Chris Neudeck, Vice President of Kjeldsen, Sinnock & Neudeck (KSN) gave a great presentation at our April 16th dinner meeting. Chris discussed current events in the San Joaquin Delta including the effects of SB 5 200-year flood protection regulations, the enforcement authority of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board (SB 753), and current drought planning and impacts for local water quality and levels.

SB 5 would substantially limit residential, commercial, and industrial development after July 2016 unless a community meets California’s Urban Level of Flood Protection (protection against 200-year flood events) or is making adequate progress toward meeting that protection. Chris discussed potential impacts on communities and compared Sacramento, which is making adequate progress, to Stockton, which would have extreme difficulties meeting the requirements.

On SB 753, which allows for substantial fines for non-compliant levee encroachment violations, Chris described the difficult situation for owners that previously followed the rules, valid at that time, and had obtained permits for their encroachments. The Central Valley Flood Protection Board can impose administrative penalties up to $50,000 for a single violation, which can be more that civil penalties imposed by a court.

Chris described the salinity impacts to the Delta resulting from the current drought and proposed emergency dams to be built across three channels in the Delta. He also discussed statewide reservoir conditions, and compared storage levels of Los Angeles-area reservoirs with those in the rest of the state.

Chris was a very engaging speaker and had plenty to say. The audience wanted more, with many staying well past the end of his talk.

Our May Meeting speaker will be Tom Zlotkowski, Executive Director of the Capital SouthEast Connector JPA.

In March of 2008, Tom became the Executive Director of the Elk Grove-Rancho Cordova-El Dorado Connector JPA, currently referred to as the Capital SouthEast Connector JPA.  The JPA is responsible for the planning, environmental review, design, and construction of “Connector” which is a proposed 35-mile multi-modal transportation corridor southeast of Sacramento. Amongst other duties, Tom oversees project and program development, funding and fiscal planning, as well as community and governmental interests.  To date, a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) was adopted in April, 2012, concurrent with the selection of the project general alignment. Other recent project milestones include the adoption of an initial Plan of Finance (POF), along with Project Design Guidelines (PDG) by the JPA board of directors in March, 2013.  The project was made eligible for Design-Build procurement by the state legislature in September, 2013.

Previously, Mr. Zlotkowski was the Director of the Sacramento County Department of Transportation where he oversaw the planning, design, construction and ongoing maintenance & operations of 2600 miles of street and highways located in the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County.  He was responsible for an organization of 375 employees, with a $160 million annual budget to maintain, operate and improve a transportation system that includes over 5,000 lane miles of road.  Tom is widely recognized for innovative approaches to advance transportation solutions within the Sacramento region and for making numerous improvements to the local and regional transportation system.

Tom’s professional acknowledgements include the Institute of Transportation Engineers, “2007 Distinguished Service Award” and the American Public Works Association, “2006 National Transportation Manager of the Year.” He is both a registered Civil and Traffic engineer in the state of California as well as holding a national certification as a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE).