Congressman Panetta Secures Key Step Forward for Pajaro River Flood Risk Reduction Project

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) announced that he secured a final feasibility report for the Pajaro River Flood Risk Reduction project in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. This Director's Report allows the project to enter into its Pre-Construction, Engineering, and Design (PED) phase. The project also becomes eligible for critical federal funding for construction.

Congressman Panetta said, "Since taking office, one of my top priorities has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make critical repairs to the infrastructure on the Pajaro River. The communities in Watsonville and Pajaro have been subject to four major flooding events since 1949, and they simply cannot afford future damages. These repairs cannot wait.

"In my first term, we held weekly calls with Army Corps senior leadership to turn this project from inactive to active and complete a detailed feasibility report. Yesterday, and in my second term, we took a historic step forward, when Army Corps Director of Civil Works James Dalton signed the Director's Report for the Pajaro River Flood Risk Reduction project.

"With the signed Director's Report, this project can enter into its Pre-Construction, Engineering, and Design phase. Moreover and for the first time, the project becomes eligible for critical federal funding for construction as part of the federal Work Plan budget.

"This signed report is over 50 years in the making and the result of a lengthy and collaborative process. Nevertheless, we still have a ways to go and important endeavors ahead. I am committed to working closely with the project's local sponsors, the Army Corps, and my colleagues in Congress to make sure that we have both the authority and the funding needed to move forward with construction and, ultimately complete this project, yielding a 100-year flood protection to the communities on the Pajaro River."

The Pajaro River Flood Risk Reduction project was authorized by the federal Flood Control Act of 1966, and local leaders have been working with the Army Corps since then to secure the authority for construction.

Said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend, "The signed Director's Report represents the most significant news for the residents and businesses along the Pajaro River in over 50 years. We are grateful to Congressman Panetta, the Corps of Engineers, and the staff in both Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties for their diligence in moving this project toward the construction phase." Friend, who also serves as Chair of the Santa Cruz County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Zone 7, also remarked, "We will not stop fighting to complete this project and ensure that our most vulnerable residents receive the flood protection they deserve."

"We'd like to thank Congressman Panetta and his team and Lieutenant Colonel John Cunningham and his staff for their focused effort that pushed a Director's Report for the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project across the finish line. In addition, I would like to thank Supervisor Zach Friend and my other fellow members of the County Board of Supervisors and Flood Director Mark Strudley for their tenacious support and work on flood preparedness and prevention in the Pajaro Valley. Over the past 53 years, nearly 20 alternatives to reducing flood risk from the Pajaro River and Corralitos and Salsipuedes Creeks have been studied. During that time, our communities have flooded at least eight times and experienced a very near miss in February 2017. Yet, with the signed Director's Report, our hope for a solution – a reduction to our ever-present flood risk – is renewed. The completion of the project would be life-changing for our communities. We look forward to working with the Corps in this new spirit of cooperation, one focused on real progress and outcomes, and pledge to do all we can to support their efforts to secure a new start for our project," said Supervisor Greg Caput.

"Since 1966 the counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz have been working collaboratively on this critical Pajaro River Flood Control Project vital for the protection of the community, and it's exciting that we have reached this essential milestone. This project is crucial to protect loss of life and property in the community of Pajaro and surrounding areas. Now that this critical step forward has been achieved with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, I look forward to continuing our work with other agencies involved to finalize this project," said SupervisorJohn Phillips.

"The path to completion of the Director's Report was a long and complicated one, but we are thankful for Congressman Panetta's insistence on bringing all the stakeholders to the table to create a project that is fundable in the eyes of the federal government," said Mark Strudley, the Flood Control Division Manager for Santa Cruz County.