curve of the San Francisquito Creek.
During the dramatic winter 1998 storms, the nonprofit lost 15 feet of land as rushing water pounded against the shores. A fence that used to be far from the creek now stands perilously close to tipping into the stream.
Hoping to deter the impulsive creek from tearing more earth away during the next big storm, the local government agency responsible for the creek is hoping to partner with the Army Corps of Engineers to stabilize the banks at this curve, located near Sand Hill Road.
"The issue is that people are losing property," said Cynthia D'Agosta, the executive director of the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority. If left untamed, the creek will eventually ram straight through the curve, D'Agosta pointed out.
Last Thursday, the JPA's board unanimously decided to apply to the Army Corps of Engineers for up to $1 million in federal dollars to tame this section of the sinuous creek.
Bank stabilization is also an important component of flood control, since debris and built-up sediment can block water flows, D'Agosta pointed out. During those 1998 storms, the creek jumped its banks in parts of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, causing more than $28 million in damage.
The Army Corps is expected to let the JPA know within the year if it will accept the project.
The JPA hopes to use environmentally conscious means of steadying the creek -- primarily plants and wood as opposed to concrete and rock. Some concrete and rock structures will be used underneath the water in some parts of the curve.
Logs and plants with strong roots will be some of the potential weapons in the JPA's and the Army Corps' arsenal.
"It's an ambitious project," said Jim Johnson, the creek's streamkeeper, who watches over the creek and its habitat. "I hope it works."
The project would be the first of its scale on the local creek, and is meant to demonstrate similar techniques for other potentially affected creek homeowners.
Six homeowners with properties on the Menlo Park side of the creek are also a part of the project. The creek forms the border between Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
Local matching dollars will also have to be contributed to the project, although a $315,000 grant should cover much of that. The Health Council, property owners, Stanford University, local cities, and the JPA will contribute other funds, under a cost-sharing arrangement to be determined.
A study of the creek's banks was the JPA's initial project when it was created in 1999, following flooding that occurred in the year before. Homes and buildings should never have been built as close to the creek as they are, D'Agosta said.
Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com
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