BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Joint Report on the Status of the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project and Shoreline Recreation.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That the District and County Boards receive a joint report relating to the South San Francisco Shoreline Project and shoreline opportunities related to recreational and emergency access.
Body
SUMMARY:
This item has been prepared for the joint County of Santa Clara (County) meeting with the Santa Clara Valley Water District (District) to discuss the current status of existing restoration and sea level rise mitigation efforts, and recreation and emergency access opportunities along the South San Francisco Bay shoreline area in Santa Clara County.
At the April 12, 2016 (Item No. 11) County of Santa Clara (County) Board of Supervisors meeting, the County Board approved President Cortese’s referral to the County Administration to prepare a work plan with the Santa Clara Valley Water District (District) for the study of the South Bay shoreline as well as waterfront issues and opportunities relating to flood control, emergency access, economic development, parks and recreation, and tourism. County Supervisor Cortese directed the County Administration to report to the Housing, Land Use, Environment, and Transportation Committee (HLUET) at the August 2016 meeting with an initial work plan.
At the August 18, 2016 (Item No. 4) HLUET meeting, the County Administration presented a report and work plan. The Committee requested a refinement to the work plan to further explicate anticipated South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Study/Project (Shoreline Project) milestones, and directed the County Administration to report back on additional areas of joint study and activity with the District.
At the October 20, 2016 (Item No. 4) HLUET meeting, the County Administration presented a refined work plan for HLUET’s consideration. Supervisor Cortese directed the County Administration to provide a report to the Committee on “date uncertain” relating to joint opportunities to pursue public and recreational access to County and Federal facilities at the South Bay shoreline.
This report was originally scheduled to be heard at the County’s January 19, 2017 HLUET meeting, but was deferred by the Committee Chair for further discussion until the May 18, 2017 (Item No. 6) joint meeting between the District Board and the County Board of Supervisors. At the May 2018 joint meeting of the two Boards, a report on the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project and shoreline recreational and emergency access was held by the respective Boards to a future joint meeting for further discussion.
At present, this report has been updated to reflect developments in the District’s Shoreline Project, including the project’s receipt of full federal funding, and the report additionally addresses Supervisor Cortese’s referral for County staff to study opportunities to increase public recreational and emergency access at the South Bay shoreline (referred throughout as an Opportunities Study).
District’s Update of the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project
The overall goal of the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project is to safeguard hundreds of homes, schools, and business along Santa Clara County’s 18 miles of shoreline from the risk of coastal flooding. The Shoreline Project also has a goal to restore tidal marsh and related habitat that was lost due to former salt production activities and to provide opportunities for continued recreational and public access along the bay shoreline. Additionally, the Shoreline Project takes into consideration safeguarding against 2.59 feet of high sea level rise over a 50-year period (through Year-2067).
The Shoreline Project is being undertaken by the District in partnership with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy). Authorization to conduct the Shoreline Study was granted by the Water Resources Development Act in 1976. The District and Conservancy are the non-federal sponsors, also referred to as “local project sponsors.” The feasibility study’s efforts began in 2005 for all of Santa Clara County, which was divided into 11 areas, called Economic Impact Areas (EIAs). In September 2010, the District requested that USACE re-evaluate the study scope and conduct the study in phases beginning with the area among the highest potential economic impacts. The District’s Board endorsed this new scope in March 2011, and the study was thereafter refocused to the EIA 11 area located in north San Jose between the Alviso Slough and Coyote Creek.
Shoreline EIA 11 Authorized Project
The USACE authorized the EIA 11 Shoreline Project on December 18, 2015, when the USACE’s Chief of Engineers signed the Chief’s Report. The Authorized Project will provide 1% coastal flood risk management for the urban area of north San Jose including the community of Alviso and the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility, and ecosystem restoration of approximately 2,900 acres of former salt ponds with recreational elements. Coastal flood risk management consists of four miles of new levee and closure structures at the Union Pacific Railroad and Artesian Slough crossings. Tidal marsh restoration will occur through phasing-in restoration of Ponds A9 to A15 and A18 pursuant to an adaptive management plan. In addition, an upland transition area (ecotone) will be constructed adjacent to the new levee in Ponds A12, A13 and A18 in order to provide habitat for marsh species during high tides and storms. The ecotone will provide an additional protective buffer for the flood protection levee and will also allow marsh habitat to migrate upslope as sea levels rise. In the EIA 11 area, a 1% coastal flood event could cause more than $200 million in damages (2014 price levels) and affect a population of 2,500 residents and 3,000 commuters, approximately 1,100 structures, and the Regional Wastewater Facility.
