Creek restoration up the creek, for now

The quest to restore Laguna Canyon Creek has broad support, but no funding.

Despite a three-year-old concept for a restoration project, Laguna creek has fallen down on the city’s priority list, below such hot spots as Aliso Creek and Heisler Park.

City staff missed a June 9 deadline to apply for a $1.6 million state grant for a restoration project, raising the hackles of environmental activists who have lobbied for the creek for years.

“I am afraid that the restoration of the creek is being sabotaged by staff,” former city clerk and City Council candidate Verna Rollinger said. “A few weeks ago, the city manager apparently decided not to pursue a $1.6 million grant for creek restoration and water source retention because of the requirement for a $550,000 match.”

Rollinger believes the decision not to seek the grant should have been made by the council, not the city manager.

City officials say they are overwhelmed with other projects that are more important than Laguna creek.

“I am afraid there had been a misunderstanding about the ratings and how far along we were with the creek project,” Water Quality Department Director David Shissler said. “We have filed multiple grant applications, and the Heisler Park project is rated number one.”

Heisler Park has been identified as an Area of Special Biological Significance and is up for an $800,000 implementation grant under Prop 50, which the city must match. The city also has received a Prop 50 planning grant with Newport Beach to test water quality and strategies in the Heisler Park/North Laguna area, presently under way.

“The creek restoration was never at a point that it could be rated,” Shissler said. “It was only in the concept stage. If there was any discussion about rating, it was only informally.”

A concept plan for the restoration of Laguna Canyon Creek from El Toro Road to the Bark Park was presented to the City Council in 2003 to test the waters for support, but it was only a fishing trip, Shissler said.

Environmental advocates complain they were not informed that the status of the Laguna creek project was in jeopardy.

“This [creek] project has broad support,” Laguna Greenbelt Inc. President Elisabeth Brown said. “Several groups put money and volunteer time into the project. Suddenly ? nothing. I think that at the very least, if a project is getting rickety, let us know.”

City Manager Ken Frank opined in a report to the City Council that the project concept is a continuation of a pilot effort to re-vegetate the area with native plants. He said the revegetation project ? dedicated several months ago ? has resulted in massive weed growth that will require the city to hire a contractor for $8,000 to conduct clearing now and probably again before the end of the year.

“Unfortunately, with these grant projects, the city is left to pay for ongoing operation and maintenance,” Frank said.

Grant applications to restore Laguna Canyon Creek at this stage would be premature and possibly detrimental to potential funding, Shissler said.

“We don’t want to be in a position to rescind an application after it gets too far along or you end up on the ‘don’t trust ‘em” list,’” Shissler said. “There will be another opportunity in another year when we will be in a better position and hopefully will be better staffed to present the application. I am overloaded just trying to keep up with the Heisler grant.”

The state set a June 9 deadline for the city to submit an application for the creek project, which Frank said had not been approved by council. According to Frank, when the city received the notice for application, he and Shissler knew that Senior Water Quality Analyst Craig Justice would be quitting, leaving the department short-handed. Other projects have a higher council priority, Frank said.

“A few years ago, the council got into grant applications in a big way,” Frank said. “And that is fine, if the grant is really for what you want to do. But we should set priorities when general funds are to be used. We should consider whether we would do these projects if the grant had not been approved.”

Grants for sewer repairs, which former Congressman Christopher Cox helped the city get, were prime examples of funding for priority projects, Frank said.

“The traffic signal across from the Festival of Arts and the Heisler Park grants were both high priorities,” Frank said. “And Aliso Creek has become a very high priority.”

Aliso Creek has been identified by the California Coastal Commission as a critical area, a candidate for potential funding. It does not get flushed to the treatment plant, cleansed and dumped a mile out in the ocean as the Laguna Canyon Creek water is for about eight months out of the year, Frank said.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider and Councilwoman Toni Iseman lobbied during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., for funding for a cleanup of Aliso Creek.

“Certainly, the county is working in collaboration with multiple agencies to combine funding sources for Aliso, but federal money is the key to a viable project,” Shissler said.

The possibility of getting Laguna Canyon Creek on the state’s impaired water list is another reason to hold off on grant applications, Shissler said.

“It would give us better leverage for funding,” he said. “The impaired category identifies need. We would get more money and more attention once the creek is designated as having a problem. That’s how the state and the federal bureaucracy do things.

“It’s kinda’ making lemonade out of lemons.”

Any formal grant application must be approved by the council.

“Maybe next year,” said creek restoration project supporter Bill Roley.