8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY january 19-25, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com news Sandra Ocampo was a long-time trustee of the Salinas Union High School District, serving from 1991 to 2005, then again from 2015 to 2022. She resigned from the Area 6 seat last year after she won a position representing Area 7 on the board of the Monterey County Office of Education. Ocampo won with 73 percent of the vote against one opponent, Rick Giffin, who had dropped out of campaigning. That leaves a vacancy, and SUHSD plans to appoint a trustee to serve the two-year remainder of Ocampo’s term. On Dec. 13, the board decided to appoint a candidate instead of holding a special election. (This is a common practice among public agencies seeking to save funds on special elections; in the past six months, the Salinas City Elementary School District and the cities of Soledad and Monterey have made appointments.) In SUHSD’s Area 6, there are 7,952 registered voters. The cost for a special election would be up to $20 per voter, about $160,000. Area 6 represent parts of East and South Salinas. Students attend El Sausal and Washington middle schools and Salinas and Alisal high schools. The district accepted applications between Dec. 16 and Jan. 6 from candidates seeking to fill the vacancy, and received two qualified applicants. District officials are declining to release the identities of those candidates or their applications, and say the first step is to confirm if the applicants want to continue with the process. The board is scheduled to interview the candidates at a Jan. 24 meeting, and may choose to appoint one of them. If no one is appointed that day, the district would hold a special election. School Bell Salinas Union to appoint a new school board trustee after a long-time member vacates seat. By Celia Jiménez A s parts of the Carmel Valley flooded last week, it highlighted the stark risks of living in a floodplain, and for some residents, perhaps, was a reminder that they indeed live in a floodplain. But for residents and businesses in lower Carmel Valley, there is hope that in the future those risks will be less. Since 2010, Big Sur Land Trust has been working on a “green infrastructure” project called Carmel River FREE (Floodplain Restoration and Environmental Enhancement) that would restore a former agricultural field in a natural floodplain that would give the river another path to the sea when its flows get high. The 128-acre property, known as Odello East, was donated to BSLT by Clint and Margaret Eastwood. It is located south of the river and just east of Highway 1. “With these atmospheric rivers we’ve all been experiencing, it’s a very vivid reminder, and a painful reminder, of the need for a green infrastructure project like this,” says Rachel Saunders, BSLT’s director of conservation. “We hope all the agencies get a renewed sense of urgency to get this project to happen.” The County Board of Supervisors approved the project’s environmental impact report in 2020, and all the necessary state and federal permits have since been obtained. What’s holding it up now is the finalization of an environmental review by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is necessary if the county—the lead agency for the project—wants to obtain a $25.3 million grant from FEMA to help fund it. Saunders estimates it will cost about $56 million in total, a number that has risen due to inflation. Shandy Carroll, a planner who is managing the project with the county, says that while there’s already a federal environmental review, FEMA requires doing its own before awarding grants. Carroll feels confident the county will get the FEMA grant, and if it does, that the project will essentially be fully funded. “If not, we’ll find funds for the rest of the project as needed,” Carroll says, adding that FREE has had strong support from the outset. “When we’ve asked for help, we’ve always received it.” FREE will work like this: Where the river flows westward, south of Rio Road and east of Highway 1, parts of the existing levee on its southern bank will be removed, giving high water another place to go. Presently, when the river gets above a certain height, it jumps its northern bank, flooding homes and businesses near Rio Road. The river didn’t breach there in the recent storms, but Saunders adds, “If it had kept raining for another day at the same rate, that was certainly a strong possibility.” The project will be built in two phases. The first is grading the field east of the highway, carving some channels into it and planting native plants. The fill created by the construction will then be piled up on the southern part of the field to create an agricultural preserve, elevated high enough to be out of the 100-year floodplain. The second phase involves constructing a causeway under the highway, where the floodwaters will flow into the Carmel River Lagoon. “It’s complex and has been more challenging than we would like to get this going,” Saunders says, “but we are hoping there will be a renewed sense of urgency right now.” Carmel River FREE will provide another path for high river flows to reach the Carmel River Lagoon (rear), which will help mitigate flooding in lower Carmel Valley. Release Valve A floodplain restoration project near the lower Carmel River is inching closer to reality. By David Schmalz Sandra Ocampo at a 2021 meeting of the Salinas Union High School District. After she was elected to the county Board of Education in November, she resigned from SUHSD. “There will be a renewed sense of urgency right now.” Daniel Dreifuss Daniel Dreifuss
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