Marysville levee OK after mow

A section of levee near Marysville that was flagged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for too much vegetation passed a state inspection last month.

While the Army Corps has the final say about whether the section is taken off a list of unacceptable levees, the Marysville Levee Commission hopes the inspection results would do just that.

The commission is waiting to see if it will be reinstated for full Army Corps funding, Commission President Pat Ajuria told other commissioners Tuesday.

The state Department of Water Resources will notify the Army Corps once an official maintnance rating is assigned to the levee, according to an e-mail sent to the city.

“They said it looked good, met their standards,” said Ajuria, about the Nov. 15 state inspection.

Earlier this year, the spur levee between Walnut Avenue and Hallwood Boulevard made it on the Army Corps list of 122 levees that had unacceptable maintenance.

The Army Corps designated it only “fair,” but the inspection occurred between mowings of the patrol road, said Ajuria.

Being on the list could make it difficult to get some grants for levee improvements. The spur levee was given to the state Reclamation Board in 1964, according to Army Corps records, and is not the ring levee that protects Marysville from flooding.

After a week of weed trimming by Superintendent Frank Miller and another worker, state inspectors found the Hallwood levee was acceptable and was being maintained “acceptably as a patrol road,” with adequate clearance for a vehicle to pass, according to a department memo.

The trimming was described as normal maintenance, accomplished with hand tools and chainsaws.

Appeal-Democrat reporter John Dickey can be reached at 749-4711. You may e-mail him at jdickey@appealdemocrat.com.