Water

Excerpt:

From Antioch to North Richmond to Redwood City, a slow rising sea level could endanger the properties of as many as 270,000 Bay Area residents and cause some $56.5 billion in damage by the end of the century unless measures are taken to protect them, experts say.

But is anyone doing anything about it?

Cities typically aren't prepared to tackle the issue, so it has been left in the hands of developers, and some are acting: The ground on Treasure Island would be raised — at a cost of more than $1 billion — to keep future neighborhoods high and dry under one developer's solution to possible rising sea levels. And developers of Redwood City's Saltworks property plan to build up earthen levees.

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Excerpt:
A 20-year wish list of San Francisco Bay wetlands restoration projects would finally receive funding under a $1 billion federal bill introduced by a Bay Area congresswoman.

The San Francisco Bay Improvement Act of 2010 by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, would fund the restoration of thousands of acres of bay marshes that were filled in or destroyed by levees and other projects in the last century.
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[Prepared by]
Carlson, Barbee
& Gibson, Inc.
CIVIL ENGINEERS • SURVEYORS • PLANNERS

Excerpt:

Plans are afoot to turn San Francisco’s 400-acre Treasure Island into an environmentally sustainable neighbourhood for up to 24,000 residents

It is either a vision for a new residential utopia in one of the most beautiful spots in the world or the most ill-conceived plan for a new city for a long time. Opinion is divided on a proposal to transform Treasure Island, a 400-acre man-made outcrop with picture-postcard views of San Francisco, into an environmentally sustainable neighbourhood for up to 24,000 residents.

Excerpt:

Lisa Kirk is standing on the superlevee of raised earth known as Delta Coves, gazing at the surreal project she fought for five years. The land is empty but for the dozens of aluminum docks that lead from vacant lots down to the water’s edge. Tiny manmade waterways await future residents. But before they come, the bankrupt project (once owned by Lehman Brothers) will have to find a new buyer.

[Response to SunCal's letter of October 19, 2009]

Table of Contents

1. Scope of Election Report
2. Regulatory Framework
3. Subsequent DDADisposition and Development Agreement Approval
4. Failure of Initiative and Effect on Maintenance of Base
5. Impact Fee Exactions and Exemptions
6. Public Benefits and Financing
7. $200 Million Public Benefit Cap
8. Fiscal Neutrality
9. Transfer of Rights

Excerpt:

San Francisco and East Bay water managers are warning that a plan to overhaul the state's water system could result in draconian restrictions and rationing in the Bay Area and possibly undermine water rights that are more than 100 years old.
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Excerpt:

Closer to home, CNRACalifornia Natural Resources Agency advises counties and cities like Alameda to develop planning, permitting, development and building alternatives that avoid significant new development in areas that cannot be adequately protected from flooding due to climate change.