Proposal for Sea Level
Rise Adaptation and
Resiliency Plan
Prepared for the City of Richmond
October 30, 2023
mithun.com
On the Cover: Richmond, CA
October 30, 2023
Lina Velasco, Director
Community Development Dept
City of Richmond, California
[email protected]
Re: Sea Level Rise Adaptation and Resiliency Plan for Richmond Dear Lina Velasco and members of the selection committee, On behalf of the Mithun + ESA team of designers, planners and engineers, we are excited to submit this proposal for creation of a Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan for the City of Richmond. In many ways, Richmond epitomizes both the challenges and opportunities inherent in re-imagining human co-existence with the Bay in the face of Sea Level Rise. The historic industrial development of Richmond’s varied waterfront, has been both foundational in its development and also helped entrench many of the injustices and inequities faced by its current communities. We hope to be a part of helping to re-imagine Richmond’s transformation and adaptation from shared vulnerabilities to a more just and equitable future in this next chapter.
For the past six years, Mithun has led sea level rise (SLR) and climate adaptation planning and design efforts in the Bay Area and beyond, that have centered community in the adaptation design process. ESA has established themselves as Bay Area leaders and innovators in understanding how nature-based features can be applied to a wide range of complex coastal conditions, as well as how to navigate the complex regulatory environment to realize them as built projects. Our combined team has spent considerable time working on Richmond- area focused projects, the most recent of which comprises a similar scope as this RFP for the creation of a Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Plan for ~5-mile stretch of North Richmond.
This deeply community-based work has been an incredible experience for our team members over multiple years, that we are proud of, and like to share out as a model for other Bay Area municipalities and communities considering the multi-faceted challenge of SLR Adaptation. Of course, given its complex jurisdictional overlaps, where unincorporated areas of Contra Costa County with significant areas of Richmond itself, we have come to understand well the importance of a process that can bring everyone together at the design table, from agencies to property owners to legacy residents and community
PROPOSAL CONTACT
Tim Mollette-Parks
Partner
585 Howard St, #300
San Francisco, CA 94105
[email protected]
(415) 489 4834
1 mithun.com
groups. In many respects, we have been learning from Richmond, and cycling back sharing out our work transparently, creating a continuous learning environment that supports people in practicing adaptation together.
From our previous experience, we understand how a planning endeavor such as yours is a crucial opportunity for neighbors to talk with each other about immediate and long-term changes to beloved and intensively used places in their city. Our role as planners and designers is to work with care and sensitivity to this valued place and to set a tone of co-learning and co-designing. Our team takes pride in community-collaboration as a foundation of building adaptation pathways. Our team leadership of Tim Mollette-Parks, Graham Laird Prentice, have been working together to deliver implementable and funded SLR adaptation projects for more than six years, around the Bay Area, and particularly in areas of Richmond and North Richmond.
The Mithun-ESA team would be excited to have the opportunity to work with the City of Richmond to develop a vision and strategy for sea-level rise adaptation that will help the Richmond community achieve a more resilient and equitable future. We understand that developing this sea-level rise adaptation plan is just one important step towards the long-term effort of stewarding a thriving Richmond, and with that in mind, the our team has prepared the attached proposal that we believe will best utilize the city’s available resources to progress planning and community outreach, and move the city on a path towards future grant funding for specific, implementable priority sea-level rise resilience projects, and build partnerships and community capacity to facilitate long-term stewardship of the Richmond shoreline.
Tim Mollette-Parks, Partner Gr aham Laird Prentice, Senior Associate Partner-in-Charge P roject Manager
Qualifications
and Experience
NOTE: Mithun does not have any currently known or potential conflicts of interest with the City of Richmond to disclose. This proposal is valid for a 90-day period. 2 3
Qualifications and
Experience
The team we have assembled to support SLR
adaptation on the Richmond shoreline is driven by
shared values of equity, curiosity and collaboration.
Along with this important alignment in values, we’ve
already been working together as a team on SLR
projects in and around Richmond and Contra Costa
County for the previous four years, yielding important
advancements in resilience planning in the region. We’re thrilled to present this team for your consideration to continue our community-centered, nature-prioritized
approach to long-term adaptation to rising sea levels
and groundwater challenges.
Our core team is:
Mithun: overall team lead (and day-to-day project
contact), with focus on physical/spatial coastal
adaptation planning, visualization, community and
communication support, and project management.
— Mithun is an integrated design practice of landscape
architects, architects and urban designers bringing
their wide range of skills to bear on projects in
a highly collaborative process with clients and
communities. Mithun will lead the project from our
San Francisco-based landscape architecture and
urban design team. We are a California-focused
team, nationally recognized for design excellence,
including the recently awarded AIA National Firm
of the Year for 2023. We take a holistic approach
to planning and design, learning a site in all its
aspects—social/cultural, ecology, hydrology, mobility,
project economics, scale and form, and adjacencies—
and are committed to developing solutions that are
uniquely appropriate to a place.
— Tim Mollette-Parks | Partner in Charge
— Graham Laird Prentice | Project Manager, Principal
Contact for the City
Supporting our dynamic and diverse team, Tim
Mollette Parks will serve as the partner in charge and
will work closely with Graham Laird Prentice, project
manager and principal contact for the project (and
proficient Spanish speaker). Together, Tim and Graham
will manage the wider team to guarantee smooth
communication and the best outcome for the City of
Richmond.
Tim and Graham have been working together on
Bay Area sea-level rise projects with a specific focus
on areas of Richmond and North Richmond over
the past six years. As managers of complex, large
infrastructure scale projects they bring unique skills to the emerging and nascent issues of climate change
adaptation. As spatial designers they are focused
on the human experience and as implementers of
system-scale ecologies they bring technical know-
how to the conversations that span multiple partners,
agencies, regulators and funders. They collaborate
frequently with Mithun teams on projects that address
affordable housing, workforce development and holistic
infrastructure systems for sustainability.
The North Richmond Collaborative Shoreline
Adaptation Plan is a Bay Area model for successful
community engagement and implementation. It’s a
project that emerged from working with a community
advisory board during Resilient by Design into a fully- funded phase 1 living levee being built by the West
County Wastewater District, in partnership with
community, public agencies and local property owners.
The success of their project management approach
is to be listeners, conveners and to create a rich
environment for people to learn and grow with each
other.
North Richmond Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Plan / North Richmond, CA
Community co-design site walk visiting the wetlands of Wildcat and San Pablo Creeks.
4 5
ESA
ESA is a multi-disciplinary environmental engineering
firm serving clients ranging from government agencies
to nonprofits to private industry. ESA is the Bay Area
leader in designing and implementing nature-based
solutions to sea-level rise, with dozens of shoreline
habitat restoration and sea-level rise adaptation
projects completed, and more than 10 projects
currently in stages of development. ESA employs
more than 600 environmental scientists, planners,
engineers, cultural resource specialists, data science
experts and other professionals dedicated to forming
enduring partnerships and raising industry standards.
Combining rigorous science with practical engineering
solutions, ESA specializes in multi-benefit projects that result in sustainable coastal adaptations, water quality improvement, ecosystem restoration, and recreational
benefits.
— Michelle Orr, P .E. | ESA Project Director
— Eddie Divita, P .E. | ESA Project Manager
Michelle and Eddie have worked together on shoreline
management and habitat restoration projects in San
Francisco Bay, along the California Coast, and beyond
for over 12 years. Their work includes the planning,
design, and monitoring for foundational projects
demonstrating innovative nature-based approaches
to improve sea-level rise resilience and restore high
quality shoreline landscapes. They have partnered
with Tim and Graham on previous projects along the
Contra Costa County shoreline, including the North
Richmond Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Plan and
North Richmond Living Levee. In addition, Mithun and
ESA are working together currently to develop regional
planning guidelines for coastal resilience for the Bay
Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC).
All members of this leadership team, along with each
firm’s support staff identified in our resumes section, have confirmed their availability to support the City of Richmond’s adaptation planning effort, coordinated
with the included project schedule and scope.
When working on issues of SLR in a diversity of areas
like those along the city’s shoreline, we’ve learned
from previous experience it’s crucial to have a deep
bench of advisers with particular specialty knowledge,
that can be brought into the process at key junctures,
driven by needs that may emerge as the team learns
more about the existing conditions and challenges. In
our previous SLR planning and design projects, we’ve
worked with regional thought-leaders in th
ese design
a
nd planning adjacent fields that can be foundational
in unlocking further success of a long-range plan for
living with SLR into the future. In our budget, we have identified funds fo
r supporting focused con versations
or team workshops wit h these supporting experts.
We’ve worked with all these orga nizations pr eviously
and have contacted them to be sure they’re open and
available to support this effort in Richmond with their participation in advising conversations or workshops to be determined over the course of the project.
Funding Strategies
NHA Advisors
The Mithun-ESA team previously worked with NHA
Advisors on developing SLR funding strategies for North Richmond and west Contra Costa County.
Governance Strategies
Greenbelt Alliance
Our team has worked with Greenbelt Alliance for years
around governance modeling and communications.
We a
re currently collaborating with them on the BCDC
Regional Shoreline Adaptation planning guidelines.
Resilient by Design / North Richmond, CAResilient by Design / North Richmond, CA Specialty Engineering Support
The Mithun-ESA team has strong working relationships
with numerous specialist engineering and technical
consultants. While these specialized disciplines are not required for the base scope of work and have not been
included in the core project team, the Mithun-ESA team
is ready to engage these additional partners if needed
to support services beyond the base scope or for future project phases.
— Geotechnical Engineering
— Sewer, Pumps, & Other Water Utility Infrastructure:
Carollo Engineers
— Groundwater and Geohydrology
— Soil and Groundwater Remediation
— Port and Maritime Infrastructure and Facility
Engineering
— Transportation Engineering
Resumes of key members of our team are included in
the appendix.
6 7
A team uniquely suited to support
SLR adaptation in Richmond
Th
e hallmarks of our team’s qualifications and previous
experience gather around five critical aspects of our
team that we think are uniquely crucial to the context
and vulnerabilities of the Richmond shoreline
Equitable Adaptation
Mithun’s approach to co-developing SLR adaptation
approaches is rooted in
finding ways to pursue equity
and self-determination, particularly for communities
who have endured environmental and racist injustice.
Our approach emphasizes communication, listening
and regular reflection with the team to ensure that
everyone can do their best work and align with the
project needs. To get there, we see our multi-faceted
role as:
— Educator and Learner (in a co-learning process with
the city and communities)
— Adaptation Planner and Designer
— Visualization and
Communication Specialist
For example, in our work supporting the North
Richmond Shoreline, we collaborated with a local non-
profit to recruit (and compensate) a
group of community members to participate in co-
development of an adaptation vision. The process
i
ncluded educational aspects of learning academies
(to level up understanding of SLR vulnerabilities and
adaptation techniques)
, site tours (to learn together
about the existing conditions of the shoreline) and
co-design workshops (to ensure the designs reflected
community will from their inception, rather than as
only review feedback)
. Through this layered process of
co-learning and co-design, community members were
more prepared to share the work in their community
networks, and more facile in talking with agency
leaders and elected officials to advocate for self-
determination and build relationships outside of the
community that helped direct regional and federal
funding back to the long-term implementation of
adaptation in their neighborhood.
Doing this type of shoulder-to-shoulder work with
community members over the years has imbued our
team with crucial capabilities in creating outreach
materials that are accessible and engaging for
a variety of background and education levels.
Throughout Mithun’s work in North Richmond,
during Resilient by Design and on the Vancouver
waterfront, we’ve developed approaches and visual
resources for conveying dynamic shoreline conditions
in easy-to-understand ways, through before and
after representations, and simple animations that
prepare viewers to think about adaptation over time.
