This file is
http://riolinda.info/flood/010816SAFCA.html
Erwin Hayer
and State Reclamation Board
re SAFCA's 8/16/01 meeting in Rio Linda:
From: Erwin Hayer [mailto:eeh625@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2001 12:10 AM
To: bradley@water.ca.gov
Cc: bltk@aol.com
RLNEWS@aol.com
riolinda@vrx.net
Subject: Flood Meeting at RL Grammer School 16 Aug
Mr. Steve Bradley,
Sorry I have not responded sooner, but I called your
office on 17 Aug about some questions I have but you were not available.
I told John Basset at the August 16, 2001 meeting
that I did not get notified about the meeting. His answer was
that I was not impacted by what the meeting was about and it did not
affect my home.
Jay O’Brien called my home the afternoon of August
16 to see if I was prepared to attend the meeting. I was working
and my wife contacted me about Jay’s call. I then called Jay
about 4:30 PM to find out what was going on and he told me about the
meeting. I was able to take off work 2 hours early to arrive at
the 6:00 PM meeting by 6:30 PM.
I have tried to stay current with what is going on
with the flooding problems in Rio Linda and Elverta since the floods of
1986. Getting information from the Sacramento Area Flood Control
Agency (SAFCA) or Roger Dickinson, my representative, has been
difficult most of the time.
I had tried to find out about meetings back when
Grantland Johnson (Before SAFCA) was our representative on the
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. He never did return any
of my telephone calls. Later, when I read about the levees to be
constructed in the Sacramento Bee, I took a day of work from my job and
went to the SAFCA Offices to find out what the plans were. When I
saw a map with 45.8 feet elevation levees near Rio Linda Boulevard and
E Street on the west and Robla Creek near Dry Creek Road on the
southeast, I was concerned about the area in between which included
Western Acres and Bell Acqua Subdivisions, Rio Linda Airport and Bell
Acqua Lakes. I knew the runway had been raised 6 feet to 42.6
feet elevation on the south end to keep it out of the floods and many
of the home floor elevations were less than 44.0 feet. Now with
the 45.8 feet levees, more than 3 feet of water could cover the south
end of the runway. The runway elevation at the north end is 44.3
feet. I told Paul Devereux that the levees would cause some
flooding problems at Western Acres and Bell Acqua Subdivisions, Rio
Linda Airport and Bell Acqua Lakes. He said it would not.
While coming home, I stopped at the Bell Acqua Boat shop to let Bill
Mahanah know about the levees. Phil Todd was there and was also
informed about the levees. I do not have the exact date, but this
all took place prior to any construction of the north levee.
Later, a Public Hearing at the Rio Linda High School
on 19 May 1997 was called by SAFCA. Paul Devereux opened the meeting at
7:30 PM and closed the meeting at 7:30 PM. The one resident of
the community that attended did not wish to speak.
[http://riolinda.info/flood/970519SAFCA.html] Reference: FSEIR, August
1997, Transcript 2. Later, when I found out about this meeting, I
asked Paul who was notified. He said it was advertised in the
Sacramento Bee and that was all that SAFCA had to do when holding a
meeting. No community members were notified that I could find.
The Robla Creek south levee was moved north to
almost the same location as turned down by the Reclamation Board while
denying the Hansen Lakes Project. This caused the
floodway/floodplain width to be reduced more than 600 feet.
Reference “ROBLA FLOODPLAIN PROJECT IS DENIED”, Published on
04/19/1997, Sacramento Bee, Page A1, 772 words.
When SAFCA had their first Lower Dry Creek Watershed
Mitigation Project Working Group meeting on November 19, 1997, more
attendees were from SAFCA and SAFCA Consultants than attendees from the
community. The meeting was held at 9:00 AM and most community
members worked during the day. All of the community attendees ask
if the meetings could be held in the evening so more community
residents could attend and SAFCA said no. This was not entered
into the minutes of the meeting and was again brought up at the second
meeting on January 13, 1998. SAFCA still planned the future
meetings for 9:00 AM.
I brought up the fact that if the floodwater depth
west of Dry Creek Road was increased by the Robla Creek South Levee,
then the floodwater would rise on the east side. Paul Devereux
then said that the floodwater would not increase on the east side of
Dry Creek Road and the project ended at Dry Creek Road. I then
notified some of the residents east of Dry Creek Road and they had not
known about the plans for the levee.
Later SAFCA had a meeting in the evening with the
residents east of Dry Creek Road with out notifying any of the
residents that had been attending the day meetings. Is this
divide and conquer?
Jay O'Brien told me later after the August 16, 2001
meeting that he mentioned to you that he had notified me of the
meeting, and Mr. O'Brien quoted you as saying that you had specifically
asked SAFCA to notify me. Did Mr. O'Brien hear you correctly?
If this is true, then SAFCA is still operating as to
divide and conquer.
The above are some of the many reasons why I do not
trust the SAFCA Staff and the SAFCA Board of Directors.
Sincerely,
Erwin E. Hayer
950 G Street
Rio Linda.CA 95673-4315
(916) 991-5940 Fax: (916) 991-1180
- - - - - - - Reply from Steve Bradley - - - - - - -
From: "Steve Bradley" <bradley@water.ca.gov>
To: "Erwin Hayer" <eeh625@hotmail.com>
CC: "Pete Rabbon \(E-mail\)" <prabbon@water.ca.gov>
Subject: RE: Flood Meeting at RL Grammer School 16 Aug
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 08:05:24 -0700
Mr. Hayer,
I did ask SAFCA to notify you of the meeting on August 16. I told
SAFCA to notify all of the people (affected or not) in the area east of
Dry Creek Road and to include you as you had been heavily involved in
the public meeting process for the Robla/Dry Creek Project.
Stephen T. Bradley
Chief Engineer
The Reclamation Board
(916) 653-8089