MORGAN HILL
– Boaters expecting to launch from the new ramp on Anderson
Reservoir this spring may have to find another source of fun. The
ramp and dam area are closed until further notice and could be
closed all summer.
MORGAN HILL – Boaters expecting to launch from the new ramp on Anderson Reservoir this spring may have to find another source of fun. The ramp and dam area are closed until further notice and could be closed all summer.
A project to replace the concrete ramp started last October and was to be finished by April. Work stopped last December and has not restarted.
“The (concrete) contractor is behind schedule,” said Tamara Clark-Shear, spokeswoman for the county Parks and Recreation Department, “but other work continues.”
Clark-Shear did not have any “firm knowledge” of the delays, but thought they might be due to the weather. Heavy rains in December have been followed by a relatively light rainy season.
The contractor is McGuire and Hester of Oakland, which bid $2,709,000 to do the job.
Mohamed Assaf, a senior facilities engineer for the county, said the delay was caused by a series of time glitches and was complicated by the weather.
“Our permit with (County) Fish and Game says the concrete (in the water) must be done by December 15,” he said. “It is a wetland area and you can only work there for a limited time. They did the grading all right, but we didn’t have enough time for the (ramp) concrete.”
“The construction window is limited because, traditionally, the water levels are lowest in October and November,” Assaf said. “We must hit that period.”
Delays were many.
“When we went out to bid in 2000, we thought a permit would not be needed from the Corps (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers),” he said. “We found out in June 2002 that it was.”
The Corps, Assaf said, was “magnificent”, issuing a permit within 35 days. But it caused a project setback.
“We were going to open the bids in July and ended up awarding the contract on Dec. 10,” he said. Also, there was a difference of $500,000 between the two lowest bidders, and McGuire and Hester wanted to review its bid to see if anything had been left out.
“That took another week,” Assaf said. “Now, if we want to change, we have to file for a modification permit with Fish and Game.”
Concrete, Assaf said, contains a toxic acid that could leach into the water if not properly sealed before it is submerged.
Assaf said workers will try to construct as much of the boat ramp as possible to save the boating season. Parts of the ramp that are impossible to pour normally because they would be below water the surface could be completed with temporary precast concrete extensions, he said.
“Then we can come back in the fall and finish the job,” he said.
District 1 County Supervisor Don Gage said there was another reason the concrete work was stopped.
“During grading, the contractor allowed some contaminants (silt) to wash into the lake,” Gage said. This led to the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the state Regional Water Quality Control Board branch in San Luis Obispo to get further involved. “Construction was halted until the contractor installed barriers,” he said.
“We are working on contingency plans,” Clark-Shear said. She did not say whether the plans involve choosing a new contractor or what financial penalties might be imposed. She said the parks department expects to make an announcement over the issue late this week or early next.
“Work has not stopped,” Paul Gage of McGuire and Hester said Monday. “We are pouring tomorrow (Tuesday).” He referred all other questions to Assaf, who said the contractor would be pouring concrete for sidewalks, not the boat ramp.
Residents of Holiday Lake Estates, which overlooks the reservoir, noticed in December that the work had stopped and the water level was being kept low. They were concerned about the fate of boaters during the summer and of the animals that live at or visit the waterway.
Resident Bill Miller said he asked a construction worker why the work had stopped and why the reservoir levels were low.
“He said they couldn’t pour concrete after Dec. 1 and that they’d have to wait until next September but that the water was being kept low so the work could go on,” Miller said.
“We’re now letting the reservoir fill,” said Mike DiMarco, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
As of noon Monday, Anderson contained 41,517 acre-feet of water with a capacity of 89,073 acre-feet. Eight of the 11 county reservoirs have collected a much higher proportion of water to capacity. Only Pacheco and Coyote are as low as Anderson.
“There is plenty of water around for the animals – in the hills, in the springs and private stock ponds,” said Henry Coletto, the county’s fish and game warden. “They are all at 90 percent capacity or have spilled. It (Anderson being low) won’t affect wildlife much.”
The entire project included removing the existing boat launch ramp and building, widening and extending the new one to provide access to lower water levels, replacing wooden floats with aluminum boarding docks, slope protection work to protect ramp from erosion, repairs and extensions to parking lot, a new entrance to the ramp, new bathroom facilities, extending the municipal water leach field and some electrical work and landscaping.
“We are trying to salvage the season,” Assaf said. But he said he was not yet sure if it could be done.
McGuire and Hester was also hired by the Morgan Hill Unified School District to do the site work for the new Sobrato High School.
Details: Anderson Lake County Park (to check for opening) 779-3489 or www.parkhere.org