Recreational elements that are included in EIA 11 will be compatible with the flood risk management levee and ecosystem restoration, however, during construction of Reach 1 (the project area from the Alviso Marina County Park to the Union Pacific Railroad) there will be temporary negative impacts to recreation in and adjacent to the Alviso Marina County Park, the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, and along the existing alignment of the San Francisco Bay Trail. These impacts will be minimized with temporary alternative trail routes during delivery of fill material, however, closures will occur during Reach 1 construction of the levee within the Alviso Marina County Park. During portions of 2019, delivery of fill materials to construct the Reach 1 improvements will occur via approximately 100 truckloads over a 6-hour period each day all of which will pass through the County Park. This delivery pace may result in traffic delays at the County Park entrance and will dictate the closure of a portion of the trails that run north from the eastern County Park boundary. During the 2019 and 2020 construction period, a portion of the Alviso Slough Trail loop within Alviso Marina County Park will be closed to public access and an existing viewing platform will be temporarily removed, then replaced, to allow the new trail and levee to tie into the County Park.
In order to conduct the above-described activities within the County Park, on land owned by the County of Santa Clara, County Parks Department staff have worked collaboratively with District and other Shoreline Project team staff for over a year to identify the best approach to various land issues. An existing easement held by the District, and similar rights held by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, allow the transport of fill materials through the County Park but are not sufficient to permit construction activities. County Parks Staff is currently working with District staff to enter into a temporary work area easement to allow USACE to construct the Reach 1 improvements and to ensure compliance with CEQA, including additional environmental review if needed, prior to adoption of any new easements. The County Board should expect to see materials in relation to these issues for review and potentially approval in early 2019.
At the conclusion of construction of Reach 1, new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant trails will run alongside the new levee and the viewing platform will be replaced. Upon completion of the construction of all reaches of the Shoreline Project (Reaches 1 - 5), improved trails will connect Alviso Marina County Park to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge and beyond, including to the Coyote Creek corridor at the McCarthy Boulevard bridge, and to the San Francisco Bay Regional Trail network at large.
Shoreline EIA 11 Authorized Project Funding
The Shoreline Project is a strongly supported project as evidenced by the success of a Chief’s Report in December 2015, with a total feasibility study cost of $22 million, followed by its authorization for design and construction in the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act on December 16, 2016, with a total design and construction cost of $177.2 million. Subsequently, on July 5, 2018, the Shoreline Project was awarded $177.2 million under the USACE Fiscal Year 2018 Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Bill. The District and Conservancy’s total cost share of this expense is $103.8 million.
The District and Conservancy are committed to secure all of our local share of funding. On November 2012, the District secured $15 million from the Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program approved by the voters. On June 7, 2016, residents of the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area passed Measure AA, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority’s (Authority) San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure. This measure is a parcel tax of $12 per year that will raise approximately $25 million annually for twenty years to fund shoreline projects that would protect and restore San Francisco Bay. The tax measure will raise $500 million over its 20 years (until 2037), of which the South Bay will be receiving 12% of the overall $500 million (or $60 million). On April 11, 2018, the District secured $4.4 million from the first round of the Measure AA grant funding solicitations and will be applying for the remaining $55 million in the next round of solicitations.
Shoreline Study for EIAs 1-10
In 2015, in addition to working with the USACE on the next EIA or set of EIAs, the District hired a consultant to prepare a Preliminary Feasibility Study for EIAs 1-10, which is located between San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto to Guadalupe River in San Jose. The goal of this study was to identify a preliminary 1% coastal flood risk management alignment and its related benefits and costs for the EIAs 1-10 shoreline area (14 miles) to aid in determining the District’s next study phase(s) and to identify potential study partners. The preliminary alignment was identified in June 2015 and was used to move forward with conducting the study analysis.
The City of Palo Alto, City of Mountain View, City of Sunnyvale, City of San Jose, NASA Moffett Field, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Conservancy and Mid-Peninsula Open Space Authority were all consulted in the identification of the preliminary alignment. In March 2017, the Preliminary Feasibility Study for EIAs 1-10 was completed. A report was prepared and finalized after receipt and consideration of comments from all consulted agencies noted above and a final meeting with those agencies was conducted in March 2017.
