About $2 million in infrastructure upgrades will break ground in the coming weeks in the northern Monterey County community of Pajaro where a levee breached two years ago, prompting widespread evacuations and damage.
Monterey County officials on Wednesday released some details about the improvements in the area that was affected when the Pajaro River levee breached in March 2023, leading to flooding that left more than 200 homes either destroyed or seriously damaged.
The funding from the project came via Assembly Bill 102, a supplemental budget bill passed later in 2023 that gave $20 million to the county for flood relief in Pajaro, half for direct assistance for local residents and business owners, and the other half for community improvements not otherwise covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the state, or insurance.
The first project to start, as soon as next week, will be the installation of 24 solar-powered streetlights around the city, county chief of public works Enrique Saavedra said in a briefing.
Other improvements in the coming weeks and months will include the installation of radar speed signs and other traffic safety signs and signals, particularly around Pajaro Middle School in the downtown area, Saavedra said.
The choices for the infrastructure upgrades came from a number of community workshops where people could give input on what to do with some of the state funding, and issues like a lack of lighting and the need for pedestrian safety improvements were what residents prioritized most, according to Saavedra.
“We’re very excited to show them we took their input and now we developed a project,” he said.
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