These visual depictions can serve as the backbone
for multiple uses, including fact sheets, social media
posts, presentations that can also be distributed to
Community Leaders to share in their wider networks
beyond the project-specific meetings. We’ve found
this is another sound strategy for reaching community
members that may not have historically participated in
planning decisions. By co-creating the project and co-
learning with dedicated community members, who can
then take the storytelling into their personal networks around schools, churches and civic groups, a wider net
is cast and can pay dividends for greater participation in this phase and future phases of SLR planning in San
Rafael.
Another technique we’ve used is also noted in the
RFP prompt, which is to integrate other community
priorities into the conversation. In our previous
experience we’ve found that the layering of multiple
benefits that SLR planning can bring is a way to engage more broadly, when climate change may not be the
best pressing factor in the minds of some community
leaders.
For example, part of our climate resilience work in North Richmond focused on housing insecurity and led our
team to support community members in establishing
a community land trust and local home ownership
pathway as protection against gentrification. That co-
beneficial aspect of SLR planning in North Richmond
cross-pollinated the climate risks aspects with the social vulnerability aspects and brought community members
together that may not have typically engaged with one
another. Our previous SLR planning work has also used
workforce development as a way to build connection
with community segments that may have typically not
been engaged in planning decisions.
Resilient by Design / North Richmond, CA
ESA
Environmental Planning
and Engineering
Mithun
Prime; Planning Lead
Michelle Orr
Environmental Engineer
Debra Guenther
Design with Equity Advisor;
California Licensed
Landscape Architect
Ethan Wynacht
Project Planner
Policy & Funding
Advisory Bench
Mariel Steiner
Landscape and Urban
Designer
Jeff Canton
ESA Project Manager
Greenbelt Alliance
Eddie Divita
Project Engineer
Katie Stege
GIS Lead
NHA Advisors
City of Richmond
Tim Mollette-Parks
Partner in Charge
Mithun
Graham Laird Prentice
Project Manager
Daily Contact for the City
Mithun
8 9
Technical Rigor and Deep Experience in Nature-
Based SLR Approaches
Both Mithun and ESA have experience delivering
projects in coastal conditions around the Bay Area
and beyond that reflect best practices in technical
considerations around feasibility, adaptation measures, compound flooding dynamics considerations, and
local (and hyper local) geotechnical and ecological
considerations. The team members assembled have
experience in designing, both concepts and towards
implementation, nature-based adaptations, including
ecotone slope levees, barrier beaches, a spectrum
of green to grey approaches. ESA’s innovative and
region-leading implementation of ecotone slope levee
approaches at Oro Loma in Alameda County remains
a hallmark project that the region looks to. In addition, our team has studied these types of approaches in
detail around San Pablo Bay and western Contra Costa,
providing us with a deep background in executing
on these approaches efficiently in the planning
and engineering process. The team also has a deep
familiarity with existing data and modeling sources
from our shared long-time experience of working in
climate adaptation around Richmond and the adjacent
geographies.
Communication and Visualization Skills
We see visualization and communication skills of
the Mithun team as foundational to unlocking both
community participation and SLR adaptation planning
success, and ensuring the two are intertwined. We tailor the visualization process, the same as we tailor the
design investigations, specifically to a place, people and ecology. Some of the tools that we find the most useful across our previous work, and that would consider
further with the Richmond team:
— Before and after hand sketching, that allows for
visualization to happen quickly and iteratively, and
leave room in the process for community members
to see their input take shape in real-time design
— Diagrammatic animations, that can allow
community members to more easily understand
change over time
— Translation of all labeling, titles and other supporting call-outs into Spanish for any community facing work
Workforce Development Integration
Mithun is recognized nationally for our research and
advocacy around workforce development as a critical
co-benefit of climate adaptation. The work of members
of the Mithun team has been featured in symposiums
and presentations at the Landscape Architecture
Foundation in Washington DC, in their focus on Green
New Deal pathways and with the Pacific Northwest's
Regional Collaboration for Green Infrastructure Career
Pathways, convened by The Nature Conservancy.
In our Bay Area work, we have collaborated closely
with local agencies, existing employment groups and
environmental advocates in Contra Costa County to
prioritize local workforce development in economically
disinvested areas. Our team would focus on applying
the lessons we’ve learned in that work to our approach
in Richmond.
Local Needs, Calibrated to Regional Input
As the RFP highlights, working with regional agencies
in SLR adaptation is crucial. We all share vulnerabilities to coastal flooding and groundwater rise across
jurisdictional boundaries. The Mithun-ESA team has
a track record and ongoing effort in engaging with
these issues at the regional level and beyond. Through
our work on the North Richmond Collaboration
Shoreline Adaptation Plan, we have developed working
relationships with regional and state interested
collaborators, including the regional water board and
the SF district office of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
In addition, Mithun is currently the prime consultant
to developing regional planning guidelines for the Bay
Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC).
In that effort, we are playing a crucial role in navigating between regional resilience, and local needs. We believe this overlap of Mithun project teams between potential
local work in Richmond and regional work with BCDC
provides our group with a unique understanding of how
local and regional approaches can be co-supportive,
both in terms of project design, and towards funding,
governance and regulatory considerations.
Recent Mithun + ESA projects in Richmond.
10 11
Design for
Climate Justice
Combining a Regional Approach with Local
Self-Determination
The San Francisco Bay Area is taking a proactive
approach to sea level rise issues - working across
agencies and with vulnerable communities to practice
adaptation by sharing science, best practices and
changing regulations.
Discovering Multiple Benefits from Shared Risk and
Opportunity
Respecting local leaders, Mithun amplified community
priorities through a co-design process. The five-
mile shoreline adaptation plan and 30% design
and engineering of phase one led by Mithun, is a
collaboration between property owners and the
community to look at the multiple benefits through the
lens of shared risks and opportunities.
A Path for Future Change
This innovative co-design process has coalesced around
decades of community leadership, strengthening trust
and long-term stewardship along the way. The new San
Francisco Bay Restoration Regulatory Integration Team
(BRRIT) has come together from six state and federal
agencies in order to streamline the permitting process
for habitat adaptation projects in the Bay.
Client West County Wastewater District; San Francisco Bay Re storation Authority
Overview 5-mile Collaborative Shoreline Plan; 3/4 mile long le vee with ecotone slope to protect WCW critical
inf rastructure, provide transitional habitat, and
tr ails for public access.
Metrics Certification
Services Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Planning Collaborators List here
North Richmond Living Levee
and Collaborative Shoreline
Adaptation Plan
Richmond and North Richmond, California
SFBRA GRANT APPLICATION
PHASE I LIVING LEVEE
PHASE 1A ‘NORTH CLUSTER’
PHASE 1B ‘SOUTH CLUSTER’
RICHMOND PARKWAY
WILDCAT CREEK
SAN PABLO CREEK
WEST COUNTY
WATEWATER
NORTH
RICHMOND
WILDCAT
MARSH
SAN PABLO
MARSH
DRAFT/CONFIDENTIAL
68 NORTH RICHMOND COLLABORATIVE SHORELINE ADAPTATION PLAN / 2023
LEVEE CORE
STUDY AREA BOUNDARY
LEVEE CORE + TRAIL
EXISTING FLOOD CONTROL MEASURES
EXISTING BIKE TRAILS
PROPOSED BIKE LANES
VEGETATED HABITAT SLOPES
PROPOSED BRIDGE / BOARDWALK
PROPOSED TRAILS
EXISTING CLASS I TRAIL
LEGEND
SAN PABLO
MARSH
WILDCAT
MARSH
CHEVRON
REFINERY
RICHMOND
RICHMOND PARKWAY
WILDCAT CREEK
NORTH
RICHMOND
LANDFILL
DOTSON
MARSH
CASTRO
COVE
PARCHESTER
VILLAGE
SAN PABLO CREEK
PHASE I LIVING LEVEE
PHASE 1A ‘NORTH
CLUSTER’
SAN PABLO STR AIT
(SAN FR ANCISCO BAY)
PHASE 1B ‘SOUTH
CLUSTER’
The North Richmond Collaborative Shoreline
Adaptation Plan is a crucial
and visionary project that aims
to create multiple benefits for
some of the most vulnerable
residents of west Contra
Costa County: protecting
critical infrastructure,
bringing together community
members and stakeholders in
an equity-based process, and
delivering important habitat
resilience and public shoreline
access in the face of looming
sea level rise (SLR).
SAN PABLO
SFBRA GRANT APPLICATION
DRAFT/CONFIDENTIAL
7 NORTH RICHMOND COLLABORATIVE SHORELINE ADAPTATION PLAN / 2023
12 13
Transformation
through Design
Equity as a Driver of Multi-Benefit Transformation
The Mithun team was assembled to explore how equity
can be rooted as a driver of deep transformation, and to stack benefits across multiple vulnerabilities, supporting a community in addressing a sea level rise and adjoining vulnerabilities such as freshwater flooding, housing
affordability and economic resilience.
A Wide Range of Community-Focused Adaptations
Working with local community-leaders, Mithun assembled
a Community Advisory Board of local residents, advocates and agency leaders to develop ecological resilience
strategies that built on existing planning and ongoing
efforts. Advisory board members became champions
of these projects, leading many to be funded and move
forward.
Urban Ecology as a Racial Equity Tool
Our team’s conceptual approach is rooted in an urban
ecology of strategies that support equity. We propose
re-envisioning our homes as interdependent and a
contributing component of the Bay’s natural systems. We seek to heal divisions and cultivate shared values.
Overview One of 10 teams selected to explore working with communities to develop regionally collaborative
implementable projects to prepare for sea level rise
and climate change impacts
Program Multi-benefit, adaptive design approaches that empower residents to collectively respond to the
impacts of climate change
Services Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Planning
Resilient by Design
San Francisco Bay Area, California
Mithun studies for shoreline
adaptation in Marin City as
part of Resilient by Design
Regional
Resilience, Local
Priorities
Multiple Scales, All At Once
The Mithun team is supporting the Bay Conservation
and Development Commission (BCDC) in developing
design guidelines that will promote coastal adaptation
that is appropriate to a place, city or subregion, and
can link together for region-wide resilience to sea level rise (SLR).
Equity and Tradeoffs
BCDC’s ongoing coastal adaptation work features
equity as hallmark of their process. Our team of
planners and engagement leaders are supporting
that ambition by developing an Equity Strategy for
the planning effort that frames adaptation tradeoffs
through an environmental justice lens.
Visualization as Communication
The Mithun team is developing animations and 3D
visualizations at throughout the process, to build
shared understanding, and advocate for broad support
for the new adaptation guidelines across the myriad
jurisdictions in the Bay Area.
Client Bay Conservation and Development Commission
Overview Resilience goals, strategies and design guidelines for regionally coordinated sea level rise adaptation
Size 9 counties; more than 400 miles of shoreline
Services Planning, design guidelines, equity strategy support, community engagement support
Collaborators ERG, ESA, Greenbelt Alliance
Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan
San Francisco Bay Area, California
14 15
Co-Benefits for
Community and
Habitat
Client Contra Costa County Flood Control District
Program Fish habitat enhancement, sediment basin
regrading, community park spaces, upgraded trails,
public art opportunities
Size 4 acres
Services Landscape Architecture
Collaborators Watershed Project, Community Engagement; Flow West, Restoration and Civil Engineering
Completion 2024 est.
Wildcat Creek Trail, Community
Park, and Fish Habitat Enhancement
North Richmond, California
Multi-Benefit Enhancements
The design approach for Wildcat Creek builds on years
of activism and community co-design to create new
neighborhood amenities along Wildcat Creek in North
Richmond with a focus on education, play and trail
connectivity. Situated near the Verde School, the project re-envisions an existing fill material storage area into a new mini-park with outdoor classroom.
