Title
Recommendation to Endorse the Concept Designs for the Estuary Adaptation Project and the Bay Farm Island Adaptation Project and to Accept a Status Update on the Subregional Adaptation Plan.
This project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guidelines section 15262. (Planning Building and Transportation 10062032)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Consistent with City Council direction, the City of Alameda (City) has been leading the Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee (OAAC) to plan for sea level rise adaptation in the Oakland-Alameda subregion since 2021. OAAC has been working on two high-priority projects - the Estuary Adaptation Project (Estuary Project) and the Bay Farm Island Adaptation Project (BFI Project) - and the Oakland-Alameda Subregional Adaptation Plan (Subregional Plan). The purpose of this agenda item is to request City Council to endorse the concept designs for the two projects on the Alameda side and to provide a status update of the Subregional Plan.
BACKGROUND
This adaptation agenda item is a culmination of several City Council actions over the years with key direction as follows and details provided in the below webpage links:
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, City Council adopted the Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan, and through a series of budget actions and grant authorizations, enabled funding to support OAAC’s work on the early concept phase of sea level rise planning and project development. Currently, OAAC is working on the following planning 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>
• Subregional 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. The City, acting as lead agency, applied for the grant with a cost of $55.5 million to fund the next project phases. FEMA would cover 90 percent of the grant totaling $50 million and has recommended to further review the submittal with final decision potentially in 2025. The City, Port of Oakland (Port) and Oakland made financial pro rata commitments to cover the required non-federal grant match of $1.9 million, $2.6 million and $1 million, respectively, which totals $5.5 million. The City Council approved a resolution authorizing the Three Major Trails grant application submittal totaling $937,000 to Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) to offset the local match for the City and the Port at $316,000 and $621,000, respectively.
The purpose of this agenda item is to request the City Council endorse the concept designs for the Alameda portions of the Estuary and BFI projects and provide a status update of the Subregional Plan. Exhibit 1 includes description and images of each project.
DISCUSSION
This section provides an update on the three sea level rise adaptation planning efforts along with key milestones and important considerations including the request for the City Council to endorse the concept designs for the Estuary and BFI projects. This request is only for the Alameda side of the projects and adjustments to the concepts are expected as part of the environmental documentation and permitting process. Staff will continue to provide updates and requests for endorsements and approvals as the work progresses. The near-term concept designs recommend levees, seawalls or redevelopment at elevation 14 feet, which provides 2 feet of sea level rise protection and another 2 feet of freeboard to cover uncertainties. Long-term adaptation projects would build on the near-term projects and would protect to elevation 17 feet accounting for 5 feet of sea level rise.
Estuary Project: Consists of developing a design concept, which is equivalent to 10 percent design, to protect Downtown Oakland/Jack London District and the City’s northern shoreline near the Posey/Webster Tubes from sea level rise and flooding. Budget: $500,000 ($425,000 from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and $75,000 from the City). Webpage: www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationEstuary <http://www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationEstuary>
• Milestones: Began September 2023; Alternatives in spring 2024; Draft concept design in fall 2024; Ongoing outreach led by paid Community Partners; and Concept design request for City Council endorsement (this agenda item). Grant expires February 28, 2025. More funding will be needed for environmental clearance, permitting, design and construction. The Oakland-Alameda Estuary project is included in the 2024 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) legislation totaling $30 million, which will need a second step of appropriations to obtain these funds for both the Oakland and Alameda sides of the estuary.
• Considerations: The concept includes both coastal and inland recommendations. The coastal recommendations include levees, seawalls and redevelopment at higher elevations between Bohol Circle Immigrant Park at Alameda Landing and Shoreline Park at Marina Village. The inland concept includes green and grey detention basins to improve Alameda’s northside stormwater drainage for today’s volumes with added capacity as precipitation increases. Oakland is working on a Storm Drain Master Plan and is finalizing the proposed Estuary Park (on the Oakland side). The Port has begun an adaptation study with a recently awarded Caltrans grant, which includes further evaluation of the initial concepts on the Oakland side of the Estuary.
