Oakland City Council
July 18, 2023

APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY ________________________ CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION NO. ______________ C.M.S. INTRODUCED BY COUNCILMEMBER DAN KALB RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF SB 272 (LAIRD), TO ENSURE CONSISTENT, COMPERHENSIVE LOCAL PLANNING FOR SEA LEVEL RISE IN CALIFORNIA. WHEREAS, the City of Oakland has been on the forefront of climate policy for decades; and WHEREAS, the San Francisco Bay area is a vibrant, diverse, ecologically unique, innovative, and pioneering region that will be deeply and deleteriously affected by climate change without tremendous effort and investments to adapt to a constantly changing shoreline; and WHEREAS, flood damage to vital shoreline development, public infrastructure, neighborhoods, and contaminated lands absent adaptation will harm vulnerable communities and degrade environmental quality; and WHEREAS, the City of Oakland has 19 miles of shoreline and its LHMP estimates that there are approximately 14,600 structures in the 100-year Flood Zone; and WHEREAS, sea levels in the Bay Area are projected to rise by up to 1.9 feet by 2050 and up to 6.9 feet by 2100, which will expose even more of the city’s shoreline to flooding; and WHEREAS, according to a report prepared by the Pathways Climate Institute and SFEI, “low-lying inland areas could flood from below by emergent groundwater long before coastal floodwaters overtop the shoreline”; and WHEREAS, to properly address this challenge, local governments in the Bay Area need to create consistent and coordinated sea level rise resiliency plans; and WHEREAS, SB 272 would require local governments within the Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s (BDCD) jurisdiction to create a sea level rise shoreline resiliency plan by January 1, 2034, contingent on the state providing financial support through existing or future appropriations; and WHEREAS, SB 272 directs BCDC to establish guidelines for the local resiliency plans and gives BCDC new authority to review and approve the plans to ensure consistency with the best available science; and WHEREAS, SB 272 further incentivizes timely sea level rise planning by giving funding priority to local governments that receive BCDC approval for their plans by January 1, 2029; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED: That the City of Oakland endorses SB 272 and urges the California State Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom to support its enactment into law; and be it FURTHER RESOLVED: That the City Council directs the City Administrator or his designee to immediately distribute this Resolution upon its adoption to Governor Gavin Newsom and State Senator Laird IN COUNCIL, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE: AYES - FIFE, GALLO, JENKINS, KALB, KAPLAN, RAMACHANDRAN, REID, AND PRESIDENT FORTUNATO BAS NOES – ABSENT – ABSTENTION – ATTEST: ASHA REED City Clerk and Clerk of the Council of the City of Oakland, California