EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: May 16, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Melvin E. Gaines, City Manager
BY: Elena Lee, Planning Manager
Amy Chen, Community & Economic Development Director
Salifu Yakubu, Senior Planner
SUBJECT: Multijurisdictional Safety Element Project and Environmental Justice (Health and Equity) Element Project
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution:
1. Waiving the formal bid procedures under section 2.84.070(D) of the Municipal Code; and
2. Authorizing City Manager to execute and make payments pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of East Palo Alto and San Mateo County for participation in a Multi-Jurisdictional Safety Element Project to update the Safety Element from June 15, 2023 to June 15, 2026.
3. Approve a budget appropriation of $156,964 in funding from FY 22/23.
Adopt a resolution:
1. Waiving the formal bid procedures under section 2.84.070(D) of the Municipal Code; and
2. Authorizing the City Manager to execute and make payments pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of East Palo Alto and the City of Burlingame for participation in a Multi-Jurisdictional Environmental Justice project to update the Health and Equity Element from June 15, 2023 to June 15, 2025.
3. Approve a budge appropriation of $202,232 in funding from FY 22/23.
Alignment with City Council Priorities
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
➢ Priority No. 3: Promote Health & Public Safety
Background
As required by State law, the City Council adopted Vista 2035 General Plan on October 4, 2016. City staff are currently working on the 2023-2031 Housing Element Update.
Government Code section 65302 also requires each plan to address and update mandated elements Specifically, among other elements, East Palo Alto also is required to adopt and update an Environmental Justice Element, which was done with Vista 2035 as the Health and Equity Chapter.
In late 2021, a number of local jurisdictions in San Mateo County expressed interest in collaborating on an update of their respective safety and environmental justice elements. The cities/towns and County have a strong history of collaboration and resource sharing on housing related initiatives through the 21 Elements collaborative1. The 21 Elements collaborative, led by the Community Planning Collaborative (formerly Baird + Driskell Community Planning), was originally created to assist San Mateo County jurisdictions (20 cities and the county) with required Housing Element updates and has now expanded to assist with other General Plan element updates. East Palo Alto is joining these other jurisdictions that have expressed interest in collaborating on another joint effort to update both elements.
To date, Community Planning Collaborative acted as project manager through their role in the 21 Elements, and managed the Request for Proposals (RFP) process for both the Safety and the Environmental Justice Elements. PlaceWorks was the selected consultant to assist cities in the collaborative with both elements. Although the typical costs for jurisdiction specific element updates vary, depending on the specific scope and needs of a jurisdiction, because this is a joint effort on both elements with the same consulting firm, PlaceWorks, it is anticipated that the cost for a joint effort may be approximately 15-25% less that it would be otherwise. There are efficiencies in the tasks from the collaborative approach, such as from sharing the costs of a steering committee, agency interviews, and the website.
Safety Element
A safety element is a required component of a general plan, and recent changes to State law require local jurisdictions to update their safety elements following the adoption of the Housing Element. Specifically, the main components of a safety element update must include:
1. Updated background information and mapping on hazardous conditions and evacuation concerns;
2. A vulnerability assessment that considers how climate change may affect natural hazards in the community, and the effects on populations and assets;
3. Amendments to goals, policies, objectives, and implementation measures, especially as they relate to climate change resiliency; and
4. Alignment of programs from other County planning documents and State resources.
In recent years, the complexity of safety elements has increased along with increasing State requirements, more sophisticated mapping, and expanded community outreach based on higher levels of public interest in climate change and hazard planning. Assembly Bill (AB) 162 (2007) required updates to flood hazard information and policies and Senate Bill (SB) 1241 1 See 21 Elements website at: http://www.21elements.com/ (2012) required updates to fire hazard information and policies. The largest change for safety elements was SB 379 (amending Government Code Section 65302(g)) which requires cities and counties to include climate adaptation and resiliency information, policies, and implementation strategies in their safety elements. SB 379 passed in 2015 but provided cities and counties time to incorporate its requirements. Specifically, SB 379 required cities and counties to comply upon the next revision of a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) on or after January 1, 2017, or, if the local jurisdiction had not adopted a LHMP, beginning on or before January 1, 2022.
Detailed guidance from the Governor’s Office of Planning & Research and Office of Emergency Services to local governments on how to prepare vulnerability assessments was not available until July 2020. Most recently, SB 99 (2019) passed, imposing requirements related to evacuations and wildfires, including a requirement to identify areas that do not have at least two emergency evacuation routes. While some organizations have recently completed a safety element, additional work may be necessary to meet full compliance with these changes in State law and to include these subjects of climate change adaptation and evacuation planning.
The purpose of the joint Safety Element project is to address these safety element legal requirements and to share analysis and resources for greater efficiency for the jurisdictions participating in this collaborative effort. This project will update the safety elements of the County of San Mateo and six participating San Mateo County municipalities (Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, and San Bruno) to comply with latest requirements for safety elements, as described above and codified at Government Code 65302. The cities of Brisbane and Pacifica are participating in a few tasks, such as the vulnerability analysis, but are not requesting a complete safety element update. All 21 jurisdictions in the county, including East Palo Alto, collaborated on a Multijurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (MJLHMP) which was completed in December 2021 providing baseline information for the safety element updates.
