Hamilton City levee project picks up steam

Plans for a new Hamilton City levee picked up momentum Sunday as the community poured out to show their support for the project.

“The J Levee in Hamilton City does not provide enough protection for the community or the local agriculture industry,” said Leeann Grigsby-Puente, president Reclamation District 2140 and candidate for the Glenn County Board of Supervisors.

The Hamilton City Levee Festival also provided a venue for the reclamation district to announce the beginning of the process for the district to become the project’s managing entity during construction, Grigsby-Puente said.

The district was elected in 2005 to maintain and operate the levee project and now stands ready to ask area landowners for permission to become the non-federal sponsor for the construction of the new Hamilton City levee.

Grigsby-Puente said the campaign for landowner permission is required because they are the group most impacted by the project. The campaign should kick off before the end of the year, she said.

Congressman Wally Herger, R-Chico, attended the Sunday festival. Herger has been praised by local leaders for helping to secure some federal funding for the project.

“I’ve probably been to most of these festivals since they started in 1997,” Herger said. “Hamilton City may not be the biggest place, but this project is incredibly important for the whole area.”

The J Levee was built in 1908, just two years after the formation of Hamilton City, Grigsby-Puente said.

“It’s a very old levee,” explained Glenn Supervisor Keith Hansen. “It was built when safety standards were much lower and now the newer, modern levees are adding to the strain here.”

Hansen said safety issues regarding the J Levee should be a concern on everybody’s mind, but especially people living in the southeastern portion of Glenn County.

If the J Levee failed and floodwaters escaped, Hansen said, the flood could back up into the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District canal and then into the Stony Creek before emptying into the Colusa Drainage Trough, which would, in turn, flood a huge portion of the county.

The three-phase project has reached the 60 percent completion mark for phase two, the design and pre-engineering phase, Grigsby-Puente said.

“Hopefully construction will start by 2010,” she said.

The estimated $55.3 million project should be complete by 2012. It is estimated that locals will foot about $1.5 million of the total cost, she said.

Anyone who would like more information about the project is asked to contact Grigsby-Puente at (530) 321-1525.