The EIAs 1-10 study effort will next focus on preparing for a workshop meeting with the USACE in early 2019. The importance of the Shoreline Project continues, since the USACE has received $500,000 in its 2019 work plan to begin Phase 2 of the Shoreline Study.
County’s Shoreline Opportunities Study
As set forth in the County’s previous reports to HLUET, in addition to recreation improvements that will eventually be made as part of the Shoreline Project (e.g., the Bay Trail extension, marsh restoration, and interpretive elements) the County is proceeding with several other recreational programs to serve the public. These include the Salt Marsh Safari program which transitioned from a pilot into an ongoing program in 2018, and the Healthy Parks, Healthy People nature walks at Alviso Marina County Park.
County Parks Programming at the Alviso Marina County Park
The Salt Marsh Safari at Alviso Marina County Park provides free on-the-water educational programming to the general public and school groups regarding the natural history of the South Bay, the importance of salt marsh and wetland habitats, the effects of human settlement and development, and climate change in Santa Clara County. The County Parks Department, with funding approved by the County Board of Supervisors, purchased a 40-passenger pontoon-style catamaran in 2017 that was delivered to the County in June of 2018 to enable the tour to transition from a pilot program to an ongoing program in 2018. This year, twenty-one boat tours (8 general public, 13 school fieldtrips) through the Alviso Slough served a total of 560 people. A more robust tour schedule is being planned for March-October of 2019.
The County Parks Department is planning the construction of a covered boat storage structure at Alviso Marina County Park to house the County’s Salt Marsh Safari tour boat and submitted its final permit application materials to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) on November 16, 2018. The Department envisions working together with the Shoreline Project partners on interpretative features for the structure that would support the Safari program themes including highlighting the Shoreline Project’s contributions to the community and healthy ecosystems in this portion of the Bay. Interpretative panels or other features would provide a valuable passive educational opportunity to park users and visitors to the shoreline, including at the annual Day on the Bay Event and other recreational programs held at Alviso Marina County Park.
The County Parks Department staff have been leading monthly Healthy Parks, Healthy People nature walks at Alviso Marina County Park year-round for the past three years. In 2017, the Parks Department partnered with the County Public Health Department and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC) to develop and offer monthly bilingual (English/Spanish) Park Prescription (ParkRx) walks. In 2018, 340 family members referred by SCVMC Pediatric Healthy Lifestyles clinic doctors participated in these ParkRx walks. A variety of additional educational and recreational programs for schools, community groups and the public are offered annually at Alviso Marina County Park. These have included yoga and meditation classes, Ranger-led family bike rides, movie nights, and more.
Additional Opportunities for Recreational Activities at the Shoreline
In addition to current County projects and programs, the Administration recognizes there are opportunities to build additional recreational/community activities in Alviso to make it a destination, such as, the County’s collaboration with the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition and San Jose Bike Party to organize a Bike to the Bay as part of the County’s Day on the Bay - a community bike ride from Guadalupe Park along the Guadalupe River Trail to Alviso.
The Administration believes these types of activities would be best effectuated by the issuance of a Request for Information (RFI), which would be managed by the County’s Asset and Economic Development team, seeking qualified consultants to provide new events promotion and/or to supplement current County activities, to increase public education and access to existing recreational facilities located at the shoreline, including the Alviso Marina County Park, Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, Alviso Levee Trail / Bay Trail, the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail and in Alviso proper to make it a more attractive destination. It is expected that the results of this solicitation would be based on project milestones of the Shoreline Project and include estimated County costs of operation. The outcome of discussion of this item from the Joint County / District meeting could be presented for consideration and action at a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors in February 2019.
Request for Information (RFI) for Event Promotion Opportunities
Based on input received from HLUET at the October 2016 meeting, County Administration recommends the eventual issuance of a Request for Information (RFI) for an Events Promotion Consultant(s) for potential event opportunities at the shoreline, including at existing facilities in and around Alviso Marina County Park, the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, the Alviso Slough Trail / San Francisco Bay Trail, and within Alviso proper. The RFI scope may also consider planned projects, such as the San Francisco Bay Water Trail. The Administration would continue working with local emergency response agencies to explore the feasibility and appropriateness of having Santa Clara County South Bay locations be designated for emergency access for disaster relief.
