By Bruce Barton

Santa Clara Valley Water District will have to shelve portion of Adobe Creek improvements

Los Altos Hills councilmembers denied property easements last week that would have allowed the Santa Clara Valley Water District to proceed with a costly, and some say disruptive, erosion control project. The action essentially shelved the project for the town’s portion of Adobe Creek.

However, resident D.J. Rogez, whose property and West Edith Park would have been affected by the easements, said the project amounted to overkill and that the maintenance division of the water district was scheduled to come out this week and address the area’s erosion problems anyway.

“They’re being very political,” Rogez said of the district’s capital improvement division heading the Adobe Creek restoration project. He said the district, for years, has sought an easement on his property in exchange for doing the project which he said would result in the destruction of approximately 100 trees. The district sought the easements back in February, but the council discontinued the issue. In July, the district’s board of directors decided to discontinue the Reach 5 project, as it is named.

However, Los Altos Councilman King Lear and resident Pat Millar, among others, pushed for the district to reconsider, because the erosion controls would also benefit Los Altos. In the meantime, Rogez had hired his own engineering firm to offer an alternate project design that was less invasive than the water district’s. However, district official Jennie Micko said the design would not meet the hydraulic requirements nor meet the approval of the district’s regulatory agencies.

“With the district, it’s either ‘My way or the highway,’” Rogez said, noting the district spent $3.2 million on design work for the Reach 5 project without even producing a final design. Echoing creekside residents in Los Altos who have complained about the district’s attempts at easements before addressing erosion work, Rogez said the practice amounted to extortion. He added that the district’s decision to leave the Reach 5 area alone made work on the Reach 6 portion, affecting Los Altos, a waste of time and money since both need work done for erosion control to be effective.

Micko and district officials responded that easements were necessary for access to the creek zones so that work could proceed. The district also has denied any “land grab” attempts, as some residents have cited, because it is a nonprofit agency serving the public and does not benefit from taking over properties.

Los Altos Hills City Manager Maureen Cassingham said periodic maintenance of the Reach 5 areas would be sufficient enough to thwart flooding dangers.