Reflections on OneShoreline’s First 5 Years |
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Over
the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that climate change
presents a transformative challenge for San Mateo County. Our region
has already been severely affected by drought, wildfire, extreme
storms, and coastal erosion. Sea level rise threatens more people,
property, and infrastructure here than in any other county in
California. Recognizing the urgency of these challenges, all 20 cities
and the County came together in 2019 to support State legislation
establishing the first climate-focused government agency in California
– the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District,
better known as OneShoreline – and committed three years of start-up
operating funds. With this unified financial and political support,
OneShoreline opened its doors five years ago this month.
While
it was envisioned that we would focus on aligning and building
resilience to future conditions, two needs quickly caught our
attention: addressing flooding caused by atmospheric rivers and
ensuring that new private development and public infrastructure
projects incorporate resilience. Our priorities reflect all these
challenges, and because they are increasing, we are obliged to secure
stable funding to both continue this work long-term and leverage
outside funding.
To achieve resilience, we must plan for it
together. Following a public process that received over 500 comments
from public agencies, private developers, engineers, environmental
organizations, and community members, in June 2023 the OneShoreline
Board adopted Planning Policy Guidance to Protect and Enhance Bay Shoreline Areas of San Mateo County.
We applaud the cities that have chosen to incorporate portions of this
template text into their general plans, specific plans, zoning
ordinances, and development agreements, and we strongly encourage all
cities to update their policies so that new developments can function
for their intended lifespan and contribute to community resilience
without having to undergo costly retrofits in the future. Other key
assets that make our communities livable are stormwater and wastewater
systems, roads, parks, marinas, and utilities. Like private
developments, these need to be planned with future conditions in mind
yet are largely still planned by looking in the rear-view mirror. To
address this, OneShoreline is now developing a countywide Planning Policy Guidance for Resilient Public Infrastructure.
New climate data and staff from multiple agencies will contribute to
the development of this document, which we intend to release for public
comment this fall and bring to OneShoreline’s Board for adoption early
next year.
A core concept behind the creation of OneShoreline
five years ago and our work since then – that all of us are in this
together – is relevant whether resilience is built near Highway 1 along
the Pacific, Highway 101 along the Bay, or Skyline Boulevard through
the hills. While there are several resilience projects underway or even
completed, some of which are listed on the Projects page
of our website, a new State requirement aims to ensure
multi-jurisdictional coordination through guidelines established by the
California Coastal Commission and Bay Conservation and Development
Commission (BCDC). While this may seem like a concern only for our
shoreline communities, in reality it has far-reaching implications for
anyone who drives on one of these highways, relies on PG&E’s
electrical or natural gas transmission lines, utilizes water from the
SFPUC, or sends waste to a water treatment plant. For cities that wish
to meet this requirement and align with their neighbors, OneShoreline
is here to help. Last month, we applied for grant funding to do this
planning on behalf of two cities and we are in discussions with several
other cities at this time.
As this newsletter arrives in
your inbox, we are about to experience a few days of precipitation.
While (so far) this winter has brought relatively little rain, we all
know that a single atmospheric river, especially one coinciding with a
high tide, can flood our streets, businesses, and homes. OneShoreline
is helping to address this issue by securing 5-year environmental
permits to enable jurisdictions and Caltrans to remove debris from
several flood-prone creeks and under roadways, and our Flood Early Warning System and collaboration with the ISeeChange platform for citizen input help to inform storm response as well as resilience project planning.
Thank
you for your engagement and support over the past five years.
OneShoreline’s mission is to transform the county most vulnerable to
the water-related impacts of climate change into the most resilient.
This will take all of us working together, and I hope you agree that in
five short years, we are off to a good start. As we look ahead, we
recognize that much, much more work remains. Your engagement is
invaluable, so please reach out to me or OneShoreline’s dedicated Board members with your ideas for how we can build a more resilient region.
Len Materman
CEO |
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San Mateo County Flood & Sea Level Rise Resiliency District
1700 S. El Camino Real, Suite 502, San Mateo, CA 94402
info@oneshoreline.org | (650) 844-8310 |
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