This file is
http://riolinda.info/flood/development.html
TO:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor, State of California
Dan Fua, CA Reclamation Board Acting General Manager
Barbara Matthews, Assemblymember CA District 17
Guy Houston,
Assemblyman, CA District 15
Tim Leslie,
Assemblyman, CA District 4
Heather Fargo,
Mayor, Sacramento, CA
Brad Nix, Mayor,
Oakley, CA
Gloryanna Rhodes,
Mayor, Lathrop, CA
Roger Dickinson,
Sacramento County Supervisor, District 1
Ronald.N.Light,
Col, USACE, Sacramento District Engineer
March 26, 2006 (via email)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I find it very
difficult to understand why developers are being allowed to continue
building homes and commercial developments within floodplains, when the
taxpayers will have to bail out the home owners and businesses after a
flood.
CAN ANY OF YOU TELL ME WHY?
Many thousands of
acres of prime farmland are being sacrificed to developments and making
the developers rich, while the taxpayers are left holding the bag when
the inevitable disaster strikes. Wetlands and Vernal Pools also are
being destroyed.
It seems to me that
our local government agencies are not concerned about the risks of
flooding, but how to collect more taxes so they can spend more.
Some developments
currently under construction or in planning:
1. NATOMAS BASIN
in the City of SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, including the Panhandle and
Northwest Territories.
Thousands of homes have already been constructed and thousand of acres
have already been developed commercially.
"Natomas growth has
many backers - Council majority wants to fix levees, not keep people
out."
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, Bee Staff Writer, March 3, 2006.
"The troubled flood defenses in Sacramento's Natomas area will test
state and local leaders on a critical safety issue: How much
development are they willing to allow behind weak levees? A majority of
Sacramento City Council members say they have no interest in acting now
to suspend building in Natomas, although several left the door open to
partial growth curbs once they learn more."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14225187p-15049576c.html"Levee price tag
startles Natomas - Residents could see hefty tax hikes to pay for
repairs."
By Deb Kollars and Matt Weiser, Bee Staff Writers,
February 17, 2006. "Fixing weak levees in the Natomas basin will
take at least $270 million and may require a new tax assessment on
homeowners, local flood control leaders announced Thursday. Property
owners in Natomas could see their tax bills rise to $300 a year to
cover the levee work, which will cover seepage repairs far more
extensive than previously known."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/local_government/story/14199050p-15025517c.html"Judge rejects
challenge to Natomas development plan."
Sacramento Business Journal
- January 12, 2005."A superior court judge ruled Tuesday in favor
of a habitat conservation plan for the Natomas Basin, clearing the way
for residential and commercial development on more than 50,000 acres.
The decision allows the city of Sacramento to continue issuing grading
permits for development within the basin."
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2005/01/10/daily24.html"The great Natomas
land rush - Voters will be asked to gamble 10,000 acres of ag land and
wildlife habitat in order to keep the Kings in Sacramento. But the
biggest winners may be the land speculators and developers behind the
ballot measures."
By Cosmo Garvin, Sacramento News & Review, February
24, 2005.
"... in 1979, when (Leonard) Padilla bought the land north of town for
$4,000 an acre, it was strictly in the middle of nowhere, a flood-prone
piece of bog with little foreseeable prospect of being anything but
rice fields and snake playground. Today, it's one of the hottest pieces
of property in the Sacramento region. Padilla said he has recently been
offered as much as $200,000 an acre for the parcel. That's a steep
price for any real estate, especially for land that currently--by
law--is reserved for agriculture."
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A339792. EAST CYPRESS
CORRIDOR SPECIFIC PLAN in the city of OAKLEY, California, on HOTCHKISS
TRACT.
"Tens of thousands
of new homes planned for delta land that could face catastrophe --
proponents cite strength of new levees"
Patrick Hoge, Staff Writer,
San Francisco Chronicle, January 30, 2006. "Developers of a tract
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of Mount Diablo don't
worry that the land is 6 feet below sea level and aging levees not
considered adequate for urban growth. They have begun building new,
privately funded earthen levees within the existing dikes that would
allow for as many as 5,200 new houses on the Hotchkiss Tract. And the
booming Contra Costa city of Oakley is eager to annex the growth into
its borders."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/30/MNGO7GVLK41.DTL
"The plan would
allow 5609 houses on 2500 acres on Hotchkiss Tract island. Almost all
of the island is below high tide and much of it is below sea level."
Greenbelt
Alliance, January 2006. http://www.greenbelt.org/regions/eastbay/camp_oakley.html
3. RIVER ISLANDS
Development on STEWART TRACT island in LATHROP.
"Protecting River
Islands project: job for a 'superlevee'".
Neil Gonzales, Staff
Writer, Stockton Record, February 15, 2006. "The slopes of a newly
built private levee system touted as essentially flood proof and
designed to protect the massive RIVER ISLANDS housing project of
STEWART TRACT, where 11,000 homes are to be built, are showing signs of
erosion created by heavy winter rains."
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/NEWS01/602150339/1001/ARCHIVEWHEN ARE THE
DEVELOPERS GOING TO BE STOPPED FROM DEVELOPING WITHIN THE FLOODPLAINS?
As the
floodplains are removed from flooding, the stormwater has to go
somewhere. When the floodplains disappear as a result of development,
the
stormwater gets deeper within the rivers, creeks and channels until it
causes a levee to overtop or breach. Then the taxpayers must pick up
the cost of rebuilding.
Thank you for your
time.
Sincerely,
Erwin E. Hayer
950 G Street
Rio Linda, CA 95673
Rio Linda/Elverta Chamber of Commerce, Flood Committee
Rio Linda/Elverta Recreation and Park District, Flood Committee
Rio Linda/Elverta CPAC, Flood Committee
Dry Creek Parkway Advisory Committee Member
Dry Creek Watershed Council (DCWC), Member
Dry Creek Conservancy (DCC), Member
Urban Creeks Council (UCC), Sacramento Chapter, Member
CC:
Steve Bradley, Chief Engineer, California Reclamation Board
Stacey McKinley, District Director for US Representative Dan Lungren
Gregg Bates, Dry Creek Conservancy Administrator and Dry Creek
Watershed Council
Coordinator
Alta Tura, Urban Creeks Council, Sacramento Chapter President
Judy Garcia, Rio Linda/Elverta Chamber of Commerce President
Don Schatzel, Rio Linda/Elverta Recreation and Park District
Administrator
Hal Morris, Rio Linda/Elverta Community Planning Council
Chairperson
Debbie Bryne, Dry Creek Parkway Advisory Committee Chairperson
This letter:
http://riolinda.info/flood/development.html