January 17, 2024
Alameda City Hall
2263 Santa Clara Ave
Alameda, CA 94501
Re: BRIC 2023: Oakland Alameda Flood Adaptation and Community Benefits Project Dear Honorable Mayor and Members of the Alameda City Council:
The Oakland Alameda Adaptatio n Committee (OAAC) is writing to request that the City of Alameda, as lead agency, submit an application for the Oakland Alameda Flood Adaptation and Community Benefits Project for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) 2023 grant in the amount of $56 million. This BRIC grant covers the Oakland International Airport, Oakland’s Columbian Gardens neighborhood and Alameda’s Bay Farm Island northern shoreline neighborhood, which are vulnerable to flooding and are hydraulically linked.
With future sea level rise, a majority of the project area is expected to be inundated by daily tides.
Addressing flood risks r equires a coordinated, multi-jurisdictional effort between the cities of Oakland and Alameda, the Port of Oakland, California Department of Transportation, East Bay Regional Park District, East Bay Municipal Utilit y D istrict, Community-based organizations, Tribal partners and others. The OAAC has collaborated since 2021 to reduce flood risks with hybrid nature-based solutions along both estuarine and riverine shorelines. For the FEMA BRIC, this includes the designated Airport Community Disaster Resilience Zone (CDRZ), East Oakland Justice40 equity priority communities, and Alameda’s Bay Farm Island.
The purpose of this BRIC request is to fund the next project phase of design, permitting, environmental clearance and construction beyond the current phase of project scoping/preferred alternative and community engagement that is funded by FEMA, the National Fish and Wildlif e Foundation and the San Francisco Estuary Partnership.
OAAC urges you to submit a FEMA BRIC application for the Oakland Alameda Flood Adaptation and Community Benefits Project, which will protect the Airport CDRZ, the disadvantaged populations in East Oakland, Bay Farm Island residents of Alameda and the critical infrastructure of the Oakland International Airport, and will ensure use of the multi-modal transportation system, including the airport, State Route 61/Doolittle Drive and the San Francisco Bay Trail. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Marquita Price, OAAC Co-Chair
East Oakland Hood Planning Group
Danielle Mieler, OAAC Co-Chair
City of Alameda