Environmental Justice Element (Health and Equity Chapter) Government Code section 63502(h) requires that jurisdictions with disadvantaged communities either include an environmental justice element in their general plan or incorporate environmental justice goals, policies, and objectives throughout other general plan elements.
The requirement is triggered when a jurisdiction concurrently adopts or revises two or more general plan elements. A “disadvantaged community” is an area identified by the California Environmental Protection Agency as such or that is a low-income area disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and other hazards that may lead to negative health effects or environmental degradation within its planning area. East Palo Alto has been designated as a “disadvantaged community” and adopted the Health and Equity Element accordingly with Vista 2035 General Plan.
State law defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of people of all races, cultures, incomes, and national origins, with respect to the development adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” At a minimum, environmental justice requires meaningful consideration of input from those most impacted by environmental harms resulting from land use decisions.
In developing environmental justice policies, jurisdictions must identify:
1. Disadvantaged communities within its planning area,
2. Objectives and policies to reduce unique or compounded health risks in disadvantaged communities,
3. Objectives and policies to promote civic engagement in the public decision-making process, and
4. Objectives and policies that prioritize improvements and programs addressing the needs of disadvantaged communities.
The purpose of this project is to address these requirements and to share costs for analysis, engagement and policy development, helping to leverage resources and achieve greater efficiencies through a collaborative effort. For the City, the outcome of this work will be an update to the Health and Equity Element of the 2035 East Palo Alto General Plan, tailored to the City’s needs but informed by the broader collaborative work effort.
Analysis
Safety Element
On September 6, 2022, the San Mateo County Planning and Building Department, assisted by the Community Planning Collaborative, released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Multijurisdictional Safety Element Project. The Department received two proposals in response to the RFP. The evaluation and selection committee determined the proposal submitted by PlaceWorks to be the most suitable based on the overall criteria of project understanding, qualifications of the consulting team, relative project experience, project approach and methodology, and proposed cost.
PlaceWorks has extensive experience with creating General Plan, Safety Elements, and local hazard mitigation plans throughout California. Recently, PlaceWorks completed safety elements, vulnerability assessments, and/or climate adaptation plans for Santa Barbara County (2022) and 13 other Bay Area communities: Contra Costa and Solano counties and cities of San Mateo, Orinda, Lafayette, Benicia, Dixon, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo, Santa Rosa, and Windsor. In addition, their work on jurisdiction specific elements, PlaceWorks also has experience supporting a multi-jurisdictional safety element process in Solano County.
The scope of work for this project includes thoughtful approaches to community engagement and equity. PlaceWorks has partnered with Climate Resilient Communities (CRC), a local nonprofit, to help lead engagement and outreach to community groups and hard to reach residents, and to provide an equity lens on work products. Climate Resilient Communities is a community-based organization dedicated to serving the underrepresented through empowering community voices to implement climate solutions that bring about unity and resilience. CRC’s work is focused in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven (Menlo Park) and North Fair Oaks.
Community Planning Collaborative will continue to serve as Project Manager for the length of the Safety Element Collaborative Project, for a term of June 15, 2023 through May 1, 2026.
The total budget for the Safety Element for the nine agencies is not-to-exceed $1,316,416 for the three-year term Each participating agency is responsible for funding their portion of the agreement with Community Planning Collaborative and Placeworks. East Palo Alto’s portion of Safety Element Collaborative agreement totals: $156,964.
The San Mateo County Planning and Building Department will serve as the fiscal agent for the Safety Element Collaborative. As fiscal agent, San Mateo County will enter into agreements with the designated consultants and will pay consultant invoices using deposits from all participating agencies.
Each participating agency, including East Palo Alto, will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (Attachment 2) with San Mateo County to participate in the Safety Element Collaborative. The MOUs outline the services to be performed by the consultants and set forth the participating agency’s contribution toward the costs of the consultant services. All participating jurisdictions will have a staff member representing their agency on a Collaborative Steering Committee. This committee will oversee the progress of the project and will provide input on the project direction/issues.
Additional partners in the Safety Element Collaborative Project include the San Mateo County Office of Sustainability and San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management. A key stakeholder for this collaborative is OneShoreline, the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District. OneShoreline will be a valuable resource for information and may provide input on several aspects of this project.
Environmental Justice Element
Three jurisdictions—Burlingame, East Palo Alto and the County of San Mateo—have expressed interest in collaborating on preparing/updating their environmental justice elements.
The agencies worked with the Community Planning Collaborative to develop a joint RFP that was distributed in Fall 2022.