Improved Habitat and Community Gathering Space
The project team redesigned an existing fish ladder to
repair the connectivity for migrating salmonid. As a
companion response, the team also designed a series
of terraces leading to an overlook above the fish ladder, creating a space for environmental education and
outdoor meeting space for community groups, including
Verde School’s Parent-Teacher Association.
Re-Introducing The Community To Nature
Wildcat Creek offers the only easily accessible natural open space in North Richmond, an community-of-
color neighborhood that has endured generations
of disinvestment. This project improves pedestrian
connectivity, safety and program opportunities along the creek trail, to encourage rediscovery of this riparian area.
Rich City Rides Wellness Hub
Richmond, California
Client Richmond Our Power Coalition
Overview Design and Visualization to support the
Richmond Our Power Coalition’s tour
with Justice Funders, raising capital for 3
new catalyst projects to provide critically
needed spaces, amenities, housing and
food security in North Richmond.
Size 0.25 acres
Services Landscape Architecture, Architecture,
Community Engagement
Visioning Black
Wellness
Creating a compelling vision
The design team worked with community leaders
to understand their goals and priorities for new
development that would address food security and
housing concerns. Then, we worked quickly to translate
those ideas into inspiring yet practical visualizations that could convey the project’s aspirations to potential funders.
A Sanctuary for Black Culture
The Black Wellness Hub envisions a space for mental,
physical, and communal healing. It will hold space for
Black people to learn the history of Black people in
American and throughout the disapora. In addition to
providing space, resources, and equipment for physical
activity and wellness, the space will host cultural
activities such as African drumming, dance, language,
and more.
Reconnecting Community Spaces
The Wellness Hub is also situated immediately next
to Unity Park, enabling fence removal, and re-
engagement between this new facility and the park
itself, including native planting, water management,
and cultivation of fruit trees by neighbors and
community partners.
16 17
Client City of Richmond
Size Citywide
Duration 2015 – 2017
Services GHG Inventory, Development of Climate Action
Plan, CEQA Documentation, Vulnerability
Assessment and Adaptation Report
City of Richmond
Climate Action Plan
Adopted | October 2016
ESA led the development of the City of Richmond
Climate Action Plan (CAP), a roadmap for reducing
community-wide GHG emissions and preparing the
City for the anticipated impacts of climate change
on public health, infrastructure, ecosystems, and
public spaces. The CAP builds upon the City’s Health
in All Policies Strategy, providing the vision, goals, and specific actions that will be needed to strengthen
the connections between climate protection, energy
security, community resilience, health equity,and the
local economy. The project included extensive public
outreach, coordination with multiple agencies and
stakeholders, and completion of the City’s first detailed Climate Change Adaptation Study, which downscales
climate change impacts to the local scale and includes
a vulnerability and risk assessment of the City’s most
important assets to rising temperatures, rising seas,
extreme weather events, and more extreme droughts.
City of Richmond Climate Action Plan
Richmond, California
Priority actions for increasing community resilience and adapting to climate change are incorporated into a
CAP chapter on Community Resilience. A key aspect of
the project was the development of robust metrics and
indicators for triple-bottom-line sustainability that will enable the City to monitor both GHG reductions and
co-benefits of CAP strategies and actions.
Decolonizing
Coastal
Adaptation
Exploring Adaptation Pathways
Vancouver’s False Creek is a beloved urban, waterfront
that is vulnerable to sea level rise in the next century.
The Mithun+One team worked with the City, a
community advisory group and youth to create a
vision of the waterfront that makes space for natural
abundance while reconnecting relationships with the
dynamics of land and water.
Decolonizing the Design Process
First Nation knowledge keepers, cultural advisors
and artists were an integral part of the design team
and their stories guided the long-term vision, near-
term actions, and language around adaptation.
The proposed strategies create a vision where the
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people can
see themselves, their values, knowledge and culture
represented.
Working toward the Vision
Two pilot projects integrate flood protection measures, habitat creation and traditional knowledge. A forested
berm tests new tree cultivars and plant guilds adapted
to changing temperatures and supports red cedars,
yellow cedars and sequoias. A habitat bench is designed for people, marine life, reuse and decay.
Client City of Vancouver, BC
Overview One of two teams contracted to explore coastal adaptation approaches along Vancouver’s False Creek
Program Tidal marsh, mudflats, clam gardens, urban forest, gravel beach, wetlands, stream daylighting, habitat
structures / First Nations canoe house and cultural
exchange, co-management and stewardship, regional
parks and open space, multi-use trail, education and
interpretive trails / Affordable housing, adaptive reuse, blue-green streets, pedestrian street
Size 160 acres
Services Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Planning
Collaborators One Architecture, Modern Formline, Herrera, Moffatt & Nichol, Charlene Aleck- Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Knowledge Keeper
Sea2City Design Challenge
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
18 19
This project is helping to enhance the resilience of one of Marin County’s most visited and vulnerable parks.
Sea-level rise is threatening the Bothin Marsh Preserve’s shoreline habitats and their ability to support native
wildlife, including special-status species, migratory
birds, and rare plant species. It is also threatening a popular segment of the Bay Trail with increasingly
frequent flooding. ESA completed conceptual planning
and restoration engineering analyses for OneTAM and is
currently developing the 30% design engineering.
ESA developed conceptual designs for marsh habitat
enhancement that incorporate a range of established
and innovative measures, including channel excavation,
beneficial reuse of dredged material, coarse beach
shorelines and rare plant propagation. ESA worked
to integrate the marsh enhancement designs with
alternatives for raising and realigning the trail. ESA
estimated sediment supply to the tidal marsh under
existing and proposed conditions with and without
realignment of the adjacent Coyote Creek to assess
how different concepts could enhance habitat and site
evolution with sea-level rise.
Bothin Marsh Sea-level Rise
Adaptation Project
Marin County, California
Client OneTAM (Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
and Marin County Parks)
Size 67 acres
Duration 2021 - ongoing
Services Wetland Resilience, Engineering Design, Flood Protection, Habitat Enhancement
Richmond Bay Specific Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report © 2016 Opticos Design, Inc. | © 2016 Opticos Design, Inc. | Richmond Bay Specific Plan Area
ESA provided CEQA and sea level rise assessment
services for the Richmond Bay Specific Plan and Sub-
Area 4 Project EIR. The Richmond Bay Specific Plan will help transform 360 acres of underutilized industrial
waterfront in Richmond’s South Shoreline area into
a revitalized, pedestrian-oriented district that would
integrate a mixture of high-intensity research and
development uses with new medium-density housing
options. ESA prepared a sea level rise vulnerability and adaptation assessment, which included a coastal flood
assessment that mapped areas vulnerable to flooding
due to sea level rise; a menu of adaptation options for adapting sites to sea level rise; and a flood assessment of selected adaptation options. The results of this
analysis were included in the EIR certified in December, 2016.
In 2020, ESA prepared an Addendum to the 2016 EIR in
response to a development application for the Campus
Bay Project. HRP Campus Bay, LLC proposed to develop
approximately 89 acres of Sub-Area 4 Project analyzed
Richmond Bay Specific Plan /
Campus Bay CEQA Review
Richmond, California
in the EIR, with slight modifications to the development scenario previously envisioned. Specifically, the
addendum was prepared to determine if the analysis in
the Specific Plan EIR adequately addresses the potential environmental impacts that may occur with the
Campus Bay Project, and that none of the conditions
described in CEQA Guidelines Section 15162 calling
for the preparation of a subsequent EIR or negative
declaration have occurred. In particular, ESA addressed the Campus Bay Project’s consistency with updated
state guidance for sea level rise as well as related
adaptation standards adopted in the Specific Plan. The
addendum was completed in December 2020.
Client City of Richmond
Size 375 acres
Duration 2016 - 2018
Services CEQA Documentation, Environmental Settings,
Impacts and Mitigation Measures
20 21
Client California State Coastal Conservancy
Size 100 acres
Duration 2016 – 2020
Services Preliminary Design, CEQA Documentation,
Pe rmitting, Construction Period Services, Physical
Pr ocesses and Water Quality Monitoring, Aerial
Dr one Surveying
The Giant Marsh Living Shoreline Project, constructed
at Point Pinole, uses a variety of nature-based
shoreline treatments to provide ecological and sea-
level rise adaptation benefits. ESA led the engineering design and permitting of the Project’s nature-based
approaches to sea-level rise including installation of
several unique oyster reef balls or cubes composed of
concrete and shell units. These uniquely crafted reef
units were strategically placed in the low marsh area
to function as a buffer against waves, contributing
to shoreline protection. The Giant Marsh project
incorporated a diverse range of tidal and subtidal
plant species, including eelgrass, rockweed, and native cordgrass. These plant species were carefully integrated into the ecosystem to enhance ecological resilience.
ESA’s monitoring of wave attenuation over the oyster
reef, reef stability, and sedimentation is being utilized to support future nature-based adaptation projects across
California State Coastal Conservancy,
Giant Marsh Living Shoreline
Richmond, California
the region. This comprehensive approach to living
shorelines is helping to drive scientific understanding and practical application in San Francisco Bay and
beyond.
ESA is serving as a subconsultant to Fehr & Peers in the preparation of the Richmond Parkway Environmental
Justice & Regional Mobility Plan for West Contra
Costa Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC).
The team is identifying transportation needs along a
9.5-mile major arterial and goods movement corridor
linking I-80 to the north and I-580 to the south, building community consensus on key transportation issues,
and recommending feasible and community-responsive
strategies within Contra Costa County and the City
of Richmond, as well as the nearby cities of San Pablo
and Pinole. ESA’s focus is on the development and
evaluation of strategies that will provide benefits for environmental justice, equity, and greenhouse gas
emissions reductions, particularly for disadvantaged
and vulnerable communities along the corridor.
Richmond Parkway Environmental
Justice & Regional Mobility Plan
Richmond, California
The scope includes assessing and mapping a wide
range of social, economic, and environmental factors,
including sea level rise and flood hazard areas.
Client West Contra Costa County Transportation Advisory Committee
Size 20 miles of shoreline
Duration 9.5 miles
Services Existing conditions and future trends analysis (h ealth equity, hazards), and public outreach
22 23
ESA prepared an EIR evaluating the Richmond Terminal
One Project that would convert a vacant, former
industrial site on Richmond’s waterfront. The 14-acre
site will be developed with up to 340 homes, as well
as a two-acre park and a Bay Trail loop. A full EIR was prepared to address all CEQA topics, and particular
effort involved assisting the City with the analysis of the potential aesthetic effects of the new development on
existing significant views, and closely evaluating effects related to cleanup of hazardous materials, sea level rise and flooding, and land use and planning consistency.
A key challenge of this project was its aim for an
aggressive schedule, although the project description
continued to evolve well after public scoping and ESA’s initiation of work. The City published the Draft EIR for public review and comment in March 2016.
Recommendations/Outcomes: In order to address
impacts related to sea level rise at the project site,
ESA recommended the inclusion of a project measure
requiring long-term monitoring and adaptation,
including financing of adaptation features, which was
adopted by the City in the Draft EIR. Additionally,
Richmond Terminal One
Richmond, California
in response to comments received on the Draft EIR,
ESA recommended the preparation of a qualitative
analysis of both wind and shadow impacts that could
result from the construction of the project buildings,
which was prepared and presented in the Response to
Comments document. Outcomes for both the sea level
rise measures and the wind and shadow analyses are
pending.
Client City of Richmond
Size 14 acres
Duration 2014 – 2018
Services Environmental review (CEQA and NEPA), Resource agen cy consultation, Issue-specific planning ,
su rveys and data collection
The derelict Terminal 4 Wharf site is made up of over
2,500 concrete and creosote-contaminated timber
piles, plus a wharf building, decking, and other
appurtenant structures. The removal project consists
of the preparation of 60% construction documents
and environmental documentation, with a strong
emphasis on habitat preservation and restoration.
