Posted on September 6, 2016
By Mike Harris, Mountain News
County supervisors on Aug. 23 awarded a $1.88 million construction contract to Earth Construction & Mining of Garden Grove, Calif. to handle the second phase of dredging portions of Lake Gregory.
Trinity Construction of Blue Jay was the next highest bidder with a bid of $2.13 million. Summit Contracting of La Canada entered a bid of $1.53 million, but was disqualified because the company was deemed non-responsive.
According to Tim Millington, Special Districts Department interim division manager, now that supervisors have approved a contractor for the dredging, the next step will be finalizing permits from other agencies.
“We are still in the process of getting the permits,” he told the Mountain News. “That’s what it comes down to, when we get the permits we can begin the work.”
Millington said while he couldn’t give a firm start date for the dredging work, he expects to see some activity around mid-September.
“I’d say (we’ll start) the later part of September, but we should (definitely) start before October,” he said. Dredging work should be completed before the onset of winter.
The dredging work would include the area in front of the South Beach parking lot, the area in front of the ballfield and Houston Creek east, which runs between the ballfield and San Moritz Lodge.
“It also would include the sediment basin next to the Crestline library,” he added.
Two main watersheds drain into Lake Gregory by way of Houston Creek West and Houston Creek East. This project addresses the capture of sediment through the construction of two sedimentation basins.
Along Houston Creek West, the project entails deepening the existing basin near the Crestline library and construction of a weir box with a low-flow bypass to retain sediment. On Houston Creek East, near San Moritz Lodge, natural step-down rock levies will be constructed within the channel to capture sediment.
Once the second phase is completed, Millington said the county will work with other agencies, such as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Lahontan Water Quality Control Board, to agree on a maintenance permit covering annual sediment management.
A total of $4.2 million has been spent on the project to date, primarily for beach dredging, dam design and engineering, and outlet valve replacement. The Special Districts Department’s capital improvement budget has an appropriation of $8.5 million in 2016-17 to cover expenses related to this sediment management and bio-retention contract and future obligations for dam stabilization under the greater Lake Gregory Dam Rehabilitation Project.
Lake Gregory is a man-made lake located in the unincorporated mountain community of Crestline in the San Bernardino National Forest. San Bernardino County Regional Parks Department took over ownership of the dam and Lake Gregory recreational facilities from the Crest Forest County Water District on Nov. 7, 1977, and has since operated the facility as a public park.
Source: Mountain News
