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Oak Park residents press county for answers after Medea Creek work and draft maintenance plan
Summary
A resident submitted photos alleging stream-bed alteration in Medea Creek; Public Works briefed the MAC on a draft 2025–2030 CDFW routine maintenance agreement and said staff will follow up on hydrology updates, vegetative buffers and coordination with Oak Park Open Space.
Concerned residents and MAC members asked county staff on Jan. 30 for clarity about recent creek work and the Watershed Protection District’s draft routine maintenance agreement covering Medea and Lindero Creeks.
Steven Kozel, a member of the Friends of Oak Park Open Space board, submitted an email and photos he said document a stream-bed alteration that occurred at the Kanan/Oak Hills intersection in October 2023. Kozel wrote that the contractor’s work appeared to alter the stream bed, failed to remove invasive species and produced eutrophication in places. "I attached a sample from the beginning including a picture of the contractor's truck responsible for performing the work," Kozel wrote in his January 20 email to staff.
Public Works Director Gregg Strakaluse and Assistant Director Jeff Palmer briefed the MAC on the draft 2025–2030 California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) Routine Maintenance Agreement for Medea and Lindero Creeks. Staff described a new two-week project dashboard and said crews are working on the maintenance tasks; Strakaluse acknowledged community requests for a vegetative buffer zone and said hydrology models could be updated to incorporate newer topography data (2017). Members asked that the MAC be given opportunities to review the draft agreement and recommended forming a community workgroup to help inform maintenance plans.
The MAC recorded the request that Watershed staff provide the draft agreement to the public and return with details on what permits and oversight applied to the October 2023 work. Public Works committed to follow up with additional documentation and coordination with Oak Park Open Space.
