The Culver City Public Works Department will be taking on a major project with the Washington Boulevard Stormwater Diversion, and a big decision was made to begin it January 2020 rather than June 2019.
At the second in a series of community meetings held at Coeur d’Alene Elementary School in Venice on April 30, 2019, Culver City civil engineer Lee Torres addressed a small audience of very concerned neighbors and business owners in regard to the scope and impact of the construction.
The project will bring the city into compliance with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Permit, as well as the Marina del Rey Enhanced Watershed Management Program Plan. Once the project is finished, the city will have fulfilled their legal environmental obligation to their management of the Marina del Rey Watershed, still leaving the Ballona Creek Watershed for further engineering.
A stormwater management project on Culver Boulevard, from Elenda to Sepulveda, will address the city’s flow to Ballona Creek.
Public Works Director Charles Herbertson noted, “We have to address these two separate watersheds, and with the Washington Boulevard project, we can be in total compliance with one. That is going to satisfy all the county and state mandates for our part of Marina del Rey.”
The project will create stormwater storage and pumping facilities to move the water to Hyperion Waste Treatment Plant for recycling. This will be under Washington Boulevard, from about Redwood Avenue to Walnut Avenue.
The challenge of traffic management will be met with temporary lane closures and parking reductions, and those in neighborhood of the construction will be feeling the impact for anywhere from 10 months to a year.
The project will go out to bid this coming August, and depending on the contractor chosen for the work, there will be a timeline set forth for completion.
Costco is picking up a part of the tab for the project, with a projected contribution of more than $2 million. Large parts of the budget are also covered by grants, keeping the actual bite on Culver City taxpayers to a minimum. Costco is also committed to paying in for long term maintenance on the stormwater project.
While the city seeks to keep dialogue open with all concerned stakeholders, mitigating whatever impacts can be addressed, the time to connect is now. Next January, it will just be about finding alternate routes for the duration of the construction.
For more info, go to culvercity.org/WashBlStormwater
Judith Martin-Straw
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