BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Update on the Joint Emergency Action Plan in Development with the City of San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
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RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Receive informational update on the development of a joint Emergency Action Plan (EAP) between Santa Clara Valley Water District and the City of San Jose for Coyote Creek.
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SUMMARY:
This agenda item provides an update on the activities pertaining to the Joint Emergency Action Plan (EAP) between the City of San Jose and the District. Mr. Marc Klemencic, consultant on this project and former Chief Operating Officer for District Watersheds will give a presentation of the status of the project’s work elements, with more details on the activities, findings, and preliminary recommendations described in this Memorandum (See Attachment 1). Mr. Klemencic will also discuss the project timeline, schedule and milestones.
On February 21, 2017, record flooding occurred along Coyote Creek upstream of Montague Expressway. As a result, the District and the City of San Jose met and agreed to proceed with development of an EAP on March 15, 2017.
On April 28, 2017, the City Council and District Board held a special joint meeting regarding the flood event and each agency adopted a resolution regarding the EAP that committed to:
• Adopt a Flooding Hazard EAP by December 15, 2017;
• Conduct a joint tabletop exercise of the EAP prior to adoption;
• Initiate a joint public education effort on the EAP.
After the April 28 joint meeting, a Management Team was formed with unclassified and classified staff from both agencies. The team meets monthly at the City of San Jose headquarters. Joint meetings were held on April 5, May 4, June 6, and July 6. As of this writing, the August-October meetings are being scheduled.
The Management Team is responsible for:
• Coordinating and overseeing EAP activities related to flood preparedness and City-District collaboration
• Assuring adequate resources are available for this effort
• Reporting on the progress of EAP development
• Coordinating discussion and resolution of related joint efforts of various supporting workgroups.
Six working groups are each assigned co-team leads (one each from the District and the City) to drive the following work areas:
Emergency Action Plan Workgroups:
1. EAP Writing - Preparation of EAP and Tabletop Exercise
2. Technical - Modeling, Detection Methods (e.g., stream gauges), Flood Thresholds, Flood Threat Matrix, Inundation Areas, Coordination with National Weather Service, Flood Forecasting
3. Communications - Public Messaging, Outreach Methods, Planning Public Meetings, Website Upgrade
4. Creek Management - Coordinate management efforts of: stream maintenance, invasive species removal, debris and blockage removal, facility repairs
5. Short-Term Projects - Joint team to plan flood mitigation projects to be completed in 2017
6. Action Planning - Develop a listing of City and District actions needed in response to a flood threat
The EAP will include guidance to the City and District on:
• Preparedness
• Event detection, evaluation, classification
• Notifications and communications
• Emergency response activities and actions
• Demobilization of emergency response and recovery
The EAP is being developed for a broad audience including elected officials, the public, public information officers, and emergency operations directors, managers, and section chiefs. It will include appendices for individual creeks within the City’s jurisdiction, in addition to Coyote Creek, which is the first creek to be investigated.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with this item.
CEQA:
The recommended action does not constitute a project under CEQA because it does not have a potential for resulting in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: PowerPoint
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Afshin Rouhani, 408-630-2616