In order to protect the Barron Park neighborhood from a 100 year flood, the residents on McGregor Way and Ilima Way have been living with noise, fuel fumes, dust and loss of privacy for nearly two years.
"It's been terrible. We haven't been able to enjoy our backyard for two years," said McGregor Way resident Julianne Schreiner.
Julianne and her husband Rod are both retired, so they are home much of the day when the heavy trucks rumble behind their backyard, emitting diesel fumes, vibrating the walls, and kicking up clouds of dust that cover their plants and seep into their furniture and drapes.
When Julianne Schreiner wipes off her inside window sills with a wet sponge, she picks up mud. The outside of their house is dirty from the dust.
The Schreiners tried, unsuccessfully, to get the Santa Clara Valley Water District to pay for cleaning the house before it goes on the market this week.
The district, which oversees the flood control project, is creating an overflow pipe to take excess water from Barron and Matadero creeks. The $5 million construction zone in the Barron Park neighborhood stretches from behind Gunn High School, past the V.A. Hospital, and along the bike path through Bol Park. Another portion continues through industrial areas to El Camino Real, where there is still a traffic detour.
The work in Barron Park began in July 1994 and is scheduled for completion in mid July, although residents are skeptical. The project has most affected residents on a few streets that, ironically, aren't in a flood zone.
"This thing is an enormous pain in the butt. Of course we don't want to see our neighbors flooded," said Doug Graham, who lives on Ilima Way and works at home. Graham is on the Barron Park Association board and is a volunteer liaison between residents and the water district.
Graham has heard a fair number of complaints about dust, noise before and after allowed hours, a construction road too close to houses, floods and other problems. Residents on Roble Ridge lost water for a few hours when a main water pipe broke in December.
Residents say the water district and the contractor, INA Engineering, have been polite and responsive most of the time, but they feel they haven't been consulted enough.
"My major objection is there wasn't enough notification, especially of people right along the construction zone," said Richard Ford, a retiree who lives on McGregor Way.
The flood control construction actually caused a flood in Ford's backyard last month when heavy rain filled a depression, created by a truck road, and overflowed. The contractor has since built a little berm along the property.
With dust and noise during the day, residents have lost their ability to entertain outdoors. In some cases, they also have less privacy because trees have been cut down and a path raised, so people walking or cycling by can now look into residents' backyards, said Hazel Rend, who lives on McGregor Way. "A lot of people along here are home all day, either retired or moms at home," said Rend, who has been on leave from work since October.
Rend had called the Weekly to share the residents' frustrations "not to complain but to make both citizens and planners aware that when such projects are planned, it does have an impact on people, and they should take that into consideration when making decisions."
--Heather Rock Woods
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