Design efforts are being supplemented by an extensive
field data collection including real-time wave data. A
comprehensive geomorphic assessment of conditions
before and after removal was conducted to assess the
potential for shoreline re-alignment, long-term slope
stability, and impact on protected sub-tidal resources
including an extensive eelgrass patch that had
developed in the lee of the terminal.
• ESA prepared the engineering design, construction
approach, CEQA, permitting, and monitoring
and construction documents for the removal of
over 2,500 concrete and creosote-treated timber
piles from the Bay, as well as other derelict wharf,
decking, and other structures.
Richmond Terminal Four Wharf
Removal
Richmond, California
• By removing large amounts of fill, alleviating an
ongoing source of contamination, and preventing
current and future navigational hazards, the City
of Richmond can move closer to re-opening this
section of shoreline to development and public
access use.
Client California State Coastal Conservancy
Size N/A
Duration 2018 - 2021
Services Development of 60% design plans and
sp ecifications, Analysis and modeling, cost
es timates, CEQA documentation, monitoring
pr ogram for post-construction
24 25
Client East Bay Regional Park District
Size 307 acres
Duration 2012 - 2014
Services Opportunities and constraints, Conceptual
De sign, Lagoon and wetland habitat restoration,
Po cket Beach Establishment, Grading Plan,
Ar chitectural Site Plan, Construction Cost Estimate,
Sh oreline Design, Wave modeling, Sea Level Rise
Planning
ESA assisted the East Bay Regional Park District
(EBRPD) with the development of a lagoon
enhancement feasibility study and conceptual design
for Miller Knox Regional Shoreline in Richmond,
California. ESA led the multi-disciplinary consultant
team to evaluate the feasibility of connecting a
perched, artificial lagoon to San Francisco Bay with
a tidal channel that crosses a new sandy beach.
The objectives of the lagoon enhancement project
include enhancing existing open water and wetland
habitats, improving water quality, and enhancing
the public access experience for park users. For Phase
1 of the project, ESA and its partners developed an
opportunities and constraints analysis and a suite
of conceptual design approaches that focused on
achieving the project objectives while minimizing future maintenance obligations for EBRPD. For Phase 2, the
ESA team developed a conceptual design of lagoon and
Miller Knox Shoreline Enhancement
Richmond, California
beach improvements, which represent a major overhaul
of the existing park from a static experience based on
pump operations to a dynamic experience where the
lagoon is connected to the Bay tides.
ESA provided planning, coastal engineering, design
engineering, and regulatory compliance services to
the Port of San Francisco to help ensure the long-
term viability and ecological productivity of a popular recreational and open space area within the Port’s
Southern Waterfront. Prior to project implementation,
the site experienced substantial erosion along its
southern shoreline from storm-driven wind-waves and
tidal flows. This resulted in loss of both wetland acreage and habitat function along approximately 1,600 linear
feet of shoreline.
To address concerns about ongoing habitat loss, ESA
assisted the Port in stabilizing the eroding shoreline
using a “living shoreline,” natural systems approach.
The project, implemented in 2022, constructed a coarse
sand/gravel beach, including stabilizing low rock groins enhanced with oyster reef structures, along the shore
of the Park to mimic natural coarse beaches found
along the shore-facing edge of marshes elsewhere in
San Francisco Bay. The project is expected to provide
shoreline protection and ecological benefits over an
Heron's Head Park Shoreline
Resilience Project
San Francisco, California
approximately 30-year project design life. ESA provided permitting support through the Bay Area Regional
Regulatory Integration Team (BRRIT) process and
support for successful grant funding from the San
Francisco Bay Restoration Authority.
Client Port of San Francisco
Size 21 acres
Duration 2019 - ongoing
Services Coastal Engineering, Design Engineering,
Geomorphic Analyses, Biological Assessment,
Environmental Permitting Support, Beach
Restoration Design, Shoreline and Transitional
Habitat Revegetation
26 27
The SAFER Bay project is seeking coastal flood
protection for more than 7 miles of San Francisco Bay
shoreline in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.
While achieving this goal, the project is striving to
provide sea-level rise adaptation for both human
and tidal wetland communities, to expand recreation
opportunities along the Bay Trail corridor, and to
collaborate with other regional agencies working on
coastal flood and wetland habitat management, such
as the South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, and local cities.
ESA assisted the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers
Authority with its successful grant application for the California Department of Water Resources Local Levee
Assistance Program. The grant award is being used to
fund this project’s planning, environmental compliance, and design.
Strategy to Advance Flood
Protection, Ecosystems and
Recreation (SAFER Bay)
Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and Palo Alto,
California
ESA led the coastal hydraulics evaluation that informs
design of the coastal flood protection. In addition,
ESA applied its understanding of estuarine hydrology
and geomorphology to guide the integration of flood
protection goals with tidal wetlands habitat restoration.
This integration of flood protection and habitat offers benefits to both objectives. For example, levees can
be protected from waves and scour with tidal wetland
vegetation, while former salt ponds can be restored to
tidal wetlands only with adequate flood protection.
In its assessment of stormwater and interior drainage,
ESA identified and preserved existing flow pathways, as well as considered alternate adaptation strategies for
this freshwater flow that drains to coastal waters that will be impacted by sea-level rise.
ESA also led the CEQA environmental review of the
project. This included directing and conducting
technical studies to assess potential impacts on cultural resources, greenhouse gas and air quality emission
modeling, construction noise modeling, and biological
resources. These studies will serve as the basis for an ESA-authored Environmental Impact Review (EIR).
Building on Our Expertise
This project builds on conceptual design alternatives
that ESA developed for the Palo Alto Regional Water
Quality Control Plant as part of the Oro Loma Ecotone
Demonstration Project. The Phase I project, completed
in 2020, focused on preliminary design and permitting
strategy development. Phase II will include final design and regulatory coordination. Key design considerations
included: integrating the horizontal levee plan with
larger regional efforts to protect low-lying infrastructure from sea-level rise, evaluating quantity of the imported of fill for levee construction, identifying a strategy
for obtaining construction permits, incorporating
public access, and advancing the state of the art for
treatment effectiveness.
Palo Alto Horizontal Levee
Palo Alto, California
ESA evaluated conceptual design alternatives for the
design of a horizontal levee in connection with the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (RWQCP)
and the Novato Sanitary District as part of an earlier
project. Both locations shared the goals of creating
habitat for special status species, providing sea-
level rise adaptation through accretion of freshwater
wetland plant biomass, and providing polishing-level
treatment of wastewater prior to discharge to the San
Francisco Bay. The project team leveraged the expertise gained through their successful implementation of
the horizontal levee (ecotone) demonstration project,
located at the Oro Loma Sanitary District WWTP ,
to other potential sites around the perimeter of San
Francisco Bay.
28 29
Project
Understanding
Restoring a Former Army Airfield
The California State Coastal Conservancy and US Army
Corps of Engineers are restoring the Hamilton Army
Airfield and adjacent State Lands Commission property
to tidal and seasonal wetlands. Once part of an
extensive tidal wetlands area in San Francisco Bay, this area of low lying land was diked and then converted
to an airfield in 1930. As part of the base closure it is intended that the 900 acres of land be restored to tidal and seasonal wetlands. The site is deeply subsided –
current elevations are approximately 6 feet below sea
level – and approximately 7 M cubic yards of dredged
material have been placed to raise site elevations
prior to opening the site to the tides. ESA provided the conceptual design and is assisting in preparation of
engineering design drawings.
Restoration Through Sedimentation Modeling
The restoration approach employs a combination of
engineering solutions to address site constraints and
reliance on natural sedimentation and vegetation
Hamilton Airfield Wetland
Restoration
Novato, California
colonization to re-establish tidal wetland functions. ESA completed 2D hydrodynamic and sediment transport
modeling, flood modeling, wave analysis, and other
engineering analyses to support the design. The design
includes a “habitat levee” that relies on gentle slopes and vegetation instead of rock armoring for erosion
control.
Seasonal Wetlands
The primary goal of the seasonal wetlands restoration
is to provide 200 acres of sustainable roosting and
foraging habitat for shorebirds. Being highly sensitive to hydrology and invasion by non-native plants,
seasonal wetlands are complex wetlands to restore.
ESA developed a preliminary design for these wetlands.
Together the seasonal and tidal wetlands will evolve
to provide a complete sustainable habitat mosaic for
coastal wildlife.
30 31
Concept designs for multi-benefit adaptations to sea level rise North Richmond Living Levee & Shoreline Resilience Plan / North Richmond, CA Project
Understanding
Our team’s understanding of the City of Richmond’s
important ambitions for this project revolves around
creating a shared vision, and associated pathways
to implementation that can engender resilience for
Richmond residents from coastal flooding, groundwater
rise, habitat loss and other risks associated with sea
level rise. The project seeks to reflect community-
oriented goals for adaptation, understand
comprehensive vulnerability including contaminated
shoreline sites, and work with natural systems to
the greatest extent possible to achieve protection,
restoration and access simultaneously.
With those crucial (and inspiring) goals for the project, our team offers some nuances to the scope to achieve
those aims in ways that work within the timeframe and
budget, while also front-loading some of the long-term
questions that will drive future implementation, such as phasing, partnerships with other agencies and private
stakeholders, and regional coordination with SB 272.
Our team’s approach that follows is designed to create
a “Richmond Sea Level Rise Adaptation Framework” in
response to the City’s RFP; We propose this as a singular final document that meets the ambitions noted
above, with adaptation pathways, next-step project
prioritization, and individual chapters addressing the
various task deliverables from the RFP . This is designed to accomplish the same goals that the city has set out, but it is distinguished from a “SLR Adaptation Plan” as that language has been deemed by SB 272 in recent
weeks to have particular ramifications.
We believe this “Sea Level Rise Adaptation Framework”
approach will set up the City and Richmond
communities for continued success down the line by:
— Understanding critical near-term risks, and what
localized collaborations between the city, and any
related county, regional or private stakeholders,
may be needed for long-term viability in bringing
adaptation projects to construction.
— Crafting the visualization materials and framing
the range of issues to support a robust community
engagement and participatory co-design process
— Incorporating community feedback to articulate sea-
level rise adaptation strategies that is deeply aligned with residents lived experience and priorities
— Outlining the potential pathways and
implementation gaps, that apply the range of
strategies, setting up clarity in the next grant funding pursuits.
— Aligning with the forthcoming BCDC planning
guidelines, so that the city of Richmond is prepared
to develop (or participate with other partner
agencies in developing) a Subregional Shoreline
Adaptation Plan towards compliance with SB 272.
Task 1 – Project Initiation
We hope to have the opportunity to kickoff this project with the City and arrive at a shared understanding of
the project purpose, goals, schedule, and deliverables.
OPEN WATER
HABITAT SLOPE
LEVEE CORE
SWALE
URBAN
20’ wide
0-150’ wide
10-20’
Accommodate / Modify existing
critical infrastructure and
transportation alignments
Green Stormwater Infrastructure
and other ‘Living’ features back
of Levee Core
Avoid impacts to existing tidal
habitats at the water’s edge
Complement existing habitat
and tidal zones, in preparation
for future sea level rise
Allow for habitat restoration, protection,
and migration
Trail on levee core
Gentler, wider slope creates more
opportunities for transition zone
habitats, while narrower, steeper slope
might be better in some areas to
protect/preserve existing tidal habitats.
Provide walkability and
community amenities,
while framing green
infrastrucutre and sea
level rise protection at
its sides
HABITAT
SLOPE
OUTBOARD
GREEN
INFRASTRUCTURE
INLAND
LEVEE
CORE
Collaborative navigating
to relocate, raise or adapt
existing parcels and
infrastrucutre based on sea
Collaborative planning with
community reduces impact
and increases opportunity
for multi-baenefit solutsion
DRAFT/CONFIDENTIAL
61 NORTH RICHMOND COLLABORATIVE SHORELINE ADAPTATION PLAN / 2023 32 33
The Mithun-ESA team is familiar with the broad
range of prior and ongoing efforts for sea-level rise
vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning.
