Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a Second Amendment to the Agreement with CMG Landscape Architecture for Up to $545,000, Including Contingencies, for a Total Agreement Amount Not-To-Exceed $3,387,000, to Provide Additional Technical Services Related to the Sea Level Rise Adaptation Projects.
This project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines section 15262 - Feasibility and Planning Studies. (Planning Building and Transportation 10062032)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For sea level rise adaptation, the City of Alameda (City) has been working on two high-priority projects - the Estuary Adaptation Project (Estuary Project) and the Bay Farm Island Adaptation Project (BFI Project) and leading the Shoreline Adaptation Plan (Adaptation Plan). The purpose of this agenda item is to request City Council to authorize the City Manager to execute a Second Amendment with CMG Landscape Architecture (CMG) for up to $545,000, including contingencies, for a total Agreement amount not-to-exceed $3,387,000, to continue providing technical services related to the abovementioned adaptation projects.
BACKGROUND
This adaptation agenda item is a culmination of the following City Council actions:
In 2019, City Council adopted the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP), which outlines an interagency collaborative approach to prepare for sea level rise and address priority flooding locations, such as BFI that is hydraulically connected to State Route 61 (SR-61)/Doolittle Drive Oakland Airport and parts of the City of Oakland (Oakland).
In 2022 and 2023, City Council adopted the Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan, and through a series of budget, grant and contract authorizations, enabled work on the early concept phase of sea level rise planning and project development. Currently, the City is working on the following high-priority sea level rise adaptation efforts:
• Estuary Adaptation Project: www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationEstuary <http://www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationEstuary>
• BFI Adaptation Project: www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationBayFarmIsland <http://www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationBayFarmIsland>
• Shoreline Adaptation Plan: www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationLongTermPlan <http://www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationLongTermPlan>
In 2024, City Council held a work session on adaptation and approved the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant submittal for the BFI/Doolittle Drive project. City Council also approved a resolution authorizing the Three Major Trails grant application submittal totaling $937,000 to the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) to offset the local match for the City and the Port of Oakland (Port) at $316,000 and $621,000, respectively. In spring 2025, the new federal administration terminated the BRIC program and Alameda CTC approved the BFI/Doolittle Drive Three Major Trails matching grant funding, which potentially could be used to match a grant other than BRIC.
On January 21, 2025, City Council endorsed the BFI and Estuary project concept designs for the Alameda portions of the Estuary and BFI projects and received a status update on the Adaptation Plan.
On February 4, 2025, City Council authorized the First Amendment of the CMG contract for additional technical services related to the sea level rise adaptation projects with a focus on general project management, coordination and grant writing.
The purpose of this agenda item is to request City Council to authorize the City Manager to execute a Second Amendment with CMG for up to $545,000, including contingencies, to provide additional technical services related to sea level rise adaptation projects with a focus on the BFI Project and the South Shore area.
DISCUSSION
The Second Amendment of the CMG agreement will allow the CMG consultant team to make progress on the BFI Project and on the Adaptation Plan in the South Shore area.
For the BFI Project, the CMG team will conduct topographic surveys, continue the environmental permitting process and revise the 30 percent design drawings based on input from permitting agencies for $305,000 including contingencies.
For the Adaptation Plan, the CMG team will conduct geomorphology work in the South Shore area totaling $240,000, which also considers an analysis of recent shoreline response trends and site ecology.
The CMG team has worked on the three funded sea level rise adaptation projects since September 2023 and has successfully led the City on design concept completion and several grant applications. The Second Amendment of the Agreement will continue the momentum for seeking additional grant funding and for supporting project implementation (Exhibits 1, 2 and 3).
ALTERNATIVES
City Council may consider a range of alternatives:
• Authorize the recommended Second Amendment.
• Authorize the recommended Second Amendment with revisions.
• Direct staff to pursue a different approach.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Table 1 summarizes the CMG Landscape Architecture agreement history with a requested authorized amount not-to-exceed $3,387,000.
Table 1: CMG Landscape Architecture Agreement History
There is no financial impact to the General Fund for the approval of the CMG Second Amendment. The additional $545,000 has been appropriated as part of the Sustainability Division’s operational budget and the City’s Capital Improvement Program.
The City’s three sea level rise adaptation projects total $4,235,000 and are funded through grants for $2,765,000 (65%) and local monies for $1,470,000 (35%).
The next project phases will require additional funding, which staff is actively pursuing. The additional funding sources may include:
• $2.9 million from California’s Proposition 4 for the BFI Project; and
• Up to $15 million through the federal Water Resources Development Act for the Estuary Project, pending the second step of federal appropriations.
Further funding beyond these sources above will be needed. For example, the Estuary Project near-term coastal shoreline protections in Alameda are expected to total $70 million and the north side detention basins in Alameda are expected to cost $80 million.
Separate City Council actions will be required to appropriate additional funds for further project implementation.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
The proposed actions described in this report are consistent with CARP (2019), the Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan (2022), the 2040 General Plan (2022) and the Strategic Plan (2023 and 2025), in particular:
General Plan Policy HS-16 Funding and Partnerships. Develop partnerships with local, regional, and state agencies to expedite adaptation projects and ensure a healthy watershed that protects and restores water quality, habitat and community vitality along San Leandro Bay and the Oakland-Alameda Estuary.
Strategic Plan Project CC6. Develop long-term adaptation plan and short-term adaptation projects.
This action is subject to the Levine Act.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This phase of the project involves planning studies for further actions, which are yet to be approved, and is thus exempt from CEQA review under CEQA Guidelines section 15262 - Feasibility and Planning Studies. Further environmental review will be conducted for the individual resilience projects upon development of infrastructure design work.
CLIMATE IMPACT
Successful completion of the adaptation projects will improve the community’s resiliency to the impacts of climate change.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute a Second Amendment to the Agreement with CMG Landscape Architecture for up to $545,000, including contingencies, for a total agreement amount not-to-exceed $3,387,000, to provide additional technical services related to the sea level rise adaptation projects.
Respectfully submitted,
Allen Tai, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
By,
Gail Payne, Project Manager
Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Ross McCarthy, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Agreement - CMG
2. First Amendment - CMG
3. Second Amendment - CMG