SANTA CLARA RIVER LEVEE IMPROVEMENTS DOWNSTREAM OF UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD (SCR-3) PROJECT
Project Description: The existing SCR-3 levee system (FEMA Levee Object ID No. 86) is composed of four reaches built by different agencies over many years, with different sections completed at different times for different purposes. As such, the original SCR-3 levee system had neither a unifying design nor a specific design capacity to protect properties in the northern part of the City of Oxnard during high flow events. The SCR-3 Project consists of upgrading existing and constructing new levee structures to provide continuous flood protection. The improved SCR-3 levee system will ultimately protect over 3,800 structures in the City of Oxnard in Ventura County.
The SCR-3 levee improvements extend along the south bank of the Santa Clara River beginning at the northeast corner of the Bailard Landfill and continuing nearly 11,000 feet (two miles) upstream to the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR). Construction of Reaches 1-3 primarily involved raising 8,875 feet of existing earthen levee with rock riprap revetment to protect against erosion and constructing a short floodwall segment to protect the River Ridge Golf Course Maintenance Yard due to insufficient space to raise the levee at that location. Reach 1-3 construction was completed in 2018.
Reach 4 construction is anticipated to begin in late 2024 and conclude in late 2026. Reach 4 will include placement of steel sheet pile vertically up to 60 feet deep along the base of a new steel-reinforced masonry floodwall along the river side of North Ventura Road. The upcoming construction will overlap approximately 300 feet of Reach 3 by placing steel sheet pile along the base of the earthen levee raised in 2018. The deep sheet pile will protect against powerful erosive forces at the bend in the Santa Clara River during potential one percent annual chance flood flows, preventing undermining of the new 978-foot-long masonry floodwall. The upstream end of the floodwall will connect to a new flood gate across Ventura Road, which will lie flat within the roadbed until a flood requires temporary road closure and raising of the flood gate (similar flood gates can be seen at www.floodbreak.com). The floodwall will then continue 881 feet on the land side of North Ventura Road, culminating in a new, short earthen levee embankment to be created on the southwest side of the UPRR. The Village Development will embed its new floodwall within a similar new, short earthen levee embankment to be created on the northeast side of the UPRR, completing the levee system.
After construction has ended, we will submit a Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) demonstrating compliance with federal levee certification regulations (44 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 65.10). FEMA previously reviewed and approved the District’s Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) on July 31, 2020. Upon completion of construction according to the Project design approved in the CLOMR, FEMA will accredit the LOMR, thus confirming that the SCR-3 levee system provides protection against a one percent annual chance (formerly known as a 100-year) flood.
