Santa Rosa Wash
A contracting crew works in the Santa Rosa Wash, north of Honeycutt Road, in early January. Photo by Bob McGovern

As work neared completion on a “repair and replace” maintenance project in the Santa Rosa Wash, David Alley did a walkthrough last week.

The district manager of the Maricopa Flood Control District identified four issues not included in the original scope of work by the contractor, KLP Enterprises, which may have concluded the project as early as Friday.

As a result, the MFCD board of directors had a special meeting on Thursday night on Zoom to hear Alley describe the issues and repairs, and to consider amending the original contract to authorize the additional work.

Alley said the contractor could make the repairs at a cost not to exceed $12,500.

The board voted to authorize the additional work, taking quick action to enlist the contractor before it moved heavy equipment out of the wash and thus saving the district money in the process.

The MFCD is responsible for maintaining most of the washes and floodplain around the city of Maricopa.

Alley said the most expensive of the necessary repairs was an erosion problem from rain runoff at a breezeway on the west bank of Senita by the Maricopa Casa Grande Highway. The trench, which is covered by erosion-protection fabric, is about two feet deep and runs almost to the floor of the wash, he said. It will need to be protected with rip rap, or strategically stacked rocks or placed cement that protects vulnerable areas from erosion.

Another minor repair is necessitated by a resident backwashing a backyard pool, Alley said, noting the HOA contacted the offender.

All of the problems will get bigger and more expensive to repair if the district had delayed action, he added.

The repair of the four additional projects could be finished by the end of next week, Alley said.