Proposals from interested consultant teams were received in December 2022 and interviews were conducted in January 2023. The evaluation and selection committee determined the proposal submitted by PlaceWorks to be the most suitable based on the overall criteria of project understanding, qualifications, relevant experience, project approach and methodology, and proposed cost. A copy of the PlaceWorks proposal is included in Attachment 4, Exhibit B.
The scope of work for this project includes thoughtful approaches to community engagement and equity. Similar to the Safety Element update, PlaceWorks has also partnered with Climate Resilient Communities to help lead engagement and outreach.
While it is a different team within PlaceWorks leading that effort, the opportunity to further leverage these related efforts and to align community outreach and engagement, making it easier for community members to participate in both efforts, has been key focus of discussions among the team members over the past several months, leading to the final Work Program and budget (see Exhibit B of the Memorandum of Understanding, Attachment 4).
The City of Burlingame agreed to serve as the fiscal agent for the joint effort. Burlingame will enter into a contract with the designated consultants and Memoranda of Understanding with all of the participating agencies. As the fiscal agent, they will pay consultant invoices using deposits from all participating agencies, as stipulated in the MOU (Attachment 4). The MOUs outline the services to be performed by the consultants and set forth the participating agency’s contribution toward the costs of the consultant services. Also similar to the Safety Element, all participating jurisdictions will have a staff member representing their agency on a Collaborative Steering Committee.
Community Planning Collaborative will continue to serve as overall project manager for the joint effort, managing the joint contract with PlaceWorks, monitoring work products for quality and consistency, and ensuring that the voice of each participating agency is heard and their needs addressed. To date, Community Planning Collaborative has acted as project manager through their role as lead consultant for 21 Elements. For the work effort going forward, Community Planning Collaborative will serve as overall Project Manager under a separate contract with the City of Burlingame.
The MOU between the City of Burlingame and City of East Palo Alto outlines the consultant services, as well as the roles and responsibilities of each participating agency, including each agency’s contribution toward the costs of the consultant services. All three jurisdictions will be represented on a Steering Committee that will oversee the progress of the project and provide input on the project direction and addressing issues as they relate to the collaborative effort.
East Palo Alto will have direct authority over the work product for our jurisdiction.
Next Steps
The Safety Element Fiscal Agent, San Mateo County, will present the Safety Element contract and MOU to the County Board of Supervisors for consideration on June 13, 2023. If all jurisdictions approve and execute the MOU and agreements, work on the Safety Element is anticipated to start on June 15, 2023.
The Environmental Justice Fiscal Agent, the City of Burlingame, will take the Environmental Justice contract and MOU to the Burlingame City Council on May 15, 2023. If all jurisdictions approve and execute the MOU and agreements, work on the Environmental Justice element is anticipated to also start on June 15, 2023.
Fiscal Impact
The total cost of both General Plan Elements is $359,196. The funding source is available through General Fund FY22-23 Planning budget for a half of the cost and the upcoming FY23-24 proposed budget for the other half. This cost includes contingency budget for general unforeseen costs and for environmental review, consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act. Additionally, because PlaceWorks was selected for both elements, it is anticipated that there may be opportunities to share resources for both projects, which may come with some cost savings.
Safety Element Costs
The terms of both the PlaceWorks, Inc. and Community Planning Collaborative agreements are June 15, 2023 through June 15, 2026.The total amount of the agreement for the nine agencies is not-to-exceed $1,316,416 for the three-year term. Each participating agency is responsible for funding their portion of the project cost. East Palo Alto’s portion of the agreement is $156,964, as summarized in the table below.
PROJECT COST FOR EAST PALO ALTO
SAFETY ELEMENT CONSULTANT
PLACEWORKS TEAM
Base Contract $118,475
Additional scope items (public meetings/technical
support)
$1,714
CEQA Contingency $12,821
General Contingency $12,019
Subtotal $145,029
PROJECT MANAGER
Community Planning Collaborative – 21 Elements
$11,935
Subtotal $11,935
TOTAL COST $156,964
Environmental Justice Element Costs
The terms of both the PlaceWorks, Inc. and Community Planning Collaborative agreements are June 15, 2023 through June 15, 2025. The amount of the agreement for the three agencies is not to exceed $540,647 for the two-year term. The total budget includes a 10 percent project management cost and 5 percent contingency. The total cost to East Palo Alto is $202,232, as summarized in the table below.
EJ ELEMENT PROJECT COST FOR EAST PALO ALTO
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ELEMENT
CONSULTANT
PLACEWORKS TEAM
Base Contract $167,622
CEQA Contingency $7,700
General Contingency $9,630
Subtotal $184,952
PROJECT MANAGER
Community Planning Collaborative – 21 Elements
$17,280
Subtotal $17,280
TOTAL COST $202,232
Public Notice
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at the San Mateo Co. Library located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The proposed action does not constitute a “project” with the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines sections 15378(b)(4) and (5) in that it is a governmental fiscal, organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Attachments
1. Resolution - Safety Element MOU
2. Safety Element MOU & Exhibits
3. Resolution - Environmental Justice MOU
4. Environmental Justice Element MOU & Exhibits