BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Receive an Update on the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Study.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Receive an update on the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Study.
Body
SUMMARY:
The South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Study (Shoreline Study) will study the feasibility of implementing a project to safeguard hundreds of homes, schools, and businesses along Santa Clara County's 18 miles of shoreline from the risk of coastal flooding. The Shoreline Study will also study restoring tidal marsh and related habitat that was lost due to former salt production activities, providing recreational opportunities and public access along the bay shoreline, and takes into consideration safeguarding against sea level rise over a 50-year period (through Year-2067).
The Shoreline Study is being undertaken by Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) in partnership with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy). Congressional authorization to conduct the Shoreline Study was granted by the Water Resources Development Act in 1976. Valley Water and the Conservancy are the non-federal sponsors, also referred to as "local study sponsors." The Shoreline Study efforts began in 2005 for all of Santa Clara County, which was divided into 11 areas, called Economic Impact Areas (EIA). In September 2010, Valley Water requested that USACE re-evaluate the study scope and conduct the Shoreline Study in phases beginning with the area among the highest potential for flood damages and economic impacts. Conducting the study in phases was requested because studying the entire 18 miles was proving to take too long and resulting in study cost overruns. Valley Water's Board endorsed this new scope in March 2011, and the Feasibility Study was thereafter refocused to the EIA 11 area located in north San Jose between the Alviso Slough and Coyote Creek.
Phase I of the Shoreline Study in north San ...
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