October 27, 2022
City of Hayward
777 B Street
Hayward, CA 94541
Subject: Integrating Climate Resilience and Adaptation Policies into Hayward’s General Plan
Dear Mayor Halliday and Councilmembers,
The impacts of climate change have reached a staggering magnitude, as record-setting urban heat, wildfires, extended drought, and compromised air quality are the new norm. In the coming years, these challenges will be joined by rapid sea level rise and inland flooding. The impacts of these climate disasters will be widespread, though the disproportionate burden will fall on the most vulnerable, especially lower-income communities of color.
Hayward’s General Plan update provides an opportunity to ensure that the city is ready for these impacts. It’s an opportunity to incorporate climate resilience and prioritize actionable climate adaptation policies that will protect communities for decades to come. Integrating such policies across the Safety, Housing, and Environmental Justice Elements will ensure that decision makers effectively utilize city plans and cross-departmental collaboration to achieve these outcomes.
As Hayward engages in updating its General Plan, we strongly recommend that the city integrate planning for the impacts of climate change and nature-based solutions across all projects and departments. We recommend the city incorporate the following elements into the General Plan:
● Prioritize frontline communities (low income, communities of color, historically underinvested, impacted by environmental injustice) for investments and policy changes that are developed by those communities. Ensure robust representation from these communities in decision-making and planning.
● Require climate resilience planning as part of project design and approval.
Integrate nature-based solutions to flooding, extreme heat, and sea level rise such as green stormwater infrastructure (i.e. rain gardens, bioswales, green roofs, and adapted street tree wells) into road, transit, complete streets, and other public infrastructure projects.
● Broaden and accelerate planning, funding, and construction of green streets and other multi-benefit greening projects, especially in underinvested communities.
Integrate nature-based solutions such as rain gardens, swales, green roofs, and tree canopy into road and transit projects, flood zones, and other public infrastructure. 1 ATTACHMENT II
● Prioritize planning of communities that are SMART: Sustainable, Mixed-use,Affordable, Resilient, Transit-oriented. Avoid developing along the shoreline and in thehills to protect from flooding, sea level rise, and wildfire.
Attached are suggestions for specific actions and model policies to successfully integrate theseelements into the General Plan update.
Experts and data across the world have demonstrated the urgent need to respond to the climatecrisis. Climate hazards are the norm, and Hayward residents don’t have to look far to see theimpacts in their own communities. The General Plan is an important opportunity for the city tomake lasting climate adaptation policies. We urge you to pursue these opportunitiesimmediately to create a safer, more resilient future for Hayward.
Sincerely,
David Lewis, Executive DirectorSave The Bay
Attached: Specific Actions and Policy Priorities for the Hayward General Plan 2 Specific Actions and Policy Priorities for the Hayward General Plan Hayward has already conducted a robust effort to plan for key impacts of climate change, sealevel rise, groundwater intrusion, and storm surge, in the Shoreline Adaptation Master Plan. Thepolicies and approaches outlined in this plan are an important part of planning for resilience tothe impacts of climate change, and we applaud the effort of the City. The General Plan is anopportunity to integrate these shoreline policies with those that address the other impacts ofclimate change, including extreme heat, inland storm flooding, and wildfire-induced poor airquality. Below, we recommend policies that will help Hayward plan for equitable climateresilience. We’ve identified key actions and priorities from theResilience Playbookdeveloped byGreenbelt Alliance, a resource for resilience best practices collected from other municipalitiesand CBO toolkits and guidance, as well as from locally developed plans in frontline communitiesin Oakland, which serve as excellent models for cities across the Bay Area.
Prioritize frontline communities (low income, communities of color, historicallyunderinvested, impacted by environmental injustice)for investments and policy changesthat are developed by those communities. Ensure robust representation from thesecommunities.● Design community engagement pathways that take into consideration all of the differentfactors that can deter people from being included in planning processes; useapproaches appropriate for the community. (ResiliencePlaybook–Centering People andEquity First)○ Allocate sufficient time, resources, and opportunities for engagement to avoidrushing the process and tokenizing community participation. This will promotecapacity building so that community stakeholders are able to provide meaningfulfeedback and decisions. (CEJA SB1000 Toolkit)○ Design capacity-building workshops to support community-driven policydevelopment and to lead to the translation of community priorities into policy,policy reform language, and technical tools. (MakingEquity Real in ClimateAdaptation and Community Resilience Policies and Programs: A Guidebook)○ Co-develop equity metrics (or plan to implement pre-existing metrics). (MakingEquity Real in Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience Policies andPrograms: A Guidebook) Require climate resilience planning as part of project design and approval.Integratenature-based solutions to flooding, extreme heat, and sea level rise such as green stormwaterinfrastructure (i.e. rain gardens, bioswales, green roofs, and adapted street tree wells) into road,transit, complete streets, and other public infrastructure projects. Take a “dig once”approach–ensure climate resilience and nature-based solutions are always planned forwhenever road or infrastructure work is conducted.