SBC Flood Control District has a Plan

Public safety is a top priority of the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District. Since 1955, the District’s work has helped protect life and property through channel maintenance and capital improvements throughout the county, including work in cities. Flood Control builds major infrastructure and conducts maintenance from the Santa Maria River on the county’s northern border all the way to the south to the city of Carpinteria, and all areas between. Each community has its unique needs and infrastructure. The Santa Maria Valley, Lompoc area, Eastern Goleta Valley, and city of Santa Barbara have levees, urban channels, storm drain systems, basins, and other protective infrastructure with complex features to control storm flows. These facilities take continuous maintenance, as do the creeks and rivers that the Flood Control District maintains. In addition, the District reviews new developments and operates a hydrological data collection system, including a rain gauge network (https://rain.cosbpw.net), to maintain the countywide flood warning system.  

Of this infrastructure, Montecito has the highest concentration of debris basins in the county. Eight basins have been built to protect the community, including the recently completed Randall Road debris basin, with an excavated volume of 90,000 cubic yards (nearly 8,000 truckloads). A ninth basin at Buena Vista Creek is in the final phases of design. While these basins take significant resources to clear and maintain due to their volume, the demonstrated protection they provide makes them a valuable asset in flood protection. They are also located on all-weather accessible roadways that allow rapid maintenance and clearing immediately following storms. Protection from flood and debris flow risks is best achieved by a system of channels and basins that can be quickly accessed and where material can be physically removed. 

In the Montecito area, the District helps maintain the regional creeks – including Montecito, Oak, San Ysidro, and Romero – and the eight District-owned debris basins. The District also works with the Transportation Division to help maintain a culvert and drainage system network that falls within the public right-of-way. This includes evaluating the basins and creeks and constantly seeking opportunities to improve infrastructure and flood control protection over time. The District has recently completed two basin upgrade projects to improve its operations and increase capacity, with two additional modification projects planned for 2024. With the planned completion of the Buena Vista Creek Basin, the District will have installed two new basins within the last five years. 

To keep Montecito safer during a 100-year flood event (1% probability, any given year) Flood Control recently initiated a study – with support from First District Supervisor Das Williams – as part of our commitment to partnering with the Montecito Community to improve public safety. The District is developing a Flood Mitigation Master Plan that considers the unique sensitivity of Montecito’s steep mountainous terrain coupled with a short distance to the Pacific Ocean, which results in the challenging drainage and debris generation dynamics that this community has experienced. The project aims to determine opportunities and challenges of various improvements and develop the best and most feasible alternatives for improving flood protection for the community. This plan will guide private and public flood control improvement planning, design, and construction in the community for decades to come. Work on the plan began in early 2023 and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024. In addition to two town hall meetings held in May and November 2023, there will be another opportunity to provide input at a public hearing in the first few months of 2024. Residents can also learn more and provide input through the project website (www.countyofsb.org/mfcmp) or by contacting District staff by calling (805) 568-3440 or emailing fccontact@countyofsb.org. 

The Montecito basins are cleared and prepared, and our annual maintenance plan projects are complete for the upcoming rainy season. We are always ready to respond to any unexpected emergency. The goal of the Flood Mitigation Master Plan and implementation is to help our community reduce flooding impacts well into the future. To improve our chances of success, improvements associated with the Master Plan must be effective and accessible to maintain. We look forward to continuing our work with the residents of Montecito to make everyday life as safe and convenient as possible for the public we serve.  

Walter Rubalcava
Santa Barbara County Flood 
Control District