Supervisors Speed Up Repairs to Fullerton Creek Channel

Supervisors have decided to fast-track repairs to Fullerton Creek, putting the $3.5-million work on the channel in Buena Park on emergency status because a contractor failed to complete the job.

The county was supposed to rely on a bonding company secured by Sedcon Engineers, Contractors Inc. of Arcadia to pay for repairs. But the bonding company informed the county recently that it would take “many weeks” to examine work performed and issue a check to pay for the contract default.

“If [the channel] were left in the condition it is today, we believe it would be unsafe when we approach the next rainy season,” the county’s Chief Engineer Ken R. Smith told supervisors this week.

The board’s vote on Tuesday allows the county’s Public Facilities and Resources Department to seek informal bids and authorize repairs that could come by late June, Smith said.

The area targeted for work is north of Orangethorpe Avenue, bordered by Knott Avenue on the west and Beach Boulevard on the east.

A devastating series of heavy rains in 1995 flooded 70 homes, closed some businesses for weeks and caused $3 million in damage when about 30 feet of Beach Boulevard was washed away where the road crosses Fullerton Creek.

Flood waters also damaged the creek’s north lining wall, which was targeted for emergency repairs, including a vertical wall on one side. The county project was supposed to reduce the remaining slope from the opposite side of the channel and build a similar vertical wall.

Sedcon has claimed that the project cannot be done as designed and that a subcontractor that the company had hired could not complete the work. Work began in October 1999, but Sedcon had to come in and do emergency “winterization” repairs to protect the creek’s concrete lining.

“We have tried,” said Ramella Babayova, a Sedcon office manager. “We had to do winterization work because of other subcontractors who didn’t perform like they should have.”

Supervisor Todd Spitzer said he found “it pretty abhorrent” that the construction company failed to complete the work. At an earlier Board of Supervisors meeting, the board voted that the company had defaulted on the contract.

Smith explained to the board that he was confident the bond company, Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland, would eventually reimburse the county.

But the recommended action by county public facilities officials is to proceed with repairs.