According to Reclamation District 800 Manager Jeff Conway, his advice to the town is, "Don't waste your money."
Conway said, "I told the town (this past week), 'Don't landscape any type of levee until we get verification from the (Army) Corps (of Engineers).'"
Conway said that at a seminar he recently attended, experts did not agree on whether or not it is safe to plant on levees. Current levee landscaping is checked by Rec. 800 daily, he said, and need not be removed, but installing new landscaping should wait until a consensus is reached by experts. Those in favor of planting on levees are the Department of Fish and Game experts, and those opposed are experts from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Conway said that if the town goes ahead with its landscaping projects on either of the two levees (Clipper Drive or Discovery Bay Boulevard) before they are certified by FEMA, those levees could be in danger of not receiving certification. FEMA will consider the Corps' position as well as that of Fish and Game before rendering a decision.
Conway said the certification process has been on-going for about two years, and that it was uncertain when it would be completed.
Town Manager Virgil Koehne said Wednesday that he learned of Conway's concerns only last week, and that the CSD Board was not yet aware of them. He has asked Conway and his engineer to attend next week's board meeting to discuss the implications of landscaping the levees, and let the board decide whether or not to proceed with its landscaping plans.
CSD Director Dave Dove said he was unaware of Conway's concerns before Wednesday.
"It sounds like the whole project should be put on hold," he said.
Other CSD Board members could not be reached for comment as of press time.
To date the town of Discovery Bay has already paid to have landscaping plans drawn up for Clipper Drive and has already received bids for phase I and II of the project. The plans called for splitting the project into three phases, of which the lowest bidder came in at around $500,000 for the first two phases. The bid has not yet been accepted, and no construction schedule has been set.
During last week's board meeting, resident Walter MacVittie urged the board to reconsider doing Clipper Drive first. He said that more people drive up and down Discovery Bay Boulevard each day than those who traverse Clipper Drive, and that the $500,000 would be better spent on the town's main thoroughfare than a residential road. He said, "We're not going to have the money to do Discovery Bay Boulevard if you approve this."
Despite opposition from members of the audience who opposed working on Clipper Drive first, Director Bob Doran said he stood firm in his 7-year-old commitment to the residents of Clipper Drive: "It's something we (the board) promised the people on Clipper Drive."
But CSD watchdog Richard Kier told the board that according to the SurveyMonkey that the town did last year, Clipper Drive was not a priority to the residents in Discovery Bay: "The majority - most people - wanted you to spend your funds on Discovery Bay Boulevard."
According to the 2006 survey's third question - "What area do you think the town should focus on first?" - Discovery Bay's entrance topped the poll at 45.2 percent, followed by Discovery Bay Boulevard with 29.9 percent, "other (please specify)" at 19 percent, and in dead last was Clipper Drive at 5.9 percent.
Director Patty Knight argued that the results of the survey were inconclusive because it didn't ask residents to pick a first and second landscape choice, and that the percentages only represented the public's first choice.
After some discussion, board members voted 3-0 to table the item until the next board meeting so that directors David Piepho and Shannon Murphy-Teixiera, who were absent, could weigh in on the proposed projects. In addition, the board requested staff to contact Rec. 800 to clarify the timeline for the certification of the levees.
The landscape issue will be brought back before the CSD Board of Directors at 7 p.m. at its Sept. 19 meeting at 1800 Willow Lake Road.
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