Water board questions Willits bypass mitigation

The Highway 101 Willits bypass project, already delayed by protests and lawsuits, could be further held up as a regional water board has raised questions about Caltrans' environmental permit.

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board says Caltrans has not done sufficient mitigation to make up for sensitive wetlands that are being filled to build the 5.9-mile highway around Willits.

The water board suggested that Caltrans scale back the size of the project or find ways to accelerate or increase efforts to offset the loss of wetlands.

Environmental activists, whose protests have slowed construction work and led to 50 arrests over the last year, said a downsized project would be a victory for wetlands protection.

Caltrans said it is not considering scaling back the project. Instead, it is working on mitigation measures to comply with the water board's requirements, Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie said.

"Because we have already increased the amount of mitigation, creating and enhancing an additional 25 acres of wetlands as well as removing another fish barrier from Ryan Creek, we are working on a reply to the water board to accurately show all the additional mitigation we are already doing while taking their suggestions into consideration," Frisbie said.

The $210 million project includes $50 million set aside for environmental mitigation, Frisbie said. The first phase of the project, a two-lane bypass that is scheduled to open in fall 2015, is already nine months behind schedule due to protests, he said. The demonstrations have added $4.2 million to the cost of the project, he said.

A second $95 million phase to widen the bypass to four lanes does not have funding.

The bypass, conceived more than 50 years ago, became increasingly controversial in recent years as plans were drawn and discussed at public hearings.

Protests erupted when Caltrans began work on the project in February 2013. Dozens of arrests were made as demonstrators tried to block construction. Some chained themselves to equipment while others stationed themselves in trees in construction zones.

Work ceased over winter, but is scheduled to resume in mid April.

Caltrans says the bypass is needed to reduce traffic on the North Coast's main artery. It will eliminate the last traffic signals on Highway 101 between San Francisco and Eureka. The drive through downtown Willits can take up to 30 minutes with stop lights and traffic.

Opponents say the bypass, as designed, is unnecessary, ugly, destroys important wetlands and could affect fish and underground aquifers. Environmental groups in December lost a legal challenge to the project.

A scaled-down version of the project that opponents support would include a roundabout at the northern interchange.

"The practicality of a roundabout design is gaining traction," Cynthia Raiser Jeavons, a member of Save Our Little Lake Valley, said in a statement. "The downsizing could be a win-win-win scenario. Thirty acres of precious, high-functioning wetlands will be saved while reducing Caltrans' mitigation requirements. A smaller design should be much less expensive to build, saving taxpayer dollars, and the design has already been completed and engineered by Caltrans, so construction can be kept on, or even ahead, of schedule."

Frisbie said the northern interchange has already been designed and is under construction. Any changes to the project now would add millions of dollars to the cost, he said.

The northern interchange would only fill 12 acres of seasonal wetlands, Frisbie said. The agency is restoring or creating more than 100 acres of wetlands for mitigation, he said.

But the water board contends that Caltrans is two years behind its mitigation schedule and is essentially destroying wetlands faster than they can be replaced, said David Leland, assistant executive officer for the water board.

"We have had a number of issues with Caltrans," he said. "This particular issue has to do with the mitigation timeframe extending a couple of years."

Besides reducing the size of the project, the water board said Caltrans could speed up mitigation or provide additional mitigation in order to comply with its permit.

The water board is looking to have a final mitigation and monitoring plan in place before it will permit Caltrans to import dirt and material for the northern interchange, Leland said. Caltrans hopes to have that plan finalized this month, Frisbie said.

The fill material could come from a controversial former lumber mill owned by Mendocino Forest Products. Environmental groups said that soil from the site is contaminated, but Caltrans says wood treatment chemicals were not detected and only traces of diesel fuel were detected in the soil.

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors last week voted 4-1 to allow Caltrans to haul 900,000 cubic yards of dirt from the former mill to use on the bypass project.