BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Update on the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
A. That the District Board and the City Council receive information on the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project;
B. That the District Board direct its Chief Executive Officer to work collaboratively with the City Manager to advance the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project, including Phase I; and
C. That the City Council direct its City Manager to work collaboratively with the District Chief Executive Officer to advance the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project, including Phase I.
Body
SUMMARY:
The overall goal of the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project (Shoreline Project) is to safeguard and protect hundreds of homes, schools, and businesses along Santa Clara County’s 18 miles of shoreline from the risk of coastal flooding made more likely by sea level rise. The Shoreline Project will also restore tidal marsh and related habitat that was lost due to former salt production activities, provide opportunities for continued recreational and public access along the bay shoreline, and take into consideration protection for sea level rise over a 50-year period (through Year-2067).
The Shoreline Project is being undertaken by the Santa Clara Valley Water District (District) in partnership with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy). Authorization to conduct the Shoreline Project was granted by the Water Resources Development Act in 1976. The Shoreline Project efforts began in 2005 for all of Santa Clara County which was divided into 11 areas, called Economic Impact Areas (EIA). In September 2010, the District requested that USACE re-evaluate the Shoreline Project scope and conduct the Shoreline Project in phases beginning with the area among the highest potential economic impacts. The District’s Board endorsed the new scope in March 2011 and the Shoreline Project was thereafter refocused to EIA 11 located in north San Jose between the Alviso Slough and Coyote Creek.
Authorized Shoreline 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-percent 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. In EIA 11, a 1-percent coastal flood event could cause more than $200 million in damages (2014 price levels), affect a population of 2,500 residents and 3,000 commuters who work and travel through the area each day, and impact 1,100 structures and the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility.
One-percent coastal flood risk management consists of four miles of new levee and structures at the Union Pacific Railroad and Artesian Slough crossings, with inclusion of protection for 2.59 feet of sea level rise. 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) consisting of a 30:1 slope, 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. Recreational elements will be compatible with the flood risk management levee and ecosystem restoration. American with Disabilities Act compliant trails will be built on top of the new levee along with viewing platforms and benches. The trail will connect the Alviso Marina to the Coyote Creek trail corridor of the San Francisco Bay Regional Trail network at the McCarthy Boulevard bridge.
Shoreline Project Cost and Construction
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 in December 2016, with a total design and construction cost of $177.2 million. Subsequently, in July 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 which will need to be reimbursed to the USACE in a timely manner.
Implementation guidance for the Disaster Supplemental Appropriations Bill will require all the flood risk management elements be constructed by January 2023. Design and construction will proceed from the Alviso Marina to Coyote Creek with advertisement for the first reach of construction, from the Alviso Marina to the Union Pacific Railroad, scheduled for March 2019. The Shoreline Project team has been and will continue to conduct outreach with the Alviso community and key stakeholders of all preconstruction and construction activities; specifically, the anticipated dirt hauling and construction activities, their timing, duration and who to contact during these activities.
Real estate acquisition and fill delivery are driving whether the construction completion date of January 2023 can be met. The District must provide the necessary rights of way to the USACE before they can proceed with construction in each area. In addition, the USACE is looking to the District to provide the levee and ecotone fill prior to commencement of construction in those areas.
Areas to stockpile fill material are limited, and the Shoreline Project team has identified that fill material must be stockpiled in Ponds A12 and A18. To maintain the construction schedule, the USACE has identified that delivery of levee fill for the Pond A18 area needs to begin in January 2020. As such, the District will be seeking to acquire Pond A18 from the City in fee title in 2019 and requests District and City staff continue working collaboratively to ensure the Shoreline Project successfully meets its construction schedule. The City authorized transfer of the Pond A18 in October 2015, and the District and City plan on finalizing sale of the pond in 2019, once the USACE issues a “take” letter. A real estate appraisal is in the process of being prepared.
Final levee alignment may include a portion of the City’s “legacy” biosolids lagoons. The lagoons contain old biosolids material which has tested high for some metal concentrations and is likely going to be formally “closed” under a clean-up order from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. The City and the project partners will need to work closely together in order to avoid delays to the levee project.
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
Kerri Romanow, City Director of Environmental Services, 408-535-8550