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Humboldt County accepts preliminary engineering report for Drainage District 11 Sub 1, sets July public hearing
Summary
Supervisors accepted a preliminary engineering report recommending replacement of century-old clay main tile in Drainage District 11 Sub 1, estimated at $776,000, and scheduled a public hearing for July 21 at 9 a.m.; expanding capacity to a 1-inch drainage coefficient would raise the estimate by about $164,000 to $940,000.
Humboldt County supervisors voted to accept a preliminary engineering report for Drainage District 11 Sub 1 and set a public hearing for 9 a.m. on July 21 to consider the project.
Colin, an engineer from Jacobson Westegard, told the board the project focuses on an original clay main tile installed more than a century ago and located roughly 5.5 miles east of Bradgate. The clay tile is shallow and in poor condition in portions — particularly in the northwest quarter of Section 8 near County Road C-26 — and requires frequent repairs, he said.
"There's an original main tile that was put in, you know, over a 100 years ago, and it's a clay tile...and it's in pretty poor condition," Colin said.
The report proposes replacing the old clay tile with new pipe laid deeper in the profile; a relief main installed in 1948 runs deeper and will remain. The preliminary estimate for the district share of the replacement work is $776,000. Colin told supervisors that designing to a larger drainage coefficient — roughly a one-inch event instead of the half-inch baseline — would add about $164,000 to the estimate, bringing the total to about $940,000.
Landowner and petitioner Mark Fair of Archer Farms is seeking the work in part because he plans pattern tiling his fields this year and prefers the work completed before harvest, the engineer said.
Board members discussed strategies for abandoning or disabling the old clay main. One supervisor recommended cutting and crushing the old tile in several locations to render it inoperable rather than excavating and removing every foot.
The board moved and seconded a motion to accept the engineer's report and to schedule a public hearing; both motions passed by voice vote. County staff will publish the hearing notice as required.
At the hearing, supervisors said they will address the project scope (whether to remove or disable the old tile), connections of existing private laterals, and any additional work downstream that landowners request. The engineering report includes maps, photos of a deteriorated headwall and an estimate for replacing a problematic bulkhead area and associated structures.
