Residents complain about length of Slater Channel work

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Residents are complaining about the city’s Slater

Channel enhancement project, saying that noise and traffic detours are

hurting their neighborhood.

Since June, construction crews have been working to reinforce the

waterway -- the largest city-owned flood control channel -- so it will be

able to handle 100-year floods and stop water from intruding into

surrounding neighborhoods during heavy rains.

“It hasn’t been a pleasant experience,” said resident Scott Torrellas,

whose home in the 17500 block of Wrightwood Lane backs up against the

intersection of Slater Avenue and Springdale Street. “The construction

work has blocked that intersection for months, and when [crews] are

working, it rattles my windows and dishes.”

With the intersection closed, fast traffic speeds through the

neighborhood, posing a danger and ruining the spirit of the normally

quiet area, Torrellas added.

The Slater Channel starts at Lake Talbert at Central Park and then

travels to Edwards Street, then north to Slater Avenue where continues to

the East Garden Grove Wintersburg Channel.

The one and a half-mile stretch that is being fixed up runs from

Goldenwest Street to the intersection of Springdale Street and Slater

Avenue.

“The neighborhoods surrounding that section have consistently

experienced flooding during heavy rains, and because the channel’s walls

are earthen, we’re also concerned about the property damage caused by

erosion,” said David Webb, a city engineer.

The entire project is expected to cost about $3.4 million, 75% of

which comes from federal grants. It will include widening of the channel

and reinforcing of its walls with concrete.

All that work, for some, simply has gone on too long.

“I was told in the summer that this project would be finished this

month,” said resident Eduardo Morga, who lives at the southern end of

Springdale Street. “I have to detour every time I go [north] on

Springdale, and it’s a nuisance.”

City officials said the project is on schedule, with total completion

expected by March 6. But where the channel runs under the intersection of

Slater Avenue and Springdale Street, work has been slowed, they added.

“There have been delays at that section of the project,” Webb said,

adding that work at the intersection was expected to be complete by the

end of December or the first weeks of January. “There are a number of

Southern California Edison power lines and telephone lines that had to be

removed and relocated during construction.”

Further delays, he added, happened when the city had to shut down a

42-inch water main that supplies water from reservoirs in North

Huntington Beach to southern sections where there are no wells.

Despite their annoyance at the ongoing work, residents said they

understand the importance of the Slater Channel improvements.

“We sure need this project to be done,” Torrellas said. “But there

needs to be more urgency to finish it . . . though I guess the only

alternative would be to have crews working at night, too.”