The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has approved a design contract for a debris basin on Buena Vista Creek in Montecito.
HDR Inc. will be providing geotechnical, hydrologic, hydraulic and engineering design services for the project that will be upstream of Park Lane.
Park Lane is one of the areas that sustained significant damage in the Jan. 9, 2018, Montecito debris flow event that killed 23 people and damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes.
“In December 2017 and January 2018, the Thomas Fire and (Jan. 9, 2018) debris flow severely impacted the community of Montecito,” said Lael Wageneck, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department. “Constructing a debris basin on Buena Vista Creek will help protect properties by keeping large material in the basin while allowing water to flow downstream.”
WRECO, a company that also provides these services, was originally selected and in August, and WRECO joined HDR.
WRECO has worked with Santa Barbara County before, having designed the Gobernador and San Ysidro Road/Randall Road debris basins.
The total cost for the Buena Vista Creek Debris Basin project is expected to be about $4 million, with 75% of the funding coming from FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding. The remaining 25%, about $1 million, will be covered by the Santa Barbara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.
The contract with HDR for the design phase is for a total amount of $347,180.90, which includes $315,619 and a contingency of $31,561.90.
A draft environmental document for the project will be available for public review in fall 2022, according to Wageneck, and construction is expected to begin in summer 2023.
Meanwhile, construction of the Randall Road debris basin, which will be about 8 acres along San Ysidro Creek in Montecito, is underway.
In November 2020, Santa Barbara County received a grant from FEMA for the Randall Road project, as well in the amount of $13.5 million, which covers about 75% of the total cost.
Construction for the Randall Road project started in May and is expected to be completed by January.
— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.