San Mateo County panel seeks answers on climate change

Joining Mullin on the panel was the executive director of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, Warner Chabot; Len Materman, CEO of the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District; Davina Hurt, Belmont councilmember and member of the California Air Resource Board; and Hilary Papendick, San Mateo County Climate Change and Adaptation Program manager.

Each laid out ways the county will have to address issues like sea level rise, flooding, wildfire and other climate change related risks in the coming decades to help mitigate their effect on hundreds of thousands of residents.

Chabot said the Bay Area is a paradise that was once sought out by native tribes centuries ago but warned that if the region is to remain inhabitable as it is, leaders would need to begin developing long-term land use plans that span the regions nine counties and 100 jurisdictions.

“We’re basically 8 million people in a bathtub as we face a triple whammy of sea level rise, rising groundwater and lowland flooding from more extreme storms,” said Chabot. “What we do between now and the next couple decades is absolutely critical.”

In San Mateo County, $24 billion in property value is at risk, said Mullin, noting erosion is already apparent along portions of the county’s coastline.

Materman noted the county is of greatest risk of sea level rise out of the state’s 58 counties. It’s also one of only six counties in the United States, the only one on the West Coast, with more than 100,000 residents projected to be affected by the first 3 feet of sea level rise, he said.

Addressing the risk will take major programming which requires access to land, money and permits. But Materman said outdated laws that were progressive in the ’70s have stalled efforts. State leadership would need to overhaul its regulatory agencies to allow for projects to be expedited to deal with “the 2021 dynamic situation of our environment,” he said.

“This county is … kind of the poster child for this issue,” said Materman. “Climate change won't wait for a permit. Seas are rising and it’s incumbent upon us to acknowledge that and work with it.”

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors adopted a climate emergency declaration in 2019, setting a goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2045, said Papendick. The plan aims to enact resiliency policies while focusing on health, socioeconomic and racial equities.

Given that many underserved county residents are also at greatest risk of being affected by sea level rise, Papendick said the county is specifically concentrated on assisting those with the least resources to adapt.

“As we know, equity and social justice is an important part of climate change programs and the county has made equity a priority,” said Papendick.

Having completed a vulnerability study along the Bayshore and northern coastside, the department is now beginning a similar assessment on the south coast starting at Half Moon Bay. Community meetings will begin this summer, said Papendick.

Bracing for development growth, the county partnered with the local collaborative initiative Home For All to share information on the intersection of climate change and housing issues and to promote best practices for climate resilient housing.

At the state level, Hurt said California’s greenhouse gas emissions have been on the decline since 2004 but noted the pandemic and last year’s historic wildfire season have strained progress. Touching on the new normal of catastrophic wildfires, heat waves and droughts, Hurt said all residents now have the potential to be affected by climate change, particularly those in underserved communities.

“It’s like a domino effect of challenges and everyone has a stake in this issue,” said Hurt. “We have a limited time to get ourselves on track to achieve our long-term climate goals and we have momentum at all levels of government.”

Sharing Hurt’s message, Mullin highlighted efforts at the state level to address climate change. He co-authored Assembly Bill 1500 which would put a climate resilience bond on the November 2022 ballot and Assembly Bill 897 which would require regions to develop climate adaptation action plans.

Fellow panelists shared support for the bills as proactive measures to ensure governance and finances will drive action.

“Addressing climate change is a tall order to say the least,” said Mullin. “It’s going to take all of us.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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