By Brandon HENSLEY

The problems regarding the upper parts of La Crescenta in the aftermath of the recent rains were the hot topic of Tuesday’s Crescenta Valley Water District meeting.
In the meeting, the board discussed the repairs to the road leading to the Pickens Canyon reservoir. The district has an easement leading to the reservoir, but last month’s rains damaged both sides of the road, making it unstable for trucks to go to and from the site.
Brkich Construction and PaveCo have been hired to make these emergency repairs and Secretary Treasurer Ron Mitchell said the district expects to have the road fixed by no later than early next week, with costs exceeding no more than $35,000.
“We’re calculating that’s approximately $5,000 a day, and we figure it should not take more than a total of seven working days to do all of the repairs,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the only thing that would get in the way of repairing the road this week would be more rain that is expected to hit Southern California on Friday. He acknowledged concern from residents in that area about the access road and its effect on Canyonside Road.
“The large mud-flows [from the recent rains] that went down Canyonside, there are some residents that feel that the access road that we have is part of the problem, that the mud-flow would naturally come down out of the hills and would have gone across the road and out into Pickens Canyon,” Mitchell said. “Their thought is when it hits the road it’s diverted to go down Canyonside.”
Mitchell said that district General Manager Dennis Erdman will meet with L.A. County Public Works officials to come up with a long-term solution. Because of the multiple parties involved, including private landowners, Mitchell said a solution would take some time.
“I can’t foresee it being done before the end of the rain season,” he said. “The long-term … can we bring [the mud-flow] under the road and then out into the canyon or who is the responsible party for that? Those are things that have to be determined down the line.”
The next board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 16.