This team has recently completed the North Richmond
Collaborative Shoreline Plan and is assisting BCDC with the development of guidelines for sub-regional Sea-level Rise Adaptation Plans.
ESA also led the preparation of the City of Richmond’s
Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP). The CAP included
a broad assessment of climate change-related
vulnerabilities, and provided policy recommendations,
including development of a sea-level rise adaptation
plan.
The Mithun-ESA team has built strong working
relationships with the Richmond community, local
and regional agencies, and the scientific community.
Our staff are leaders in the fields of community-based
planning and design, climate resilience, and sea-level
rise adaptation planning and design.
The team has also highlighted data gaps
[contaminants, groundwater, shoreline infrastructure]
that we expect to present themselves within this
project initiation phase. The base scope for this task
includes understanding the information relating to
these and potentially others, however we should also
plan to connect with City staff to confirm approach to
these for the duration of the scope. As mentioned in
the Quals section, the Mithun and ESA team provide
a diverse set of in-house technical services, and our
team has established strong relationships with expert
sub-consultants covering a broad range of additional
technical disciplines. Our team is well suited to support additional data collection and technical analyses or
other additional project needs, including:
— Soil and groundwater quality assessments and
remediation design
— Geo-hydrology, including groundwater monitoring
and analysis
— Marine infrastructure and structural engineering
— Utility and transportation engineering
— Geotechnical engineering
— Grant application strategy, financial analysis and
planning
Deliverables:
— Project schedule
— Project organization chart and contact information
— Discussion of potential data gaps; discussion of
synchronization with Task 2 and separate RFP for
CBO community engagement consultant
Task 2 – Community Engagement
Developing a community-centered vision for SLR
adaptation in Richmond is absolutely essential, and
we would like to do everything within the current
budget to support this core task, recognizing that
extending the engagement to the broader affected
Richmond communities will require the substantial
stand-alone effort the city has identified for a separate RFP for a Community-Based Organization to lead. We
expect and encourage that the scope and schedule
of Community Engagement will be developed in
concert with the Overall Work Plan when that scope
is initiated; and that it will prioritize racial equity and justice in its approach to the project as a whole and
the process itself, incorporating best practices from
the larger planning community, such as the Centering
Communities in Adaptation Planning work of the
BCDC. Defining what that means for this project, the
affected communities and stakeholders and how the
stakeholder group will integrate that into its process will be essential.
We expect within this task, that this is intentionally
discussed early in the project and revisited at key
project milestones with the support of the CBO
facilitator. Our team’s approach is to focus not just on what we are doing but HOW we are doing the work,
in a respectful way that acknowledges history and
encourages open and transparent discussion for future
paths.
Our past experience in Richmond and elsewhere
suggest the following for this parallel scope as
minimum considerations:
— Establish stipends for resident participation in the
conversations and community workshops.
— Bring further awareness and community input by
presenting and hearing residents’ comments by
joining meetings where community members are
already invested, including school family events,
creek and watershed council meetings, local housing
and advisory councils, etc.
— Tribal engagement: At the beginning of the 20th
century, more than 400 sacred shellmound burial
sites dotted the shores of the San Francisco Bay,
and it is documented that some were located within
the project study area. Identifying and recognizing
these sites in partnership with Ohlone tribes is
anticipated as part of the community process. There
is recent precedent for such efforts, including the
Confederated Villages of Lisjan’s partnership with
the City of Richmond for the recent construction of
a public art installation, and in the North Richmond
Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Plan, to identify
opportunities for sites within the project area to
honor the original Indigenous peoples of the East
San Francisco Bay Area, and provide guidance on
conceptual designs for these sites.
— Workforce development planning: CBO to also
support including conversations around Workforce
development planning for the installation, monitoring
and maintenance of proposed adaptations.
That all being said, the current task 2 is under-funded within the current scope to support design and
technical staff to attend the number of meetings
suggested. We want to work with the City of Richmond
and CBO to realize the desired outcomes, so we
suggest identifying whichever 7-8 public meetings (i.e. 3 large community meetings, 2 Planning Commission
meetings, and 2 City Council meetings) will be most
helpful to advancing the core goals of the project.
Deliverables:
— Outreach materials, meeting slides, and other
meeting materials
— Facilitate up to 7-8 public meetings with City staff
and CBO partner
— Draft and final Adaptation Vision (Chapter in the
‘Richmond SLR Adaptation Framework’ Overall
Report), documenting community concerns/goals/
objectives/priorities (in partnership with CBO) and
feedback on draft design options (Task 4)
Recommended Optional Tasks (not included in fee
proposal):
— Additional public meetings
North Richmond Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Plan / North Richmond, CA Iterative co-design process in North Richmond during which a live sketching session with community members 34 35
Task 3 – Confirm Vulnerable Assets
Under Task 3 the Mithun-ESA team will develop an
inventory of vulnerable assets and locations along the
Richmond Shoreline. The team will then conduct an
initial screening to identify which assets and locations appear to have the greatest level of vulnerability, so
that these highly vulnerable assets and locations can be prioritized for near-term adaptation planning efforts.
This assessment will consider vulnerabilities to built
infrastructure as well as impacts to ecological and
cultural resources.
Based on the scope presented in the RFP and the City’s
responses to questions, the Mithun-ESA team proposes
to conduct this task as a desktop-level analysis based
on synthesis of prior studies and available LiDAR and
GIS datasets. The project team proposes to coordinate
this desktop analysis with the outreach to community
members proposed under Task 2 in order to confirm
the findings of the desktop analysis and to gather
additional context for conditions along the shoreline.
During the course of this analysis the project team will also identify critical data gaps and assist the City with additional field data collection and technical studies if needed.
Initial Desktop-Level Vulnerability Analysis
The Mithun-ESA team will conduct a desktop-level sea-
level rise vulnerability analysis. This task will build on the climate vulnerability analysis presented in the Richmond CAP , and will also incorporate results from the latest region-wide analysis of coastal flooding and sea level
rise vulnerability along the San Francisco Bay shoreline, including FEMA’s coastal flood hazard mapping, BCDC’s
Adapting to Rising Tides sea-level rise hazard mapping, State of California Sea-level Rise Guidance, the San
Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas (San Francisco Estuary Institute and SPUR, 2019), the Estuary Blueprint (SFEP), and the San Francisco Baylands Habitat Goals.
The ESA team is intimately familiar with the CAP , and
has extensive experience incorporating the results
and recommendations from these other region-wide
sea-level rise vulnerability studies and planning efforts to inform preparation of sub-regional sea-level rise
adaptation plans.
Sea-level rise presents numerous challenges to shoreline communities, including:
— Coastal flooding and tidally-influenced fluvial
flooding
— Shoreline habitat conversion and habitat loss
— Shoreline erosion and sediment transport
— Impacts to groundwater (salinity intrusion and
groundwater rise)
— Mobilization of contaminated soils and groundwater
Many of these challenges have been the subject of
prior regional and local studies, and the project team
will review and synthesize the findings from these prior efforts. Members of the Mithun-ESA project team have
deep expertise for several of these topics, including San Francisco Bay shoreline habitat evolution analysis with sea-level rise (see: Evaluating Tidal Marsh Sustainability in the Face of Sea Level Rise: A Hybrid Modeling
Approach Applied to San Francisco Bay), and adjusting
FEMA maps for sea-level rise, including shoreline erosion and other geomorphic changes (See: Relating Future
Coastal Conditions To Existing FEMA Flood Hazard
Maps).
The Mithun-ESA team’s extensive experience working
along the Richmond shoreline will allow for an efficient evaluation of these potential risks and vulnerabilities, and our team has the technical expertise to conduct
more detailed evaluations at a site-specific level if
needed.
Incorporating Community Feedback
While desktop-level analysis can provide a valuable
preliminary overview of potential sea-level rise
vulnerabilities, our team places considerable value
on on-the-ground experience and observations. We
propose to closely coordinate the Task 3 analysis
with the stakeholder outreach conducted under Task
2 to understand how the vulnerabilities identified
in the desktop-level analysis align with community
members’ actual experiences and observations along
the Richmond Shoreline (see suggested schedule &
milestones exhibit). The project team will work with
the City to identify and interview knowledgeable
city, county and local agency staff; select private
land owners; and other community members who
are familiar with the shoreline. The project team will
Apparent flooding pathways along Richmond shoreline areas.
Mithun-ESA diagram over Adapting to Rising Tides data.
36 37
of Richmond RFP; however, as several of these locations seemingly have direct downstream effects on adjacent
areas, we propose to coordinate a level of consideration of these with the City in Task 1.
We would also like to note that, at locations 8,9,10
(Gertrude Ave/ N Richmond Neighborhood, West
County Wastewater/Wildcat Marsh, Richmond
Parkway/ North Parr Blvd, and Parchester Village) the
Mithun-ESA team has already begun understanding
and evaluating the vulnerabilities, and potential
adaptation measures, through the team’s prior
work supporting the North Richmond community
in development of their Collaborative Shoreline
Adaptation Plan. Some scope areas of that preliminary
study covered areas of the City of Richmond including
those vulnerable zones along the Parkway. We would be
able to accelerate the studies in those areas efficiently thanks to our existing base models, maps and initial
adaptation approaches, providing some buffer in the
fee structure to focus on those other vulnerable priority locations 3,4,5 (Marina Way, Marina Bay Pkwy, and
Hoffman Channel at I-580), that have had less detailed
studies to date. Those areas of the shoreline that have risk associated with longer timelines for SLR can be
identified and typological section approaches provided
for consideration but developed to less detailed level
than the conceptual design for the near-term risk
zones.
Through this lens of nearer-term exposure, our team
proposes prioritizing early typological studies of
adaptation options in plan and section drawings to
elucidate a broad range of conceptual approaches,
support next steps in community participation
framework and support next steps in funding pursuits.
Through a rough modeling of the physical footprint of
each potential strategy, we can also determine who the
key stakeholders would need to be in any adaptation
strategy. This information can be crucial guidance on
the assembly of community working groups, allowing
the selected community engagement team to
understand the needed partners (landowners, agencies,
neighborhood councils, etc.) that would likely need to
come together, working shoulder-to-shoulder to weigh
the tradeoffs of discuss in further depth the pathways
of implementing those adaptations.
This approach could suggest a two-part schedule, in
which the Mithun-ESA team prioritizes Task 3 and early
conceptual approaches in Task 4, and those inputs
flow into the community engagement set-up process.
Then, the Mithun-ESA team would return to the Task
4 approaches and develop them further after the
community participation process yielded input on those
early vulnerability zones to further refine and complete the deliverables.
Deliverables:
— Adaptation options:
» Prioritize near-term vulnerabilities for adaptation,
based on risk, current land-use patterns and
geomorphological and spatial constraints, with a
focus on nature-based approaches, typological
considerations, and other community priorities.
» Develop a near and longer-term adaptation
vision and strategy that consolidates community
feedback and city priorities.
» Identify potential near and long-term alignments
for coastal flood protection infrastructure, as well
as phasing potential.
also hold a workshop with a technical advisory group
during this task to incorporate the latest science and
adaptation planning guidance.
This feedback from local landowners, government
and agency staff, residents, and technical advisors will provide a critical “reality check”, allowing our team
to confirm or revise the findings of the initial desktop vulnerability analysis, to help identify and resolve
errors or omissions in the available datasets used
in the analysis, and to provide greater context and
understanding for how vulnerable locations are used
and managed, and how potential adaptation measures
might impact or benefit these uses.
