On April 25, the Atascadero City Council allocated $360,000 to the planning phase of an Atascadero Creek restoration project after winter storms tore through the creek bed.
“The storm events in January and March resulted in water levels in the Atascadero Creek that had not been seen in decades,” Atascadero Deputy City Manager Terrie Banish told New Times via email. “The high water flows in the creek during the 2023 winter storms scoured the creek banks and stripped vegetation that resulted in significant deposits of sediment and debris.”
According to Banish, erosion and sediment buildup in the creek bed over the years led to increased concern over ground stability for houses and bridges located along the creek. That concern became reality this winter, when flooding made several routes around the creek inaccessible due to the water rising over the bridges.
“Long term, the intention of the project is to both benefit the water flow and adjacent citizens by restoring the creek to a more historical condition,” Banish said. “The project will also benefit those residents not living directly adjacent to the creek by restoring hydraulic capacity below the affected bridges.”
Funds will be set aside from the city public works budget to help pay for engineering and environmental consulting services needed to ensure the project meets state and federal standards: $276,910 will fund a contract with Schaaf and Wheeler Consulting Civil Engineers, who will provide professional engineering services for the project. Another $64,820 will be used to amend an already existing contract with federal Soil Water and Conservation Act environmental consultants in order to provide additional permitting for any environmental regulations the city may need to meet for the project.
Banish told New Times via email that the plan is set to be implemented in three phases—largely dependent on the time it takes to get the environmental permits and when water levels in the creek reduce to a point where construction could be done.
“For vegetative debris removal (phase one) and emergency sediment removal at bridges and other structures along the creek (phase 2), work is expected to commence in summer 2023 and be completed prior to the next rain season,” she said. “Permitting for the larger scale sediment removal (Phase 3) is anticipated to take six to nine months at a minimum, pushing the timetable for work into 2024.”
This creek restoration project follows an emergency project approved on Feb. 1, when the City Council authorized more than $260,000 for emergency repairs in a portion of the creek where winter rainwater had eroded 20 feet of the creek bank and drastically altered the water flow.
“There was some additional debris and the movement of already existing debris within the channel associated with both the January and March storms,” Banish said. “But the scope of the work required to restore the channel has not changed significantly since the initial proposal.” Δ
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 7, 2023.