City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: INFORMATION REPORTS
Lead Department: Office of Emergency Services
Meeting Date: June 9, 2025
Report #:2505-4646
TITLE
Community Wildfire Protection Plan / Foothills Fire Management Plan Update 2025; CEQA status – categorically exempt.
RECOMMENDATION
This staff report is for information only. The Community Wildfire Protection Plan / Foothills Fire Management Plan Update 2025 is being provided for public awareness that it is now available in its completed state as a public facing document. This project is in alignment with the City Council 2025 Priorities: “Public Safety, Wellness & Belonging.”
BACKGROUND
The City developed a Foothills Fire Management Plan (FFMP) in 1982 that provides the planning framework for fire control activities for the City and the Palo Alto Foothills Area which comprises the predominant wildland urban interface (WUI) area for the community. This plan addresses a broad range of integrated activities and planning documents to address and mitigate the impacts of fire hazards in the area west of Foothills Expressway to the City limits of Palo Alto. The City has updated this plan three times: in 1997, 2009, and 2017. City of Palo Alto Staff Report #8030 (10/16/2017) includes an overview of this process.1 Also in 2017, the Santa Clara County Fire Department developed a multi-jurisdictional Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) to establish strategic goals for these more detailed community level fire-planning efforts. This included a Palo Alto jurisdictional annex that accompanied this plan, but apart from the FFMP.
During the County’s substantive 2023 CWPP update process, the City made the decision to integrate the FFMP with the CWPP to provide one wildfire management plan for the 1 https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/DocView.aspx?id=50811&repo=r-704298fc&searchid=d0b0cc2a-8987-4531- 9392-20aa5e61d742
community which addresses the long-standing history of the FFMP while meeting the best management practices of the CWPP format.
This item is one of a series of items being brough forward on the topic of wildfire preparedness.2
•The Finance Committee has discussed and made recommendation on Fire Department staffing levels as part of the FY 2026 Budget process. •The City Auditor submitted and the Policy & Services Committee unanimously recommended City Council approval of the audit3 which will be brought forward for Council approval on consent.
•In addition, the Utilities Advisory Commission is scheduled to review the utilities Wildfire Mitigation Plan at its June 4, 2025 meeting4.
ANALYSIS
The City contracted with Wildfire Management Resource Group to assist the City in the integration of the two separate plans as well as a comprehensive update of each at the same time. To do this the contractor followed a detailed plan of action over ten months to collect data from site visits, staff interviews and a public meeting; hold discussions with Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council CWPP members; attend scheduled meetings to coordinate planning tasks; sub-task an environmental review; and refine information and content into the agreed upon formats.
This 2025 Update includes these primary components:
•Describes the planning environment
•Discusses actions taken since the previous update
•Provides an updated wildfire risk hazard assessment
•Recommends new fuel treatment actions
•Includes public education and outreach efforts
•Lists wildfire mitigation projects the City will endeavor to complete •Identifies vegetation treatment standards and methods
2 News Story: Wildfire Preparedness Public Discussion, April 28, 2025, https://www.paloalto.gov/News- Articles/City-Manager/Palo-Alto-Begins-Wildfire-Preparedness-Public-Discussions 3 Policy & Services Committee Meeting 4/8/2025 Staff Report #2410-3635:
https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/DocView.aspx?id=161145&repo=r-704298fc 4 Utilities Advisory Commission Meeting 6/4/2025 Staff Report #2501-4077:
https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/DocView.aspx?id=177873&repo=r-704298fc The City will add the finalized plan as a jurisdictional annex to the Santa Clara County CWPP, available on their website at https://www.sccfd.org/santa-clara-county-community- wildfire-protection-plan/
The Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 recommends the implementation of wildfire protection plans for communities that have a wildfire threat. In compliance with this Act, three signatures are required on the plan from applicable local government, the local fire department, and the state entity responsible for forestry. For this plan the signatories will include the City of Palo Alto City Manager, the Palo Alto Fire Department Chief, the Local CalFire Unit Chief, and an additional signatory of the City of Palo Alto OES Chief. If any signatures are still outstanding as of the date of this Council meeting, staff will include a revised signature page subsequently, but that does not necessitate any further Council review.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
The projects listed in the CWPP/FFMP will require funding from various sources to implement.
Please refer to Section 19 “Mitigation Projects and Prioritizations” for the complete list.
Generally, there are projects to reduce “fuels” (flammable vegetation and other materials) in certain zones based on life safety and ecological factors. Several projects do not occur annually, so will incur expenses when the respective target dates approach. The annual budget provides funding for ongoing seasonal activities that are performed and for specific project work which usually requires contract labor in the General Fund or capital improvement fund. Staff continually look for grants or other sources of funding to increase the kinds of work that can be accomplished in any one year. Further fiscal information can be found in the CWPP/FFMP.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
The City hosted a public presentation on the CWPP/FFMP on 25 June 2024 as part of the City’s annual Wildfire Preparedness Community Meeting in which participants received an update on this plan and an opportunity to ask questions about it.
The City also provided a 21-day public comment period using an online collection form to give members of the public an opportunity to comment on the plan. This open comment period was publicized on the City’s website, through the Uplift Local newsletter, and direct email notifications to stakeholder agency representatives. The City received seven public responses.
Where applicable, staff made appropriate updates to the plan and in other cases will determine the appropriate response.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The City has reviewed the 2025 updates and the potential environmental effects of implementing the updates. Based on this information, the project can be found exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15304 (Minor Alterations to Land).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: 2023 Santa Clara Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Annex 3: City of Palo Alto Community Wildfire Protection Plan / Foothills Fire Mitigation Plan Update 2025 Attachment B: Transmittal of Signatures CWPP 2025
APPROVED BY:
OES Chief Ken Dueker, Director Office of Emergency Services