Seal Beach residents fear housing development project in nearby Los Alamitos will worsen flooding

SEAL BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Residents of the College Park East neighborhood in Seal Beach say they are concerned that a new housing development in nearby Los Alamitos will exacerbate the area's recurring flooding problem.

Mike Orland has lived in the community for 25 years and has seen the issue worsen.

"That's a normal thing pretty much now," he said in an interview with ABC7. "We get the heavier rains and the water is above the curb down the whole block."

He said in a storm water doesn't have a lot of places to go.

"You have to go for blocks and blocks to get to your first drainage into the sewer system," Orland said. "So the water is going down throughout the whole neighborhood just to get into the storm drain."

Now, the construction of a new housing project across the street in Los Alamitos has Orland and other residents concerned the flooding threat will get worse.

"That's really the issue whether the storm drains can handle the additional sewage and the additional water coming from this project," Orland said.

Renderings on the city's website show what the Lampson Park Place development will look like.

Nearly 250 homes will be built.

Orland said, "The housing is not an issue. I think that will be good for the area because you need more housing but it's just all these side effects of new homes."

An Environmental Impact Report was conducted which concluded that no issues related to storm and sewage drainage were expected.

"We are aware of the action taken by the Los Alamitos City Council with respect to the development project at 4665 Lampson Avenue," the city of Seal Beach said in a statement. "As proposed, the project would require certain approvals from the City of Seal Beach, including a negotiated agreement to provide sewer service outside of Seal Beach's jurisdictional boundaries. If the developer pursues the project in its current form, the City of Seal Beach will carefully evaluate the project and work to address any impacts to our community."

Even though the drainage issue in this community will not be fixed overnight residents are hoping that a conversation can start as to how to fix this issue in the near future.