Lower Cache Creek flood project advancing
Army Corps holds briefing even as Woodland allocates more money for study
More and more resources are being put toward the development of a Lower Cache Creek flood study that will — if completed in coming years — provide flood protection for the northeastern side of Woodland.
On Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers held a public meeting for the Lower Cache Creek Flood Risk Reduction Feasibility Study that attracted a mix of farmers, landowners and elected officials. The meeting was held at Woodland’s City Hall and allowed people to review a variety of proposals, charts covering timelines, threatened species that might be affected as well as site-specific ideas to divert future floodwaters into the Cache Creek Settling Basin.
The Cache Creek channel passes north of Woodland through levees constructed decades past by the Army Corps as part of the federally authorized Sacramento River flood risk management project.
The levees now need to be updated due to the changing climate that increases the risk of flooding as well as because existing structures have been slowly decaying.
The need is real because in January 1983, a levee break near the area of what is now County Road 102 flooded a major portion of eastern Woodland. Floodwaters traveled almost as far as East Street. The Army Corps has reported that there have been four major flood periods documented for the Cache Creek basin during the last half of the 20th century, and 20 severe floods since 1900.
According to the Army Corps, the purpose of the study is to investigate and determine the extent of federal interest in a range of alternative plans that would reduce the flood risk in Woodland and surrounding areas.
The “Tentatively Selected Plan” under consideration is called “Alternative
2A,” the “Levee and Conveyance Plan.” According to the Army Corps, the plan reduces flood risk and damages “significantly” to the people and property in Woodland and surrounding areas.
“With the TSP in place, areas in northeast Woodland, where damages are concentrated, would see a reduction in the annual chance of flooding by up to 7%, depending on location,” according to the Army Corps.
Alternative 2A consists of improving existing levees and constructing a new levee north of Woodland to prevent floodwaters from reaching the built-up portion of the city. Proposed features of the new project include seven miles of new levee, levee embankment, seepage berms, drainage channels; cutoff walls, a weir and closure structures across roads and railways.
The levee — and any improvements to existing levees — could start just to the west of County Road 98, going north near County Road 16 to Carter Lane and then tracking east to Churchill Downs Avenue and County Road 102, before shifting south to County Road 22 just north of Interstate-5. This would allow floodwater to travel into the Cache Creek Settling Basin.
The levee could range from between 6- and 14-feet tall depending on the area, and CR98 and CR99 could be raised where they and the levee intersect. There would also be a number of drainage channels in the areas of CR98, CR99, CR101, CR102, Hwy. 113 and under Interstate 5.
Farmers and landowners are obviously concerned about how their properties could be affected. Decades ago, farmers were able to successfully pass a measure in Woodland that basically rejected a plan similar to the one now under consideration.
In the meantime, the city of Woodland is continuing to work on its portion of the Feasibility Study. On Tuesday night, the City Council approved an additional $75,000 contract with Wood Rodgers to help design and coordinate with federal environmental teams to do needed analysis of the effects fo the project. The increase brings to $1.328 million the amount allocated for the work.
The project is included in the city’s Capital Budget approved by Council with $5,050,000 being advanced from the sewer enterprise fund with a future repayment from the storm drain enterprise fund as approved by Council on July 2, 2019. The budget includes approximately $600,000 in funding that is expected to be reimbursed through the Urban Flood Risk Reduction grant.
In addition, as part of the long-term financing plan for the project, the team will pursue cost-sharing, including project management services, with public agency and private property stakeholders with an interest in partnering on a flood solution for Lower Cache
Creek.
Additionally, the council also authorized an amendment to its Urban Flood Risk Reduction Program with the state of California Department of Water Resources.
The City was awarded a $5 million grant through the state for continuing work on the Lower Cache Creek Feasibility Study in 2016 with a total amount of $10 million. The grant includes a 50% cost share by the city and 50% by DWR for all eligible work items.
The amendment change updates the scope of the project “to reflect a refinement to the work plan for the city and DWR to complete to ultimately support the Corps National Economic Development Plan alternative for the feasibility study and tasks remaining to support completion of the study.
Because the money has already been budgeted, there is no effect on the city’s general plan.
Contact reporter Jim Smith at 530-406-6230.