FROM:
Elise Semonian, Planning Director
SUBJECT:
title
Resolution in Support of Bay Adapt: Regional Strategy for a Rising Bay
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RECOMMENDATION
recommendation
That the Town Council adopt a Resolution in Support of Bay Adapt: Regional Strategy for a Rising Bay, Attachment 1
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BACKGROUND
For the last two years, the Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) has led Bay Adapt: Regional Strategy for a Rising Bay - a voluntary, diverse, and collaborative regional initiative to develop a consensus-driven strategy to protect people and the built and natural environments from a rising Bay. The Bay Adapt Joint Platform (see Attachment 2) lays out nine priority actions and 21 tasks that will enable the region to adapt faster, better, and more equitably to a rising Bay. Hundreds of local and regional leaders, community members, and technical experts were instrumental in shaping the Joint Platform.
The Climate Action Commission considered Bay Adapt Regional Strategy for a Rising Bay at their December 2021 meeting and recommended that the Town Council support the strategy.
DISCUSSION1
Coastal adaptation to rising sea level is a state priority to avoid devastating impacts to people, the economy, and natural habitats. Despite having only one-third of the state's coastline, two-thirds of California's economic losses due to rising sea level are forecast to occur in the nine-county Bay Area, absent adaptation actions. The San Francisco Bay is a state-protected resource that is the largest estuary on the West Coast of North and South America, a key part of the Pacific Flyway for migrating waterfowl, and a critical economic driver of the State's economy.
BCDC is a pioneer in the realm of sea level rise planning, both within the Bay Area and nationally. BCDC considered sea level rise in its coastal planning efforts as early as 1982. Over the past decade, the Commission's rising sea level emphasis has expanded from being primarily regulatory in ...
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