A canal runs through it … and that’s the problem
Vallejo Mobile Estates forced to clean up its share of the waterway that leads into Lake Dalywigk
You needn’t look far to go back hundreds of years in Vallejo for a particular slice of city history. Simply look at our marshland, which has been here since before General Mariano Guadalupe ever set el pie here.
Our inland waters abound with Schoenoplectics acutus — also known as the common tule — along with other varieties, those stalked reeds that provide habitat and water filtration, not to mention beauty. But tule is “invasive” and can promulgate easily (though tell mosquito fish and muskrats that it’s “invasive,” and they would tell you that it’s actually quite beneficial for them, thank you very much). The reeds are also a bit “undead,” if you will, and will happily bounce back just when you think you’ve rid a waterway of them, according to Doug Darling of the Vallejo Watershed Alliance.
The flood and wastewater district monitors tule build up in our lakes and waterways to ensure proper drainage and water movement. But not all waterways are owned by the city, even some that are supposed to drain into city-owned bodies. Case in point: A channel between Lemon Street and Lincoln Road West by the Vallejo Mobile Estates (VME), which was once owned by Vallejo but was deeded to VME, a private owner.
Biggs Realty, which runs the trailer park, is mandated to maintain the channel along the east side of his property. Biggs was recently sued by the flood and wastewater district — which originally granted the deed to the
canal over to Biggs — along with the homeowners on its other side, Denise and Dennis Cullen, in order to clean up dead tule and trash that had taken over.
“Due to VME’s failure to maintain the channel, as is mandated by agreement, the channel has become choked with vegetation, debris, trash, and even animal carcasses,” the allegations read.
The Cullens bought the tract of land across from the mobile home park and along the canal as a place to do gardening, but truly, they have created a little farm with sheep, chickens, and even a cockatoo. A large Airstream trailer serves as shelter and a large aviary provides a nice place for the birds. But the channel began to trouble them when they saw the buildup of trash and dead reeds.
For Denise, her main worry was West Nile Virus, as mosquitos love standing water. But flooding was also a concern, though VME is much more prone to a dangerous build-up of water — the Cullen’s property has a large slope downward to the channel. VME, however, has reportedly flooded twice since 2006.
Enter attorney Cynthia Harris, who knew the Cullens from their Tannery Pub & Saloon in Benicia and from working with Vallejo Watershed Alliance. Harris offered to be their counsel pro-bono, and the case was dropped this year after Biggs Realty agreed to clean up the channel.
Originally, under an agreement with the city, VME was supposed to clear 1,500 linear feet of the channel per year, alternating to the other 1,500-foot stretch the following year, and so on. This had not been happening, according to Harris.
As a result of the Cullens’ lawsuit, VME was told to “trim at water-level all vegetation 25 feet from the bank of the Lemon Street Canal and haul off and dispose of it .”
The channel itself is roughly 25 feet, so Harris said she assumed that would take care of the entire waterway. However, it appears that VME measured the 25 feet from the asphalt, not the bank, Harris posits, because only half of the reeds and debris have been removed, and only on the VME side. In short, the work team only went halfway across the canal. The side along the Cullens’ property is still chock-a-block with dead tule and trash.
The lawyer for VME told Harris that they had completed the job, she said. A call from the Times-Herald to the attorney for VME was not returned by press time.
“VME did this in extremely bad faith,” said Harris, appalled at what she says is an insult to the Cullens, who must now still look out over a tangled, debris-filled mess. “We are probably going to have to re-litigate this, which really bothers me.”
Jennifer Kaiser, spokesperson for the flood and wastewater district, said that while debris and dead reeds are indeed a concern, the Lemon Street Canal was not “dammed” up before the suit. Water, however slow, was still draining into Lake Dalwigk. She also said that two other channels also drain into the lake.
Harris disagrees. “It was definitely dammed up,” she said.
For Harris, the question is why the city would give ownership of the waterway to Biggs Realty but then fail to hold it to regular maintenanceof the canal, which is supposed to assist in flood abatement?
Kaiser said waterflow through the canal really hasn’t been an issue. However, the district, after facing litigation from Harris, offered to be co-counsel in this case, perhaps avoiding liability.
Harris said she threatened to sue the city for failure to make sure that V ME was doing its mandated duty to keep the channel running smoothly and that if she hadn’t done so, nothing would have changed. Ultimately, she said, the two entities with the power to manage the canal were doing nothing — the city was doing nothing by not holding Biggs to its mandate, and Biggs Realty was allegedly doing nothing to keep the channel clear.
“It appears that the only people who care are the animals that live there, the Cullens, and me,” said Harris.
Kaiser said that if one truly wants a free flow of water into a natural flood basin, then concrete viaducts are one answer. But the public wants natural passageways, she said, and those need frequent, costly maintenance.
Harris says that the city’s lawyer told her that Biggs Realty is “technically in compliance” with the agreement by only cleaning up the half of the canal that directly abuts the mobile home park, but that it is “not perfect.”
Kaiser said that it is their understanding that the work the Biggs completed was “substantially complete.”
The final agreement between the city and VME anticipates “that the district would stay its lawsuit against VME so that it and VME could negotiate a plan for regular channel maintenance,” said Kaiser, meaning the city has vowed to keep following up to make sure that Biggs Realty holds to its agreement to maintain the canal.
Even if Biggs completely clear sits share of the channel, downstream, between the Biggs property and Lake Dalywigk, there is a portion of the canal owned by the CubeSmart public storage outlet on Lemon Street, which is also an overgrowth issue. The Times-Herald was unable to reach the district manager for the location by press time.