● Incorporate policies addressing sea level rise, heat mitigation, and other climate risksinto zoning standards and all long-range planning documents. Revise these policiesevery five years based on current science and risk projections. (TLU-1, EquitableClimate Action Plan (ECAP), Oakland) 3 ● Increase community resilience by (1) supporting community engagement andcommunity-led disaster preparedness training, prioritizing frontline communities first; and(2) developing protocols and enhancing building systems to enable trustedcommunity-serving facilities – including libraries, recreation and community centers, andparks – to reliably serve their communities as places of refuge during smoke days,extreme heat, and power outages. (A-1, ECAP, Oakland)● Fund and Implement Citywide Vulnerability Assessment and Comprehensive AdaptationPlan: Complete and/or update emergency plans, including the Local Hazard MitigationPlan (LHMP), matching Federal requirements, including hazard identification and climaterisk assessment. (A-3, ECAP, Oakland)○ Use nature-based solutions such as green stormwater infrastructure to addressrisks● Require that sea-level rise projects explore the potential for nature-based adaptationmeasures before considering hardened structures, which can direct wave energy ontoadjacent shorelines and exacerbate erosion. Require incorporation of ecologicallyfriendly features along seawalls and hardened shorelines (when possible) and whereshoreline hardening exists or is planned, including public access for people walking orbicycling on seawalls or levees. (Resilience Playbook–ProtectingCommunities fromFloods and Drought)○ Hayward’s Shoreline Adaptation Masterplan outlines a variety of nature-basedstrategies, and identifies a plan to balance nature-based, hardened infrastructure,and non-structural strategies● Adopt a comprehensive and multi-departmental strategy to integrate greening into newcity project planning and development. (ResiliencePlaybook–Harnessing the Power ofNature)● Utilize overlay zones, ordinances, or resolutions to create new urban greening zoningrequirements in areas regarding flooding, habitat, or other priorities. (CR-2 - CR-4,ECAP, Oakland)● Focus green stormwater improvements for areas at risk of flooding (along creeks, inlow-lying areas, and along the coast) with an emphasis on vulnerable communities.(Resilience Playbook–Harnessing the Power of Nature) Broaden and accelerate planning, funding, and construction of green streets and othermulti-benefit greening projects, especially in underinvested communities. Integratenature-based solutions such as rain gardens, swales, green roofs, and tree canopy into roadand transit projects, flood zones, and other public infrastructure.● Fund and implement a green infrastructure program for the installation and maintenanceof projects and existing civic resources such as the parks system and public spaces, toimprove stormwater management, support biodiversity, reduce air pollution exposure,and increase access to natural spaces, including trees. Prioritize investment in frontlinecommunities, and particularly in residential neighborhoods dominated by concrete andasphalt with limited green space and elevated air pollution, in Priority ConservationAreas, and in areas where green infrastructure, including trees and other types of 4 vegetated buffers, can effectively address stormwater management issues and reduceair pollution exposure among sensitive populations. (A-6, ECAP, Oakland)● Establish Temporary and Permanent Car-Free Areas: Use car-free areas for activetransportation, parks and parklets and green infrastructure, pop-up community andcommercial activity, and other uses that address community needs. (TLU-6, ECAP,Oakland)● Invest in urban greening projects that improve the physical well-being of communitiesand protect against risks such as extreme heat and days with poor air quality. Map treecanopy gaps in cities and prioritize urban canopy expansion in communities vulnerableto urban heat effects. (Resilience Playbook–CenteringPeople and Equity First)○ Align tree canopy efforts with stormwater planning, ensuring green stormwaterinfrastructure planning is incorporated in areas with high runoff and at risk offlooding.
Prioritize planning of communities that are SMART:Sustainable, Mixed-use, Affordable,Resilient, Transit-oriented. Avoid developing along the shoreline and in the hills to protect fromflooding, sea level rise, and wildfire.● Advance zoning and implementation changes that encourage sustainable, small andmid-sized, multi-family, and workforce housing, especially in lower densityneighborhoods. Prioritize affordable housing in cultural districts and other relevantgeographies with historically marginalized racial or ethnic identities to encourage theirstabilization. (Resilience Playbook–Centering Peopleand Equity First)● Increase the density and diversity of land uses across jurisdiction. To the extent feasible,give priority to multi-benefit recreational projects that maximize pollution reduction andadaptation, carbon sequestration, heat-island reduction, stormwater capture thatincrease infiltration, habitat protection and biodiversity, community health improvements,promote innovative public-private partnerships, or a combination thereof. Design publicspace and the transportation system (including roadways) to advance racial and socialequity by co-developing public spaces with Black, Indigenous, People of Colorcommunity members and understanding their needs before designing the space.(Resilience Playbook–Centering People and Equity First)● Reduce or prohibit development in the most hazardous areas. Hazards and climateimpacts to consider are earthquake, liquefaction, flooding (riverine and sea level rise),groundwater rise, subsidence, landslide, and wildfire. Establish a hazard or climateoverlay zone. Apply an overlay zone to areas with the greatest current hazards and/orfuture climate impacts. Associate corresponding risk reduction, adaptation policies, andstandards specific to the hazard or climate impact. (Resilience Playbook–ProtectingCommunities from Floods and Drought) Pursue new funding mechanisms to support urban greening and nature-based climate resilienceprojects at the local and regional level.● Advocate for state grant programs to support local planning and project implementation.Sources include: CA Natural Resources Agency Urban Greening Grant Program,Strategic Growth Council Transformative Climate Communities Program, Office of 5 Planning and Research Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program &Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program. (ResiliencePlaybook–Harnessingthe Power of Nature)● Pursue stormwater infrastructure funding and financing options for multibenefit urbangreening, including stormwater fees, developer impact fees, fees for offsite greenstormwater infrastructure instead of onsite stormwater treatment, and EnhancedInfrastructure Financing Districts. (Resilience Playbook–Harnessingthe Power ofNature) 6