The Mithun-ESA successfully applied this approach in
the development of the North Richmond Collaborative
Shoreline Plan, and our team is excited at the
opportunity to build on the findings, partnerships, and experiences from that project to expand sea-level rise
vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning
along the full City of Richmond shoreline.
Outcomes
The key result of this task will be the development of a well-calibrated understanding of how sea-level rise will impact the Richmond community that can be used to
prioritize development of adaptation responses. These
findings will be presented as text and graphics in the
“Vulnerability Assessment” chapter of the Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan.
This task will also include the identification of data gaps and uncertainties, and recommendations for additional
future data collection and analysis to address these
gaps and uncertainties.
Deliverables:
— Draft and Final Sea Level Rise Vulnerability
Assessment (Chapter in the ‘Richmond SLR
Adaptation Framework’ Overall Report) including:
» Maps and discussion of exposures and assets at
risk from sea-level rise impacts
» Data layers used to map vulnerability that will be
made publicly available.
Optional Additional Tasks (not included in fee
proposal):
— Detailed assessments of priority locations
» Topographic and bathymetric surveys
» Ecological surveys and mapping
» Soil and groundwater contamination testing and
analysis
» Additional utility and infrastructure mapping
» Hydraulic modeling for creeks and stormwater
systems
Task 4 – Adaptation Responses
In Task 4 the Mithun-ESA team will identify a collection of potential adaptation responses to address
anticipated SPR impacts along the Richmond shoreline.
The team will prioritize the development of nature-
based approaches wherever possible, but measures
will be identified based on location-specific conditions, and the team will also consider “grey infrastructure”
approaches where appropriate.
Our team proposes that Task 4 efforts focus on several
specific priority locations within the study area that
appear to have the greatest near-term vulnerability
as well as threats to critical infrastructure. The specific number and extents of these priority locations will be
discussed during Task 1 and 2 and verified during Task
3. Our team has reviewed the CAP and prior regional
SLR mapping (Adapting to Rising Tides), and our initial understanding is that there are likely to be 8 to 10
priority locations along the shoreline that will be most vulnerable to SLR impacts. In order to most effectively make use of available resources, these priority locations will be confirmed under Task 3, and will become the
focus for planning and analysis of SLR adaptation
responses under this task. The remaining, less
vulnerable segments of the shoreline will be addressed
in a more general way.
These anticipated priority locations include the
Richmond inner harbor shoreline, and at three locations near the Richmond Parkway moving north (see figure).
As indicated by the figure, priority locations 1-2 and 6-7 emerge from the Richmond Port and Chevron vicinities
which are excluded from the Project Scope per the City
Typological approaches for
adaptation in Bay Area habitats
Resilient by Design / San Francisco
Bay Area, CA
38 39
Mithun has worked with numerous clients
on multiple objective decision-making
tools to tailor them to the specific project,
agency and community concerns and
interests. Mithun used this values-based
evaluation criteria tool, established by the
City of Vancouver, BC, to assess a range of
scenarios for Sea2City.
FLOOD CONTROL
SEATWALL
BLUE-GREEN
CORRIDOR
BEACH +
HABITAT BENCH
UPLAND
DEVELOPMENT
FLOODPROOF
BUILDINGS
SALT MARSH
WETLAND
» Cross Section and plan enlargements for each of
6-7 priority locations (outside of excluded scope
areas)
— Identification of stakeholders in each of the near-
term vulnerability zones, to support organization of
community working groups or co-design groups
— Sync with community engagement process and
public meetings (Task 2) to provide opportunity for
feedback on draft options
— Draft and final adaptation alternatives (chapter in
the ‘Richmond SLR Adaptation Framework’ overall
report)
Optional Additional Tasks (not included in fee
proposal):
— Development of 3rd option (besides no action and 2x
resolved near & longer-term options)
— Evaluation criteria and evaluation results.
Task 5 - Implementation Approach
Working Towards Real-World Projects
In our team’s SLR adaptation experience, working at
both planning and design for implementation phases,
the importance of a phased approach is crucial. The
benefits of phasing are multi-fold:
The early phases can serve as a model of ‘co-learning’
with community members, stakeholders and agency
partners. Early phases can support both physical
resilience to SLR in highest risk areas, as well as build community capacity for supporting adaptation
decision-making now and into the future.
Regional SLR adaptation will be implemented through
a sequence of separate projects coordinated multiple
land owners, lead agencies, and jurisdictions. It is
inevitable that different project leads will have different timelines for implementing adaptation measures on
their properties. A phased approach anticipates this
and allows for coordination and knowledge transfer
across projects.
It is essential to acknowledge the excluded scope areas at Chevron Refinery and Port of Richmond, particularly
in their significant role in downstream flooding
potentials, and what ramifications for implementation
this may have.
Phasing provides clarity and focus in further
fundraising; as adaptation strategies identified in task 4 advance towards implementation, the phasing can
provide a focus to understand the scope of permit
requests and implied construction processes.
Focus on Near-Term Vulnerabilities
As mentioned in Task 4, we have also learned the
importance of identifying Near-Term priorities and
projects in doing this work. This must be synchronized
with the schedule of community engagement, so
that there can be named goals and objectives, and
meaningful feedback on adaptation options identified
by the design team in the process.
Our team’s approach would be to develop an
‘Implementation Approach’ chapter as part of the
overall Richmond SLR Adaptation Framework, that
describes the next steps for the vulnerable zones of
shoreline, based on the phasing developed in Task 4.
Some areas’ next steps will focus on grant funding
pursuits, while others may focus on governance or land
use and zoning implications, depending on the time
horizons for implementation.
An addition to the Implementation Approach chapter,
our team suggests prioritizing conveying any next steps that can move the City towards participation and
compliance with the requirements for subregional plans
that are forthcoming from the Bay Conservation and
Development Commission (BCDC). The Mithun-ESA
team is also supporting the BCDC in developing the
subregional planning guidelines that SB 272 requires
local municipalities to apply to their plans. Our team
will apply our background from that regional work
to the next steps in the implementation approach &
recommendations.
Deliverables:
— Draft and final implementation approach &
recommendations (chapter in the ‘Richmond SLR
Adaptation Framework’ overall report)
Task 6 – Sea Level Rise Adaptation
Framework
There is an art to crafting all aspects of this scope of work into a clear, accessible, and visionary document
that this RFP sets out to create. We hope to have the
opportunity to help the City of Richmond to create
this kind of document to serve as a key reference
and roadmap for transformational adaptation of its
shoreline areas going forward.
Deliverables:
— Draft and final ‘Richmond SLR Adaptation
Framework’ overall report
Task 7 – Project Management
Our team understands the critical importance of
delivering a project on time and within budget,
particularly projects focused on complexities for future work like SLR adaptation planning, with its potentially varied funding sources, wide range of stakeholders
and ambitious goals. Our team will anticipate and
address challenges through a consistent flow of
communication, building on our experience managing
complex adaptation projects, and our previous work
around Richmond.
We meet key project goals by establishing clear
and transparent communication from day one and
40 41
preparing a work plan that includes buy-in from all
parties engaged in the project. Graham Prentice from
Mithun will serve as day-to-day primary contact for
the city. He will meet weekly with Eddie Divita (Project Manager at ESA) to ensure focus on schedule, workflow,
weekly priorities and budget check-ins. At critical
milestones the Mithun+ESA team will meet with the
city’s Project Management Team and the larger group
of stakeholders to ensure expectations are being met,
and if any adjustments are required for next-level
effort. These project milestone meetings would occur
at the conclusion of identified project tasks, and are in addition to regular bi-weekly connections with the city Project Manager.
*Please see Proposed Schedule Exhibit for a suggested
format to meet project goals, milestones within a
12-Month timeframe. This is a provisional schedule
meant to suggest potential intervals to meet project
needs and requirements, and will be subject to
discussion and confirmation with City staff as part
of Task 1 – Project Initiation. The Mithun-ESA team
is particularly keen to work with the City and the
onboarding of a CBO consultant for the community
engagement scope to meet project goals; as discussed
in Task 2 narrative, we view synchronizing this schedule to be of central importance to the success of this
project.
This approach could suggest a two-part schedule, in
which the Mithun-ESA team prioritizes Task 1 and 3
and early conceptual approaches in Task 4, and those
inputs flow into the community engagement set-up
process. Then, the Mithun-ESA team would return to the
Task 4 approaches and develop them further after the
community participation process yielded input on those
early vulnerability zones to further refine and complete the deliverables, in order to achieve the Task 5 and 6
that best reflect intent and participation towards next steps.
Deliverables:
— Project management activities as described,
including:
» Invoicing & progress reporting
» Budget management
» Maintaining project schedule & milestones
Recommended Optional Tasks (not included in fee
proposal):
— Grant application support; grant-writing
Project
Schedule
North Richmond Collaborative Shoreline Adaptation Plan / North Richmond, CA
TASK 1 Project Initiation
> Schedule confirmation, project directory, team kickoff; review of existing resources, local/regional & SLR guidance Task 2 Community Engagement and Outreach Support
> Assume support for community process throughout the schedule to be coordinated with Community Engagement consultant
> Craft technical and design outreach materials, and visualizations > Present approaches at up to 7 public meetings
> Support consultant CBO in developing Community Vision Document > Develop approaches, with the engagement consultant, to work in partnership with historically excluded and marginalized communities TASK 3 Confirm Vulnerable Assets
> Identify assets vulnerable to sea level rise and shallow groundwater rise, groundwater intrusion, erosion, and fluvial flooding (using best avail data) > Draft and final Sea Level Rise Shoreline Vulnerability Assessment; (incl.advisory feedback) > Develop a digital elevation model using available quality Level 0 LiDAR; GIS layers made available to public
Task 4 Adaptation Responses
4a. Identify Adaptation Strategies
4b. Develop Alternatives and Criteria
4c. Final Near and Long-term Adaptation Frameworks
Task 5 Implementation Approach
> Phasing strategies
> Identify ownership and key interested parties
> Identify funding sources and governance gaps
> Possible integration into adjacent projects
> Optional: ROM cost estimates
Task 6 Sea Level Rise Adaptation Framework
> Detail overall findings, recommendations and adaptation priorities > Prepare a draft Adaptation Framework for initial review by City staff > Prepare a second draft incorporating feedback for public review > Prepare a final draft and presentation to the City Council Task 7 Project Management Support
> Lead monthly project coordination meetings, Invoices, progress reports, budget management, agendas & notes from meetings and other activities
OCT NOV
Updated Schedule & Team Directory
Draft
Implementation
Approach
Final
Implementation
Approach
Final
SLR Adaptation
Framework
Draft
SLR Adaptation
Framework
Finalize Vulnerability
Analysis
Adaptation
Alternatives
Monthly reports & invoices
Initial Project Phase & Analysis
~2-3 months
Suggested break (if needed)
while CBO consultant
scope is initiated and
public outreach & meeting
schedule is determined
Main Project design &
feedback phase, iteration,
and reporting
~6-7 months
Finalized
graphic
deliverables
Note: Assumption of 12 month schedule to be coordinated based on actual start date and coordination with Community Engagement schedule.
