Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : City to Discuss Flood Damage Repair

SANTA CLARITA â€”  City engineers will seek advice tonight from North Oaks residents about how to repair flood damage in their neighborhood and prevent it from happening again.

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The area--in Santa Clarita’s Canyon Country community--flooded in April, 1993, when underground streams swelled from winter rains that soaked the region two months earlier.

Water bubbled up onto lawns, flowed down sidewalks and seeped into basements with such force that residents first believed that a water main had burst. Potholes, algae and patches of moss emerged throughout the North Oaks neighborhood bordered by Camp Plenty Road, Langside Avenue, Delight Street and Glasser Avenue.

Santa Clarita officials have obtained $498,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $66,000 from the state Office of Emergency Services. Together with $100,000 in city funds, they hope to prevent future flooding--a problem that has plagued the North Oaks neighborhood about every 10 years.

Tonight’s public meeting is scheduled at 7 p.m. at Cedarcreek School, 27792 Camp Plenty Road. Engineers want residents to suggest where wells can be placed in the area and which repairs they would like to see completed first.

“We’re going to explain to them some of the things we’re going to do and see what sort of comments they might have,� said Stan Scholl, city associate engineer.

In the next month, engineers will install a pump in an existing well to draw water out of the ground and divert it into the bed of the nearby Santa Clara River, Scholl said. They also will drill several four-inch-wide wells to monitor water levels.

Engineers believe that they can pump enough water away to prevent future flooding, but the process may cost tens of thousands of dollars, Scholl said.

“We want to see if there’s a commitment from (residents) to pay for the ongoing maintenance cost,� he said.

Much of that cost may be covered by the Santa Clarita Water Co., which city representatives are negotiating with for use of the water, Scholl said.