Will control efforts be enough to avoid future flooding?

<p>“We are at the bottom of the bathtub” when it comes to water and flooding, is the way Mike Ban puts it.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>While the city is 21 miles from San Pablo Bay, it is only a few feet elevation above the bay. The combination of building in a flood plain with a river that rises with the tides makes for long-term flood problems for Petaluma residents.</p><p>Ban is the city’s director of Water Resources and Conservation. He said there are potential problem spots all over the city, but that everything that can be done about it has been done so far.</p><p>The city has suffered millions of dollars in flood damages since 2004, in spite of a $43 million flood-control project by the Army Corps of Engineers. </p><p>Many residents remember the New Year’s Eve 2005 flood that damaged homes, cars and businesses throughout town. Since then, there have been significant efforts made to clean out the Petaluma River and its contributory creeks, including Adobe, Washington, Willowbrook, Corona, McDowell, Thompson and Lynch.</p><p>Hopefully, the removal of a railroad bridge near Lakeville Street in 2007 will help alleviate future flooding in areas north of the Payran Reach project that have continued to suffer extensive flooding when it rains too much.</p><p>“One of the many things about storm water is it doesn’t care about jurisdiction,” Ban observed. There are several agencies involved in addressing the whole problem of flood control — city, county, state and local agencies. Sometimes, they have overlapping jurisdiction over areas that can lead to residents’ confusion about where to go for help.</p><p>Ray Hoffman is clearly frustrated. His company owns a building at 1320 Industrial Ave. that houses just under a dozen businesses. “The problem is that there are a multitude of jurisdictions involved. That’s an issue,” he said.</p><p>Ted Cabral, general manager of Cycle West, complained so much about flooding at his dad’s Industrial Avenue business that he was appointed to the Zone 2A Flood Advisory Committee. This is one of the few agencies that looks at the whole watershed, not just within city limits or county jurisdiction.</p><p>Cabral cites development, both downstream and across Highway 101, as possible contributors to new flood problems. “Development has certainly contributed to more runoff happening faster,” he said. “Maintenance has also been a problem since it’s hard to get into and maintain the creeks.”</p><p>And no matter who is in charge, there’s always the issue of funding.</p><p>“Obviously, the challenge is financial, and there aren’t good revenue sources,” Cabral said. “Personally, I think new development should be taxed appropriately to alleviate flooding in the Petaluma basin.”</p><p>There are bright spots on the winter horizon, however. Jason Sweeney, watershed coordinator for the Southern Sonoma Resource Conservation District, was able to coordinate some vegetation clearing on the Petaluma River in the Corona Reach, below the Corona Road bridge to just below the Petaluma Village Premium Outlets property.</p><p>“We hired crews to pull out trash and others to thin and limb brush, lower growth and keep trees intact that are providing canopy for the river,” Sweeney said. He acknowledges that even creek clearing can be a sticky subject with wildlife preservation.</p><p>“It’s becoming more of a challenge to permit, because there’s more information available about what’s valuable relative to habitat,” he noted. To help make sure that wildlife needs are respected, the district hired a Sebastopol company noted for ecologically sound practices to do the work.</p><p>“When you remove vegetation in the channel, you allow more flow, but when it exceeds the capacity of the channel, (the water) will break out,” Sweeney warned. “Creeks need to break out of their channels periodically. Especially here, in a flat floodplain. You need to allow for that kind of overflow because it is going to happen periodically.”</p><p>Jon Niehaus, of the Sonoma County Water Agency, said that the county has been doing its part to help clean out Petaluma area creeks under its jurisdiction. The agency has been following a program of creek cleaning and restoration for the past two years.</p><p>Do it yourself</p><p>While Ray Hoffman was frustrated, he decided to see what he could do to protect his tenants on his own and found a company that may have solved his major problem.</p><p>DoorDam, an East Coast company, manufactures a system that can be quickly deployed to seal off doors and bays in otherwise watertight systems. Hoffman and his neighbor, Brad Coke, who owns the building at 1160 Industrial Ave., are both deploying DoorDam systems this year in hopes of avoiding future flood damage.</p><p>The systems are expensive, but not as expensive as flood damage, even when a lot of it is insured. While the Federal Emergency Management Authority paid for damages in 2005, “with the inconvenience of tenants having to go through it, the building gets a stigma,” Hoffman said.</p><p>Mark Beardslee manages manufacturing of vitamins and other supplements for Life Enhancement Products at 1160 Industrial Ave. “Flooding is a big deal. California has to certify our products as being clean of molds or fungus. We had to replace all the sheetrock up to two feet (after the New Year’s Eve 2005 flooding). The construction was as bad as the flood.” </p><p>The $100,000 cost to relocate — shutting down, moving equipment and paying employees — on the heels of moving just a few years ago prompted the company’s decision to stay, but continued flood damage will not attract future tenants, he said.</p><p>Beardslee and other tenants did a run-through last weekend to deploy the flood guards and all seemed to go well. Meanwhile, everyone in the area keeps a weather eye on the forecast and tide tables. Lots of rain and a high tide could mean flooding.</p><p>Other area businesses, like Fishman’s Supply and Cycle West, will rely on sand bags to keep out the water.</p><p>The true test is yet to come.</p><p>(Contact Jay Gamel at argus@arguscourier.com)</p>