DEC JANJAN FEB MARCHFEB. MARCH JUNEAPRIL APRILJULYMAY AUG SEPT 2024 2025
PROPOSED PROJECT TIMELINE
10'
8'
6'
4'
2'
RANGE OF SEA LEVEL RISE PREDICTIONS
2023RICHMOND SEA LEVEL RISE
ADAPTATION PLAN ~12 MONTHS
2050
2100
Draft
Vulnerability
Analysis
Preliminary
Options Study
GIS Layers Available
Draft
Analysis for
Community
Feedback
Draft Options
for Community
Feedback
Sync Deliverables
and Schedule with
CBO partner (TBD)
Community Meetings
with CBO partner
(Schedule TBD)
Goals &
Objectives
45 Healthy Home:
sea level rise mapped with vulnerable community indicators including health, income, diversity, access to livelihoods Agile Home:
sea level rise mapped with historic and current bayland ecology, conservation areas, and critical habitat designations
Prosperous Home:
sea level rise mapped with displacement risk and gentrification risk for both low income and medium-high income communities Home Team Priorities
overlay mapping analysis showing vulnerable communities, infrastructure, transit investment areas, and critical ecological zones to determine sites
Mithun team's use of GIS to conduct regional planning analysis during Resilient By Design / San Francisco Bay Area, California References &
Cost Proposal
46 47
References
Andrew Clough
General Manager
West County Wastewater
[email protected]
510-222-6700
Reference for Mithun and ESA - North Richmond Living
Levee
John Gioia
District One Supervisor, Contra Costa County
BCDC Board Member
[email protected]
(510) 231-8686
Reference for Mithun - Resilient By Design & North
Richmond Living Levee
Juliana Gonzalez
Executive Director
The Watershed Project
[email protected]
(510) 224-4085
Reference for Mithun - North Richmond Living Levee
and Resilient by Design
Princess Robinson
Cooperation Richmond
[email protected]
Reference for Mithun - Resilient by Design, Wildcat
Creek and Tiny Home Eco Village in North Richmond
Dulce Galicia
Richmond LAND
[email protected]
Reference for Mithun - Richmond OurLand, North
Richmond Living Levee and Collaborative Shoreline
Adaptation Plan, and North Richmond Quality of Life Plan Leslie Lacko
Senior Planner
Marin County
[email protected]
(415) 473-4333
Reference for ESA - Tomales Bay Living Shoreline
Jason Warner
General Manager
Oro Loma Sanitary District
(510) 276 4700
[email protected]
Reference for ESA - Oro Loma Horizontal Levee
Demonstration Project
Heidi Nutters
Program Manager
San Francisco Estuary Partnership
(415) 778 6686
[email protected]
Reference for ESA - Palo Alto Horizontal Levee
Jacqueline Zipkin
PE, General Manager
East Bay Dischargers Authority
(510) 278 5910
[email protected]
Reference for ESA - First Mile Horizontal Levee
Proposed
Fee
PROPOSED FEE
Richmond Sea Level Rise Framework
Task 1 Project Initiation
Task 2 Community Engagement
and Outreach Support
Task 3 Confirm Vulnerable Assets
Task 4 Adaptation Responses
Task 5 Implementation Approach
Task 6 Sea Level Rise Adaptation Framework
Task 7 Project Management
Consultant Subtotals
Allowance for additional input on governance,
funding, specialty engineering as noted in
Project Understanding section
$11,375
$19,750
$1,875
$60,250
$17,750
$16,000
$21,500
$148,500
$3,250
$5,125
$31,875
$25,250
$14,500
$4,000
$2,500
$86,500
$14,625
$24,875
$33,750
$85,500
$32,250
$20,000
$24,000
$235,00
$15,000
Ta sk
Mithun ES A Sub total
Potential Additional Services & Estimated Costs
Task 1
Grant application support and grant writing
$8,000-$12,000
Task 2
Additional public meetings beyond eight (8) identified in scope $18,000 for six (6) add'l meetings
Task 3
Detailed assessments of priority locations
Topographic/bathymetric surveys
Soil and groundwater contamination testing and analysis Utility and infrastructure mapping
Hydraulic modeling for creeks and stormwater systems
$30,000-$50,000 pending any
additional scope discussions
Task 4
Development of an additional adaptation option, besides those described in the scope of work
$20,000
TOTAL $2 50,000
48 49
The Mithun+One team worked with the City of Vancouver, a community advisory group and youth to create a vision of the waterfront that makes space for natural abundance while reconnecting relationships with the dynamics of land and water. Two pilot projects integrate flood protection measures, habitat creation and traditional knowledge.
Sea2City / Vancouver, BC
Appendix:
Resumes
50 51
Tim
Mollette-
Parks
Education
University of California, Berkeley, College of
Environmental Design MLA
Eastern Kentucky University, BA, Journalism
Professional Affiliations and Activities
City of Oakland Landmarks Preservation
Advisory Board, 2018-present / American
Society of Landscape Architects / University
of California Berkeley, Adjunct Instructor,
2011–2015 / Landscape Architecture
Foundation, Olmsted Scholar Steering
Committee, 2017–2019 / Land Art Generator
Initiative, Board of Directors, 2017-present
BCDC Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan
/ San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Project manager for community-centered
process for developing resilience goals
and planning guidelines for regionally
coordinated sea level rise adaptation in
support of the Bay Conservation and
Development Commission (BCDC).
Resilient by Design /
San Francisco Bay, CA
Lead designer for one of ten international
teams selected to explore multi-benefit
designs that leverage investments in sea
level rise adaptations to build health,
wealth and home ownership for residents.
Mithun worked with the North Richmond
Community Advisory Board to develop
projects including green infrastructure for
sea level rise protection, new models for
affordable housing, trail connections, and
urban tree canopy for filtering air and water.
North Richmond Living Levee & Shoreline
Resilience Plan / North Richmond, CA
Project manager and designer for multi-
disciplinary team studying range of sea
level rise adaptation strategies along a 5
mile stretch of San Pablo Bay. Focus is on
multi-benefit solutions developed with local
wastewater treatment district and through
an equity focused community engagement
process
Long Wharf Harbor District /
New Haven, CT
Landscape architect lead for master
planning of a new mixed use private
development along the New Haven
waterfront, a coastal bay site experiencing
sea level rise.
Sea2City / Vancouver, BC
The Sea2City design challenge builds
on the City’s climate resilience plan to
generate ideas and discussion for nature-
based adaptations to False Creek that are
community-led, equitable and systems
based. Working in the context of Canada’s
Truth and Reconciliation Act, the design
team is actively decolonizing design
practices and reflecting on ways to adapt
the process at each milestone of the work.
Wildcat Creek Trailway and Fish Passage /
North Richmond, CA
Project manager for the regeneration of
riparian and salmonid habitat as well as
provisioning of critical public access and
amenities along North Richmond’s only
natural open space. This multi-benefit
project is the result of years of partnership
and visioning with community advocates in
a highly disinvested area.
Mithun
Partner
ASLA
Role: Partner in Charge
Representative Projects
Tim brings extensive experience delivering landscape
projects of high design quality in both urban and naturalized conditions. Tim’s resume focuses on work conceptually driven, yet clear and flexible enough to endure a community’s
changing demands. These design strategies emanate from
a careful understanding of the local cultural, ecological and programmatic context. Tim has led site design for market- rate housing, affordable housing, and innovative workplace campus projects throughout California. He was also lead designer for the Resilient by Design project, exploring multi- benefit solutions for climate change adaptation in the North Richmond neighborhood in the Bay Area.
Graham
Laird
Prentice
Graham’s design work focuses on infrastructural
transformation, ecological regeneration, and frameworks for social equity. He has over 13 years experience in planning and design initiatives to bring about more inclusive and healthy environments, neighborhoods, cities, and regions. Though focused in the San Francisco Bay Area, project experience is grounded on work in Richmond and in complex, multi-scalar thinking in contexts ranging from across the US, to Mexico, Israel/Palestine and India. Past work includes a regional proposal for sea level rise and storm surge adaptation for the lower Chesapeake Bay / Hampton Roads with the US Army Corps
of Engineers, re-imagining Philadelphia’s urban watershed Fairmount Park for the 21st century, and an infrastructural toolkit for communities impacted by industrial pollution, based on a study of the Port of Oakland, California.
Education
University of Pennsylvania, MLA
University of Pennsylvania, BA,
Environmental Science, Political Economy
BCDC Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan
/ San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Project designer for community-centered
process for developing resilience goals
and planning guidelines for regionally
coordinated sea level rise adaptation in
support of the Bay Conservation and
Development Commission (BCDC).
North Richmond Living Levee & Shoreline
Resilience Plan / North Richmond, CA
Project designer for multi-disciplinary team
studying range of sea level rise adaptation
strategies along a 5 mile stretch of San
Pablo Bay. Focus is on multi-benefit
solutions developed with local wastewater
treatment district and through an equity
focused community engagement process.
Resilient by Design /
San Francisco Bay, CA
One of ten international teams selected
to explore multi-benefit designs that turn
investments in sea level rise adaptations
into opportunities to build health, wealth
and home ownership for residents. The
Mithun Home Team worked with the North
Richmond Community Advisory Board
to develop four projects including green
infrastructure for sea level rise protection,
new models for affordable housing, trail
connections for shoreline access, and an
urban tree canopy for filtering air and water.
Wildcat Creek Trailway and Fish Passage /
North Richmond, CA
Project designer for the regeneration of
riparian and salmonid habitat as well as
provisioning of critical public access and
amenities along North Richmond’s only
natural open space. This multi-benefit
project is the result of years of partnership
and visioning with community advocates in
a highly disinvested area.
Richmond Our Power Coalition /
Richmond, CA
Project manager for visualization services
for four renderings; one each for the
projects being conceptualized by the
ROPC and its member organizations,
working towards intersectional social and
environmental justice in Richmond.
Representative Projects
Mithun
Senior Associate
Role: Project Manager, Day-to-Day
Contact
*Completed with a previous firm
52 5352 53
Mariel's design approach works to reveal and illuminate the cultural and ecological conditions that give places meaning.
As a keen observer of people and patterns, she comes to each project with curiosity and strives to create moments of delight and discovery. Her collaborative style and attention to detail help push projects from concept through construction, creating memorable, high performance landscapes no matter the scale.
With a background in environmental health, she has a deep understanding of the way our surroundings impact our daily lives, and the capacity for smart design to promote equity, health, and resilience.
Education
University of California, Berkeley, MLA
University of Michigan, BA, Environment and
Public Health
Registration
Landscape Architect: WA
Professional Affiliations and Activities
American Society of Landscape Architects
(ASLA)
Bay Area Challenge: Resilient by Design /
San Francisco Bay, CA
Landscape designer for one of ten
international teams selected to explore
multi-benefit designs that address
infrastructure updates for sea level rise
resilience and social equity.
North Richmond Quality of Life Plan /
North Richmond (Contra Costa
County), CA
Designer, worked with Healthy Richmond
(a coalition of community organizations,
resident leaders and advocates ) to create
a community visioning document outlining
strategies that will serve as a roadmap for
development meant to build lasting health
equity in the areas of community safety,
youth and education, housing, and business
opportunity.
The Emerson Collective /
East Palo Alto, CA
Landscape designer for 260 units of
affordable housing along with ground-floor
amenity and retail spaces. Site approach
includes trails and buffer spaces, designed
for ecotone slope levees to provide marsh
migration with rising sea levels.
Moss Street Alley Green Infrastructure /
San Francisco, CA
Landscape architect for the transformation
of a street alley into a public pedestrian
space and stormwater demonstration
project in the SOMA neighborhood of San
Francisco. Project engages with the SF Parks
Alliance and includes public art.
India Basin Waterfront / San
Francisco, CA
Landscape/urban designer for a 15-acre
publicly-accessible living shoreline and
open space that preserves and protects
the ecology and character of one of the
last undeveloped waterfront parcels in
San Francisco. This project also includes
habitat driven shoreline-to-ridgeline
design guidelines for the open space and
adjacent mixed-use urban village. The
overall project consists 1,575 residential
units, approximately 200,000 square feet of
commercial space, and approximately 15.5
acres of publicly accessible open space.