BFI Project: Consists of developing a design concept up to 30 percent design for a near-term project along the northern shoreline of BFI and a long-term adaptation plan for the entire BFI. Budget: $2 million ($1.5 million FEMA/federal earmark and $530,000 City). Webpage: www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationBayFarmIsland <http://www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationBayFarmIsland>
• Milestones: Began September 2023; Alternatives in spring 2024; Draft concept design in fall 2024; Ongoing outreach led by paid Community Partners; Concept request, which is equivalent to 10 percent design, for City Council endorsement (this agenda item); and up to 30 percent design on the northern shoreline of BFI by fall 2025. Grant expires September 29, 2025. The City submitted a FEMA BRIC grant on behalf of OAAC to complete the environmental clearance, permitting, design and construction, which is being reviewed by FEMA.
• Considerations: The near-term concept includes a levee to reduce coastal flooding, Bay Trail enhancements, nature-based solutions to reduce erosion and to improve marshes and beach habitat, tide gate and pump station replacements and storm drain modifications. The concept will shorten the Veterans Court road and will allow for 20-25 parking spaces, a levee and an enhanced marsh. For the immediate term, Public Works is pursuing a request for San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) approval to place temporary sandbags to protect erosion hotspots along the northern shoreline before the near-term project is completed. The wooden bicycle/pedestrian bridge is not part of the near-term concept and will be analyzed as a transportation project for replacement as a bridge or as an under/overpass of Doolittle Drive by Veterans Park.
Subregional Plan: Consists of developing a plan to protect the Oakland-Alameda subregion from near- and long-term sea level rise and associated shoreline hazards. Budget: $840,000 ($300,000 from San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) and $540,000 from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)). Webpage: www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationLongTermPlan <http://www.alamedaca.gov/AdaptationLongTermPlan>
• Milestones: Began in September 2023; Assessment in spring 2024, Governance in fall 2024; Strategy development expected in spring 2025; Ongoing outreach led by paid Community Partners; and Request for City Council approval anticipated in fall 2025. Grants expire October 31, 2025 (SFEP) and June 1, 2026 (NFWF).
• Considerations:
o Governance: While a formal governance structure has not been established, potential funding from FEMA BRIC for the BFI/Doolittle project or from WRDA for the Estuary project has prompted the OAAC project partners to initiate project-specific memorandums of understanding (MOU) negotiations per the Governance analysis recommended next step. Currently, the City is working with members of OAAC under a common mission statement and guiding principles - the OAAC Charter - that is not legally binding. Staff recognizes it is not sustainable for the City to continue serving in a leadership role for the subregional partnership. The governance recommendations include project-specific MOUs with partner agencies for the near term and the possible formation of a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) or a hybrid/special district as potential approaches for longer term phases of collaboration.
o Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP) Guidelines: In December 2024, BCDC finalized guidelines for local jurisdictions to follow when developing subregional adaptation plans per Senate Bill 272 (Laird 2023). The City, Oakland and the Port submitted comments to BCDC as part of the public hearing process. RSAP guidelines require extensive detail and substantial resources for local jurisdictions, which will necessitate further funding to complete. The Port will be contributing additional effort towards RSAP compliance due to a recently awarded Caltrans grant of $3 million. Furthermore, City staff and the CMG consultant team are writing grants to meet more of the RSAP guidelines and will show how the RSAP guidelines will be fully met by the 2034 deadline with the Port’s supplemental work and with future Subregional Plan updates, which are required every five years.
Outreach Summary
The OAAC Project Partners - including the paid Community Partners - engaged community members as follows:
• Facilitated 10 committee meetings for both the BFI and Estuary projects and 6 Alameda beaches committee meetings;
• Participated in 25 events with tabling and information materials;
• Held 7 steering committee meetings and 4 full OAAC meetings;
• Conducted 40 focus group meetings with key stakeholders including adjacent property owners and community members;
• Lead 3 rounds of workshops in May, August and December 2024;
• Created frequently asked questions (FAQ) (Exhibit 2);
• Distributed materials via email lists, social media, in-person, local print publications and paid advertisements; and
• Presented at Transportation Commission (November 2024), Planning Board (December 2024), Commission on Persons with Disabilities (January 2025) and City Council (February 2024 and January 2025).
