Project Sponsors
Federal Sponsor
| The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the federal sponsor. The San Francisco District of the USACE is responsible for the engineering, design, environmental review, and construction of the project. Visit their Watershed Study page and their Lower Pajaro Flood Protection Project page for more information. Under a Congressional Authorization dating back to the 1960s, the USACEwill pay for 75 percent of the Levee Reconstruction Project cost, based upon funding appropriated annually by Congress. |
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| The USACE next step will be public release of the General Reevaluation Report (GRR), which will be evaluated in an Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The project must comply with both acts, which determine environmental impacts and mitigations. |  US Army Corp of Engineers ® |
Local Sponsors
The Flood Control and Water Conservation District of the Couny of Santa Cruz and the Water Resources Agency of Monterey are the local sponsors of the Levee Reconstruction Project. They will ultimately sign a Project Cooperation Agreement with the USACE, defining each participant’s financial contributions.
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Both the Monterey and Santa Cruz County Boards of Supervisors have endorsed this collaborative planning process because they know it will be difficult to achieve community-wide consensus on a flood control project and on the necessary agreements to fund the estimated $35-60 million local share of cost for project completion and $1.5 million local cost per year to maintain and operate the project.
City of Watsonville
The City of Watsonvilleis the only incorporated City in the project area. They activeley participate in project planning, they contribute local funds for this effort and participate in the Executive Committee.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee includes all of the above agencies and organizations in addition to U.S. Congressman Sam Farr. The group meets monthly to review project progress and address key policy and design issues.
