Burlingame preparing for sea level rise

“I’m really proud that we are going to be one of the first cities in the entire Bay Area to really set a standard for sea level rise,” Councilmember Donna Colson said. “It helps everyone to understand what the expectations are going to be for developers and people who own land on the Bayfront.”

Sea levels are projected to rise up to a foot in the next 30 years, and up to 6 feet over the next century, greatly affecting Burlingame and other cities on the Peninsula with low-lying areas home to vital infrastructure and private developments. 

Burlingame in particular gets nearly 40% of its revenue from hotels mostly located in areas at risk of flooding, Colson noted.

The majority of land east of Highway 101, the highway itself, and a sizable strip west of the highway are projected to become inundated within the next 100 years if no action is taken, according to the city’s projections.

New rules call for sea level infrastructure to be built with a height 6 feet above the current elevation a 100-year flood would reach. A 100-year flood is a flood with a 1% chance of occurring in any given year, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That means infrastructure within the city limits would need to be built up to 16, 17 and 18 feet, getting taller moving south. The first floor of buildings will be required to be 3 feet above the 100-year flood elevation.

The specifications were made with input from OneShoreline, the county’s Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District. The district early next year will begin the design process of what comprehensive sea level rise infrastructure along the shoreline will look like, OneShoreline CEO Len Matermen said. Where applicable, that infrastructure will be incorporated with new development.

“What we’re saying to developers is that it’s an iterative process between our design of the shoreline and your layout,” Matermen said. “And we should be working together such that shoreline protection is integrated into the development in a complementary way.” 

Figuring out who has to pay will also be key among discussion, given low-lying inland properties will similarly benefit from infrastructure despite not being directly adjacent to the Bayfront. Costs for a comprehensive barrier could run into the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, Colson said.

And it won’t be just developers footing the bill as only a fraction of areas requiring a levee or wall are slated for new buildings.

“It doesn’t do you any good to build a wall on one property and have no wall on the property next door,” Councilmember Michael Brownrigg said. “We have to do this for the entire Bayfront.”

Completing infrastructure outside of where developers can help will be a much heavier lift, Brownrigg said. Funding mechanisms for that undertaking are still being determined. Parcel taxes, assessment districts, and county, state and federal funding are all being considered.

“It’s a really complicated financing question,” Colson said. “We don’t have that solved yet.”

Colson said the goal is to make the Bayfront able to sustain sea level rise at least through the year 2100.

“New developments that are going in are going to be around for decades, at least that’s the intention,” Matermen said. “They should be planned and designed and built for what the future conditions should look like.” 

Matermen said that while Burlingame will be the first city to incorporate sea level rise considerations into the city’s plan, several others in the county have asked for guidance in following suit. Burlingame will likely adopt its new zoning ordinance by the end of the year.

“I don’t see retreat as an option,” Brownrigg said. “We don’t want to hand off a ticking time bomb to the next generation.”

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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