Overall, community members and key stakeholders have expressed appreciation of the adaptation efforts and concern about how to fund the implementation of it. The Jean Sweeney Open Space Park Fund provided an email in opposition to the proposed green detention basin at Jean Sweeney Park due to concerns about contaminated stormwater from adjacent streets and about it becoming a swamp environment (Exhibit 3). The CMG consultant team experts confirmed that the stormwater sent to Jean Sweeney Park would carry minimal surface pollutants to the proposed detention area since initial rains with most of the pollutants are carried directly from the street into the storm drain system. The consultant team would design the system to have an underdrain so that water could drain within 72 hours after a storm event. The stormwater basin would be mutually beneficial to the community and resiliency efforts. The basin would be designed to support the Community’s vision for the park by incorporating walking paths surrounded by California trees, habitat planting, and educational signage describing the benefits of green detention and the local ecology. Ongoing community engagement such as with Jean Sweeney Open Space Park Fund will occur as part of project implementation including more educational sessions on these new best practice green infrastructure treatments.
ALTERNATIVES
City Council can take any of the following actions:
• Endorse the concept designs for the Estuary and BFI projects;
• Endorse the concept designs with requested revisions; and
• Reject the concept designs and direct staff with another approach, which will delay project progress and may jeopardize grant funding.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact from endorsing the concepts. The three adaptation projects total $3,690,000 and are funded with grants contributing $2,765,000, or 75 percent, and local match funding the remaining $925,000, or 25 percent (Table 1).
Table 1: Adaptation Project Funding
|
Sources |
Amount |
|
SFEP Grant (Subregional Plan) |
$300,000 |
|
NFWF Grant (Subregional Plan) |
$540,000 |
|
Caltrans Grant (Estuary Project) |
$425,000 |
|
Measure BB Local Match (Estuary Project) |
$75,000 |
|
FEMA Grant (BFI Project) |
$1,500,000 |
|
General Fund Local Match (BFI Project) |
$850,000 |
|
Subtotal Grant Sources |
$2,765,000 |
|
Subtotal Local Sources |
$925,000 |
|
Total Sources |
$3,690,000 |
|
|
|
|
Uses |
|
|
Subregional Plan |
|
|
Consultant Team |
$599,500 |
|
City Staff |
$20,500 |
|
Community Partners |
$185,000 |
|
Scientific Advisor |
$35,000 |
|
Estuary Project |
|
|
Consultant Team |
$391,500 |
|
Community Partners |
$108,500 |
|
BFI Project |
|
|
Consultant Team |
$1,676,000 |
|
City Staff |
$324,000 |
|
Community Partners |
$30,000 |
|
Subtotal Consultant Team |
$2,667,000 |
|
Subtotal City Staff |
$344,500 |
|
Subtotal Community Partners |
$323,500 |
|
Subtotal Scientific Advisor |
$35,000 |
|
Contingency |
$320,000 |
|
Total Uses |
$3,690,000 |
The next project phases will require additional funds, which staff is seeking through grants such as FEMA BRIC for the BFI Project totaling $55.5 million or federal legislation such as WRDA for the Estuary Project totaling up to $30 million depending on the second step of appropriations. More funding is expected to be needed beyond these two potential federal sources. 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. The near-term BFI Project is also expected to need additional funding beyond the initial FEMA BRIC grant and more detailed cost estimates will provide this information as the project progresses. Separate City Council action 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), Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan (2022), 2040 General Plan (2022) and Strategic Plan (2023), 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.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This phase of the projects involves planning studies for further actions, which are yet to be approved, and is thus exempt from CEQA review under CEQA Guidelines section 15262. Further environmental review will be conducted for the individual resilience projects upon further development of infrastructure design work.
CLIMATE IMPACT
The project will improve the resiliency to the impacts of climate change as described earlier in this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation to endorse the concept designs for the Estuary Project and the BFI Project and to accepted a status update on the Subregional Plan.
Respectfully submitted,
Allen Tai, Director of Planning, Building and Transportation
By,
Gail Payne, Project Manager
Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Projects
2. FAQs
3. Correspondence