Emergency Access Designation of South Bay Shoreline
At the October 20, 2016 meeting of HLUET, the Committee indicated that the County’s focus should be for the County Marina to be designated for emergency access for disaster relief. Supervisor Cortese noted that the marina would likely be utilized by public safety personnel in a disaster and there may be administrative means to make this evident through the County’s own disaster plans.
County Office of Emergency Services (OES) confirmed that the County Marina is not currently designated as an emergency access point for disaster relief in any of the County’s emergency plans, nor is there any “Marine Access Point” for Santa Clara County designated in any of the State Emergency Plans. OES indicated that while a marine access point would be beneficial to the operational area, staff is unaware of any feasible location along the shoreline at this time that could be used in its current condition, including the County Marina. OES indicated that if emergency supplies were to be transported via marine water ways to Santa Clara County for disaster relief, the most likely port of entry would be in San Mateo County, and supplies would then be transported by land to Santa Clara County. Additionally, OES is unaware of any such emergency access designation in the Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) or Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) emergency plans.
WETA is the regional public transit agency tasked with planning and building an emergency response and disaster recovery water transportation system for the region to respond to an earthquake or other disaster, and to coordinate the Bay Area’s publicly owned ferry fleet in response to emergencies affecting the Bay Area transportation system. The MTC develops coordinated emergency response capabilities for transportation agencies throughout the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
In March of 2017, staff in the Office of the County Executive met with WETA staff to discuss the agency’s inclusion of the South Bay region in WETA’s Strategic Plans, and to understand the process for including regional ferry terminals or marinas in their Emergency Response Plan. Initial response from WETA indicated that consideration of South Bay locations, after implementation of the Redwood City terminal, even for Emergency access, would likely prioritize other South Bay locations with closer proximity to the Bay proper. WETA reports that previous analysis indicates that it would take as long for a ferry to travel up the Alviso Slough as it would to cross the Bay, effectively doubling transit time as compared to other potential locations in the South Bay.
Previous San Jose Deep-Water Port Proposals
Alviso was incorporated in 1852 in large part for transportation and shipment of cargo and people into the Santa Clara Valley, with regularly scheduled steamship service between Alviso and San Francisco beginning as early as 1849. Over the next several decades, Alviso developed into a commercial shipping point for the entire South Bay region. Unfortunately, around the turn of the century, accelerated siltation of the Alviso Slough as a result of hydraulic mining in the Sierra foothills, decreased outflow of the Guadalupe River, and the increasing sizes of commercial vessels marked the end to commercial shipping at Alviso.
As noted in a 1958 report from the Greater San Jose Chamber of Commerce, in the early part of the last century there was considerable interest in the development of a deep-water port at Alviso to accommodate ocean shipping. In 1928, members of the San Jose Real Estate Board formed the San Jose Port Association with the intention of establishing a deep-water port at Alviso, to be called Port San Jose. The Association sought governmental assistance for the project, and a team from the USACE conducted a feasibility study and approved the project. The recommended plan for the development of the port called for a widening of Alviso Slough to 300 feet, and dredging to a depth of 27 feet, from a mile southeast of Dumbarton Point to the mouth of the Guadalupe River.
On August 30, 1935, Congress approved the River and Harbor Act, authorizing $300,000 for the project on a joint federal-local basis and imposing stipulations on local interests for the development to proceed. The City of San Jose sought to sponsor bonds totaling $1,250,000 for the project, but there were numerous delays and the bond measure was never placed before the voters. In May 1939, the San Jose City Council determined that there was insufficient interest in the project, and the proposal was dropped.
The Greater San Jose Chamber of Commerce sought to revive the project in 1958, and in 1964, the USACE issued a report indicating that the project would cost significantly more than would be feasible given the estimated annual revenues for the port. The plan was never constructed, and in 1975 with the passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 1974, Congress deauthorized the project.
South San Francisco Bay Emergency Access Study
In 2009, the County participated in the funding of a local study of emergency water access and economic development opportunities for the South San Francisco Bay. Led by the District and the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, the South San Francisco Bay Emergency Port Access Study (Emergency Port Access Study) received grant funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Agency and matching local funds from the County, the District, and the City of San Jose.
The consulting firm AECOM performed the Emergency Port Access Study, a high-level analysis of the feasibility of an emergency access port in Alviso and four potentially complementary development concepts, and the evaluation of the projects was completed in three phases (preliminary screening, alternatives refinement, and economic analysis). Stakeholder involvement was an important component of the Emergency Port Access Study, achieved through meetings of a Technical Advisory Committee with representatives from agencies and organizations in the South Bay (including the County), and public workshops were held in the community in July 2010, December 2010, and March 2011.
The preliminary screening phase of the Emergency Port Access Study evaluated the physical requirements (channel dimensions, landside facilities, and transportation and access), potential environmental impacts (such as to water quality, wetlands, and wildlife, as well as federal, state, and local regulatory compliance), and economic considerations (market and service area) for each of five concepts:
1. Cargo Port - to provide infrastructure for receiving and sending unboxed commodity cargo by water.
2. Emergency Port - to facilitate response and recovery following a catastrophe, such as, a major earthquake, which may result in widespread devastation across the entire Bay Area.
3. Entertainment Waterfront - containing a mix of retail, entertainment, and potentially hotel, convention and residential uses.
4. Ferry Terminal - to provide water-based transportation to popular home, work, and recreation destinations.
5. Recreation Marina - to provide for boating, storage, and launching facilities.
After initial evaluation of the physical requirements and potential environmental impacts of a Cargo Port or Ferry Terminal project, both concepts were eliminated from further consideration - both projects would require extensive dredging and the widening of the channel. The three remaining alternatives (Emergency Port, Entertainment Waterfront, and a Recreational Marina) were identified for a more detailed engineering review of the physical requirements of the projects.
During the alternative refinement phase of the Emergency Port Access Study, it was determined that most water-based projects would require considerable dredging given the shallow depth of Alviso Slough and its distance to the bay (approximately 4.5 miles). Given the potential presence of contaminated sediments and increased disposal expenses, any new dredging project would impose considerable costs (estimated to be between $39 million - $440 million for initial dredging, and an additional $44 million - $285 million for maintenance over 20 years) and significant challenges associated with permitting - challenges which, according to the Emergency Port Access Study, rendered any concept that required extensive dredging infeasible. The remaining development concepts that would not require dredging were an Emergency Port served by a hovercraft (Emergency Hovercraft Port), and an Entertainment Waterfront.
The final phase of the Emergency Port Access Study was an analysis of the costs and economic benefits to the South Bay of the proposed Emergency Hovercraft Port and Entertainment Waterfront concepts. The evaluation of the Emergency Hovercraft Port estimated the increased capacity for emergency response in the event of a major disaster relative to the potential capital and operation expenses. For the Entertainment Waterfront concept, the Emergency Port Access Study analyzed both the direct fiscal benefits to the City of San Jose and the economic benefits in direct earnings in Santa Clara County, and compared those against the public costs to prepare the property for development and to make open improvements on the waterfront.
Draft study findings were presented at a March 2011 public workshop in Alviso, and the final Emergency Port Access Study report was released the same month, concluding that both concepts - an Emergency Hovercraft Port and an Entertainment Waterfront development - were feasible and were estimated to result in net benefits to the South Bay.
• Emergency Hovercraft Port - The Emergency Access Port Study report indicates the primary objective of the Emergency Hovercraft Port concept would be to allow for the transport (import and export) of people, goods, and/or emergency supplies following a catastrophic event. The Emergency Hovercraft Port concept would serve primarily as an access point for first response personnel, and could also provide limited “recovery transportation” via a ferry between Alviso and San Francisco. According to the report, the concept would contribute to redundancy of emergency response in the South Bay, complementing the area’s existing emergency network and the Water Emergency Transportation Authority.
The Emergency Port Access Study report estimated the public benefits of an Emergency Hovercraft Port related to emergency response would range between approximately $10.4 million and $31.3 million over the next 30 years, and the benefits related to recovery transportation would add an additional $86,000 to $2.5 million benefit over 30 years. According to the report, the total benefits associated with the Emergency Hovercraft Port concept are valued at approximately $10.5 million to $33.8 million over 30 years.
According to the report, the Emergency Hovercraft Port concept would require public investment to fund capital costs, annual operations and maintenance, emergency response and recovery transportation. Depending on the size and carrying capacity of the hovercraft, capital costs for the Emergency Hovercraft Port would range between $1.2 million and $7.6 million, annual operations costs range from $1.4 million to $7.7 million, and increased costs of emergency response and recovery transportation would be between $35,000 and $225,000.
The Emergency Port Access report indicated that the total costs associated with the Emergency Hovercraft Port concept over 30 years would be between $2.6 million and $15.5 million.
• Entertainment Waterfront - As stated in the report, the Entertainment Waterfront concept includes approximately 83,000 square feet of destination commercial development along Alviso waterfront between the east side of the flood control levee between the community of Alviso and Alviso Slough, and would result in improvements to the existing Bay Trail. Constructions of the development would face several potential challenges, including existing restrictions on any construction that would alter or compromise the existing flood control levee, and approval would be required from multiple regulatory agencies (e.g. BCDC, District, USACE, City of San Jose). The report indicated that further geotechnical analysis would be necessary in future stages of implementation.
The report estimates that total public investment required for the development would be $4.2 million, and $33 million in private investment would be necessary, with the City of San Jose expected to receive approximately $4.4 million in tax revenues, not including indirect or induced fiscal benefits of such a project.
The Emergency Port Access Study concluded that the net value of the emergency response and recovery transportation benefits provided by the Emergency Hovercraft Port concept would range from approximately $7.9 million to $18.3 million over 30 years, and the Entertainment Waterfront concept would, over a 20-year period, generate direct economic impacts of $530 million in Santa Clara County and would create 622 new jobs.
Project Initiation and Implementation
The Emergency Port Access Study report identified a proposed project initiation timeline for both concepts of at least five years, given that both projects would require additional planning and permitting, collaboration with regional stakeholders, and the identification of funding sources:
According to the report, the recommended next steps would be to secure necessary funding to perform more detailed site analysis and land use planning, complete Environmental Impact Statements / Environmental Impact Reports, and to obtain regulatory approval from the BCDC, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the City of San Jose, among others agencies.
Historical Uses of Alviso Slough
While Alviso Slough was historically used for navigation, boating, and public access to the South Bay, sediment accumulation and vegetation encroachment over the last twenty-five years has led to a gradual decline in both channel width and overall depth, thereby limiting these uses.
BACKGROUND
On March 24, 2009, (Item No. 41), the Board of Supervisors approved an allocation of $60,000 in one-time funds to the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce for the County’s share of a local match of funds for completion a South San Francisco Bay Emergency Port Access Study.
On March 20, 2012, (Item No. 11) at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Supervisor Cortese made a Board referral to the County Administration to report back to Finance and Government Operations Committee on possible next steps in the study and planning for an Alviso Emergency Access Port.
On April 12, 2016, at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Supervisor Cortese made a Board referral to the County Administration to prepare a work plan jointly with the District for the study of the South Bay shoreline and waterfront issues and opportunities in the areas of flood control, emergency access, economic development, parks and recreation, and tourism. Supervisor Cortese directed the County Administration to report to HLUET at the August 2016 meeting with an initial work plan.
At the August 18, 2016 meeting of HLUET, the Committee requested a chronological work plan of anticipated South Bay shoreline project milestones, and directed the County Administration to report back on additional areas of joint study and activity with the Water District.
At the October 20, 2016 HLUET meeting, Chairperson Cortese directed the County Administration to provide a report to the Committee on date uncertain relating to joint opportunities to pursue parks and recreational access to County and Federal facilities at the South Bay shoreline. Chairperson Cortese indicated that his office would contact the Office of the Mayor of San Jose relating to a joint meeting of the City and County economic development teams.
A report back by the County Administration to the HLUET Committee was originally scheduled to be heard at the January 19, 2017 meeting of HLUET, but was deferred by the Committee Chair’s office until the May 2017 joint meeting with the District.
This report was originally scheduled to be heard at the County’s January 19, 2017 HLUET meeting, but was deferred by the Committee Chair for further discussion until the May 18, 2017 joint meeting between the District Board and the County Board of Supervisors. At a May 2018 joint meeting of the two Boards a report on the South San Francisco Shoreline Project and shoreline recreational and emergency access was held by the respective Boards to a future joint meeting for further discussion. This report has been updated to reflect developments in the District’s South San Francisco Shoreline Project and the County’s efforts to increase public recreational access at the South Bay shoreline.
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
Ngoc Nguyen, District Deputy Operating Officer, 408-630-2632
Sylvia Gallegos, Deputy County Executive, 408-299-5107