Benicia City Council may seek Solano County Water Agency funding Tuesday to help pay for preparatory work on a project that would provide relief from flood waters in the vicinity of St. Augustine Drive and East Second Street.

The problem area came to light during a December 2012 storm, when water runoff exceeded the capacity of a 36-inch culvert east of a single family home at 225 St. Augustine Drive.

Water crested the bank and ran south across St. Augustine Drive and private properties until it spilled into East Second Street, where it flowed into a storm drain system at East N Street.

Public Works Director Graham Wadsworth wrote in a Jan. 28 report that about half a dozen properties were affected by the runoff.

After the 2012 storm, Benicia hired Cardno Entrix, of Concord, the complete a hydraulic study and report on the drainage basin, Wadsworth wrote.

Based on their results, city officials agreed the company should design flood relief plans using information from those studies.

At the Aug. 19, 2014, Council meeting, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson also suggested that integrated water management approaches might get funded through grants.

Wadsworth wrote that Solano County Water Agency Large Project Flood Management Funding Program might provide grants that could underwrite part of the construction, but applying for that money would require a technical storm water analysis and city staff presentation to the SCWA Flood Control Advisory Committee and the SCWA Board.

“City staff cannot cost effectively provide the storm water analysis required for the Solano County Water Agency Large Project Flood Management Funding Program or prepare a preliminary design report of alternatives,” Wadsworth wrote in his report, which includes a letter asking for the funding, which city employees would send the Flood Committee before its Feb. 26 meeting.

Meanwhile, Wadsworth wrote that the original agreement with Cardno for design services is $57,540, a pact that didn’t include bidding assistance, technical review support, site observations and record drawings during the project’s construction phase.

He wrote, “A contract amendment in the amount of $52,380 includes the following: Assist the city in preparing the SCWA Grant application — $10,090; bidding assistance and construction support services — $31,730; (and) Prepare a conceptional alternatives memo — $10,560.”

Several city officials, Cardno representatives and seven neighbors from the St. Augustine Drive area met about a month after the Aug. 19, 2014, Council meeting, Wadsworth wrote, and another meeting took place Jan.7 to consider circumstances that led to the flooding and alternative ways to reduce the chances of it happening again.

“Cardno staff explained that there is a 54 inch storm drain under Interstate-780 that drains south into an open channel,” Wadsworth wrote. “The open channel drains into a 36 inch corrugated metal pipe that drains into a 48 inch pipe under St. Augustine Drive.”

He wrote that the proposed design calls for replacing several smaller drainage inlets with larger ones and building a new headwall at the entrance to the pipeline and enlarging the water-carrying capacity of the storm drain north of St. Augustine Drive.

Depending on the option chosen, the city might need to obtain easements, some mature trees would be destroyed, or part of a masonry wall would need to be removed between 224 St. Augustine Drive and 230 East O Street.

If you go:
The Council will meet with the Finance Committee at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St., to discuss the city’s 10-year financial forecast.

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