Farmer, agency find accord on levee move

An tentative agreement has been reached between Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority and orchard owner Jeanette Rice over the setback levee at her south Yuba County farm.

Instead of constructing a section of the levee through some of the most important crops on the Rice farm, TRLIA agreed to move the levee 45 feet to the west, preserving some of Rice’s most profitable peach trees.

“We are pleased,” Rice said. “We wanted the whole lot, but we know that can’t be done. We are being realistic. Compromise is good.”

The compromise must first be approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Fish and Game.

“The state has asked us to be agriculture-friendly, and we hope they will take that in to consideration,” said TRLIA Executive Director Paul Brunner. “Hopefully, these entities will approve these slight adjustments.”

The original offer from the county was to buy six acres for $18,000 per acre, but Rice said she was not concerned with money. Instead, she wanted to keep farming.

In addition to the 45-foot move, at least 80 additional peach, nectarine and citrus trees will be removed and relocated to another area of the property.

“We will be able to remain in business,” the 56-year-old farmer said. “Eighty is better than nothing. It will take a little while for business to be re-established, but hopefully we will remain.”

Rice, owner of the 19-acre farm off Feather River Boulevard, was notified in February the county would need portions of her land for a setback levee six miles along the Feather River as part of the $230 million in levee improvements.

Brunner said the dispute with the Rice property did not hold up design and construction of the levee.

“We stayed true to what we said we would do before by staying on good soil,” Brunner said. “We are trying to work with the populous and bring this project to light.”

The project is currently out to bid. Brunner hopes award a bid by November, after adequate funding is secured. Construction will start near the Shanghai Bend area after the rainy season.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Andrea Koskey can be reached at 749-4709 or at akoskey@appealdemocrat.com