BARRON PARK: Flood decision angers Barron Park

Residents upset that plan would protect 25 homes but increase flood danger to hundreds of others

by Elisabeth Darling Lorenz

Residents who live on Barron Creek are not pleased with a decision by the Santa Clara Valley Water District to solve a creek bridge design error by partially blocking a diversion channel, increasing the risk of flooding along Barron Creek. "Fix would be a euphemism," said Bob Moss, whose home backs up to Barron Creek. "We were not pleased." Moss and eight other Barron Park residents attended a Santa Clara Valley Water District meeting Monday to persuade the board not to block a creek diversion channel, but instead to install an adjustable diverter that could be moved up and down during a storm.

The board decided to partially block the channel and have engineers look into the possibility of manually moving the gate back and forth, depending on water levels. The district has not scheduled a date to begin blocking the channel.

Water district spokesman Mike DiMarco said the board approved a motion "to make sure staff protects Barron Creek to the greatest extent possible."

The water district is trying to correct a design error that resulted in a miscalculation of how high to build the Louis Road bridge over Matadero Creek. The bridge was built too low to withstand a 100-year flood, defined as heavy flooding that has a 1 percent chance of happening every year. If enough water hit the bridge, it would surge back to neighborhoods upstream, threatening about 25 homes not previously identified on flood maps.

In its $22 million flood control project, which began in 1988, the water district built a diversion channel in Barron Park to carry extra water from Barron Creek into the larger Matadero Creek. The goal was to make both creeks withstand a flood that could occur once in 100 years. The bridge error, discovered this October, makes the diversion channel too dangerous to use in the event of a 100-year flood.

Water district officials have decided to partially block the diversion channel to allow less water to pass through. The result will leave Matadero Creek with 100-year flood protection and Barron Creek with only 20-year protection.

"The probability of a 20-year flood is quite high," Moss said, referring to the last major flood in 1983, which was termed a 17-year flood. "You don't need an El Nino event," he said, to have such a flood.

The solution will protect about 25 homes on Waverley Street in south Palo Alto, which had not been put at risk of flooding until the bridge design error was discovered. But, Moss pointed out, the move will now jeopardize more homes in Barron Park. "It's 1,000 homes versus 25 homes," he said. "They're just absolutely terrified that this error created a danger for these 25 homes that wasn't there before."

"The board was faced with a very difficult decision," said Public Works Supervisor Joe Teresi. "Ultimately, they were swayed by a desire to avoid inducing flooding on properties that were not at risk of flooding prior to the start of construction . . . to give as much protection to Barron Creek residents without inducing flooding on new properties along Matadero Creek."

Moss and others asked the water district to consider adjusting the diverter during storms, using a water flow and water height gauge and a wireless transmitter that could allow the flood control gate to be operated remotely. Water district engineers said they would look into the idea.

"This is an engineering problem," Moss said, "solve it like engineers."

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