Butte County directs staff to begin CEQA and pursue Prop 218 vote to fund Five‑Mile Basin sediment project

Butte County supervisors on Jan. 28 directed public‑works staff to begin the environmental review required under CEQA and concurrently pursue a Proposition 218 election to fund removal of long‑accumulated sediment from the Five‑Mile Basin, a flood‑control structure that serves Chico and surrounding areas.

Director of Public Works Joshua Pack told the board staff estimates about 67,000 cubic yards of sediment have accumulated in the basin since its construction in the mid‑1960s. "Breaking it down, if you have a regulation size football field and you filled it with 2 feet of sediment or gravel, that's the approximate amount of 67,000 cubic yards," Pack said. Hydraulic modeling shows the loss of freeboard ranging from roughly a half‑foot to as much as 1½ feet for large storms, reducing the basin's designed margin of safety during 50‑ and 100‑year…