Project to reduce flooding in North Park hits a snag

Residents in the North Park community will have to wait awhile longer for the completion of a stormwater management project on Riverside Boulevard after city officials said in late December that the project — intended to address longtime flooding issues — will be delayed due to defective equipment.

On Nov. 15, city officials said that the work on the Riverside Boulevard drainage pipe was in its final stages and would be finished sometime after Thanksgiving. Officials said the project would help curtail flooding that has plagued the North Park community for decades.

Former City Council President Thomas Sofield, Jr. said that the work consisted of replacing a 12-foot section of stormwater pipe, and that the new section of pipe had been fitted with a backflow valve that allowed stormwater to enter Reynolds Channel during low tide, while preventing the bay from entering the collection system during high tide.

Previously, Long Beach Department of Public Works Commissioner Kevin Mulligan said that the pipe, below ground at Riverside Boulevard north of Park Place, was in place, and the necessary valve meant to ensure for the project to work had been installed.

But on Dec. 16, former City Manager Charles Theofan said that the $85,000 project — which was awarded to All Island Plumbing in July — was on hold after officials learned that the valve was defective.

“We wanted to make sure it was properly working,” said Theofan, noting that the contractor, and manufacturer of the valve, met with Mulligan for an inspection. “There was a series of tests. There was a defect in the valve itself. It will be replaced.”

Theofan last month said that the fix would not cost the city additional funds. “It’s being worked out now. We have to be patient,” he said. “When you consider the fact that it should have been done 25 years ago, I consider it a minor setback. If the solution is delayed by maybe a month, or a month and a half, at least, at the end of the day, it’ll be fixed.”