Representative Projects
Mariel
Steiner
Mithun
Senior Associate
ASLA
Role: Landscape and Urban
Designer
Katie
Stege
Resilient by Design /
San Francisco Bay, CA
Designer and project manager. One
of ten international teams selected to
explore multi-benefit designs that turn
investments in sea level rise adaptations
into opportunities to build health, wealth
and home ownership for residents. The
Mithun Home Team worked with the North
Richmond Community Advisory Board
to develop four projects including green
infrastructure for sea level rise protection,
new models for affordable housing, trail
connections for shoreline access, and an
urban tree canopy for filtering air and water.
BCDC Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan
/ San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Project designer and GIS manager
for community-centered process for
developing resilience goals and planning
guidelines for regionally coordinated
sea level rise adaptation in support of
the Bay Conservation and Development
Commission (BCDC).
North Richmond Living Levee & Shoreline
Resilience Plan / North Richmond, CA
Project designer for multi-disciplinary team
studying range of sea level rise adaptation
strategies along a 5 mile stretch of San
Pablo Bay. Focus is on multi-benefit
solutions developed with local wastewater
treatment district and through an equity
focused community engagement process.
Metro Parks Tacoma Ruston Way
Community Vision and Implementation
Program / Tacoma, WA
GIS mapping, data analytics and
community engagement in support of a
Framework Plan to help inform and prioritize
future planning, design and construction
of infrastructure improvements along
a waterfront, roadway, rail, park and
development corridor to increase
community resilience to sea level rise.
DHA Sun Valley Healthy Living Initiative /
Denver, CO
Researcher and designer for Health Impact
Assessment to establish a health baseline,
and prioritize specific project and program
strategies to improve health and wellbeing
of Sun Valley residents.
Representative Projects
Education
Yale University, MArch
Yale University, Master of Environmental
Management
University of Colorado, Boulder, Bachelor of
Environmental Design
Registration
Architect: WA
USGBC LEED Accredited Professional
Professional Affiliations & Activities:
AIA Seattle Committee on Adaptation
& Resilience Co-chair 2020-present /
University of Washington College of Built
Environments Applied Research Consortium
firm liaison / Greenbuild Community &
Affordable Housing Summit Speaker 2018
Katie is an architect and researcher passionate about pursuing interdisciplinary solutions to complex land use challenges.
Katie's dual architectural and environmental background lend a data-driven approach to designs that address rural conservation, outdoor education, and resilient and equitable planning. Katie has supported non-profits like YMCA of Greater Seattle, governmental clients like the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and housing authority clients like Denver Housing Authority in crafting visions for sustainable developments, communicating those visions to stakeholders, and taking steps towards implementing landmark projects. At Mithun, Katie drives internal R+D efforts, supports strategic climate resilience initiatives, and works on conceptual and schematic design at the district, neighborhood, and building scale.
Mithun
Senior Associate
AIA, LEED Green Associate
Role: GIS Lead
54 5554
Jeff
Caton
Jeff has three decades of planning and project management experience, helping clients develop and manage their sustainability and climate change initiatives through strategy development, stakeholder engagement, benchmarking, performance
measurement, and public communications. He has developed climate action plans (CAPs), sustainability master plans, climate adaptation plans, and all aspects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions management. He is particularly adept at assessing environmental and sustainability performance and communicating that performance to stakeholders, as well as aligning sustainability goals with organizational strategy. Jeff led the comprehensive regional climate adaptation planning framework for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), and has developed vulnerability and adaptation plans for the cities of Manhattan Beach, Paramount and Oxnard.
Education
University of Michigan, B.S.,
Environmental Engineering
Registration
Registered Professional Engineer, California,
# 45127
LEED Accredited Professional, US Green
Building Council, 2009
Trained Lead Verifier, AB32 GHG Reporting
Professional Affiliations and Activities
Steering Committee for STAR Community
Rating System
Advisory Committee for SEEC ClearPath tool
development
City of Richmond Climate Action Plan /
Richmond, CA
Project Manager. Jeff led the consulting
team that developed the City of Richmond
CAP, which provides a roadmap for
reducing community-wide GHG emissions
and preparing this coastal city for the
anticipated impacts of climate change on
public health, infrastructure, ecosystems,
and public spaces. Recognizing the city’s
extensive disadvantaged populations, the
CAP builds upon the City’s Health in All
Policies Strategy, providing the vision, goals,
and specific actions that will be needed
to strengthen the connections between
climate protection, community resilience,
public health, local economy, and social
equity.
City of Martinez Climate Action Plan /
Martinez, CA
Senior Technical Advisor. Jeff provided
oversight and quality assurance for the ESA
team that worked with the City of Martinez
to prepare a comprehensive Climate Action
Plan. The Plan includes a plan that identifies
steps that the City can take to adapt to
the effects of a changing climate, including
rising sea level, diminished water supply, and
increased threat of wildfire.
East Bay Regional Parks District - Climate
Change Planning Services / , CA
Project Manager. Jeff led a team that
assisted the District with a climate change
sequestration and adaptation planning
assessment for adaptation strategies,
carbon sequestration contributions, and
future opportunities throughout the
District’s parklands.
Sustainability and Climate Action Plan /
Palo Alto, CA
Adaptation Task Leader. Jeff led the
development of the Palo Alto Climate
Change Adaptation Roadmap, which
examines a broad spectrum of the
community’s climate change vulnerabilities
and prioritizes adaptation responses based
on the risks, needs, and synergies with
related planning efforts. ESA grouped
critical community assets into eleven
functional categories (e.g., water supply)
and assessed their vulnerability to locally
forecasted climate change exposures
including higher temperatures, drought, and
sea level rise.
Representative Projects
ESA
Wetlands and Estuaries Director
PE
Role: ESA Project Manager
Debra
Guenther
As a partner and landscape architect at Mithun, Deb has built a team that brings exceptional quality, critical thinking and award- winning design to projects. She is committed to connecting people with their surroundings and each other. Deb collaborates with public agencies, private entities, non-profit groups and community members to co-create experiences and places that are meaningful parts of everyday life. Clients benefit from her ability to bring together ideas in policy, practice and design. Her focus on high-performance landscape design has evolved into equity-driven collaborations with priority communities and local organizations on coastal adaptation and resilience projects to address climate change.
Education
Michigan State University, BLA
University of Denver, Graduate Studies
Registration
Landscape Architect: CA, ID, LA, OR, SD,
WA, WY
SITES Accredited Professional
USGBC LEED Accredited Professional
Professional Affiliations and Activities
Partnership for Southern Equity National
Advisory Council, April 2022 – present /
Green Stormwater Infrastructure Workforce
Collaborative (including Snohomish, King
and Pierce Counties), March 2020 – April
2022 / Seattle Parks Foundation Board
Member, 2020-present / EcoDistricts, Board
Member, 2015–2022
Resilient by Design and Shoreline
Collaboration Plan /
San Francisco Bay, CA
Deb led one of ten international teams
selected in 2015 to explore multi-benefit
designs that proactively address sea-level
rise in the Bay Area. The Mithun Home Team
worked with North Richmond community
leaders to turn investments in sea-level rise
adaptation into direct benefits to residents
of health, wealth and home ownership
opportunities. Currently working on a
five-mile shoreline collaborative plan, the
partnerships that emerged have supported
a wide range of successful funding and
regulatory initiatives.
Ruston Way Community Vision and
Implementation Program / Tacoma, WA
Design partner for Framework Plan to
help inform and prioritize future planning,
design and construction of infrastructure
improvements along waterfront, roadway,
rail, park and recreation corridor.
Long Wharf District Phase 1 /
New Haven, CT
Lead landscape architect for a sustainable,
mixed-use residential development that
balances density and scale, resiliency, and
cross-generational amenities, while creating
a sense of place for its mixed-income
residents.
Sea2City / Vancouver, BC
Deb leads the Mithun/One Architecture
team in the Sea2City design challenge
advancing nature-based adaptations in the
contaminated waterway of False Creek. The
two pilot projects integrate flood protection
measures, habitat creation and traditional
knowledge. Working in the context of
Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Act, the
design team is actively decolonizing design
practices and reflecting on ways to adapt the
process at each milestone of the work.
Tulalip Bay Vision Plan / Tulalip, WA
Project manager for concept plan that
protects and improves water quality,
reconnects people to the bay with a
waterfront trail, and provides recreational
connections to the rest of the reservation.
Mithun
Partner
FASLA, SITES AP , LEED AP BD+C
Role: Design with Equity Advisor;
Licensed California Landscape
Architect
Representative Projects
56 57
Eddie
Divita
Eddie Divita is an environmental engineer specializing in the analysis of hydrodynamic processes in wetlands and estuarine systems. He conducted both his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on Environmental Fluid Mechanics. His work at ESA includes hydrologic analysis, numerical modeling, geomorphic studies, and engineering design in support of coastal, wetland, and estuarine management and restoration projects in the San Francisco Bay and Delta and along the Pacific Coast.
Education
M.S. in Environmental Engineering,
University of California Berkeley
B.S., Civil Engineering, University of
California, Berkeley
West County Wastewater, North
Richmond Horizontal Levee / Richmond,
CA
Project Director. The purpose of this project
is to develop a nature-based shoreline
resiliency plan for the protection and
enhancement of North Richmond’s Bay
shoreline to sea-level rise. Eddie is providing
senior guidance for the ESA’s deliverables
and ensuring the project’s progression.
ESA is assisting Mithun Architects with
the hydrology, engineering, ecological
enhancements and permitting.
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy,
Bothin Marsh Sea-Level Rise Adaptation
Project / Marin County, CA
Project Manager The Golden Gate National
Parks Conservancy and Marin County
Parks are developing plans to improve the
resilience of habitats and public trails at the
Bothin Marsh Preserve against impacts from
rising sea-levels.
Port of San Francisco, Heron’s Head
Resilient Shoreline Project / San Francisco,
CA
Lead Design Engineer. The project will
construct a gravel beach as natural
infrastructure to protect Heron’s Head
marsh from coastal erosion. Eddie managed
the ESA design team, overseeing ESA’s
coastal and civil engineering work, and
coordinating with the project’s technical
advisory committee and with regulatory
agencies to apply for required permits.
Eddie also assisted with preparation of
grant application materials to fund project
construction, resulting in more than $2.5
Million in grant funding awarded for project
construction. Construction was completed
in 2022.
Contra Costa County Flood Control and
Water Conservation District, Lower Walnut
Creek Restoration / Contra Costa County, CA
Hydrologist, Civil Engineer, Deputy
Project Manager. Eddie is coordinating
the development of conceptual designs,
alternatives analysis and evaluation, and
preparation of construction documents for a
restoration project aimed at improving habitats
and reducing flood risk along Lower Walnut
Creek. This project aims to achieve both habitat
and flood protection benefits through the
strategic re-alignment of existing flood control
levees to re-activate the historic floodplain and
improve habitat connectivity.
Representative Projects
ESA
Design Engineer
Role: ESA Project Engineer
Michelle
Orr
Michelle is a water resources engineer who has led the
planning and design of habitat restoration and nature-based infrastructure projects for coastal lagoon, beach, oyster reef, and tidal wetland systems over the past 25+ years. She is passionate about integrating habitat restoration, flood risk management, public access improvements, and community input to create ecologically valuable and climate resilient landscapes. Michelle has worked in California, Oregon, Washington, Louisiana and Florida, with particular experience in the San Francisco Estuary.
Projects completed under her management and leadership
include 10,000s of acres of estuarine and coastal ecosystem restorations, including the largest wetland restoration on the West Coast.
Education
University of California at Berkeley, M.S.,
Water Resources Engineering
Harvard University, B.A., History of Science,
Magna Cum Laude
Registration
Civil Engineer, California
BCDC Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan
/ San Francisco Bay Area, CA
ESA project lead for community-centered
process for developing resilience goals
and planning guidelines for regionally
coordinated sea-level rise adaptation
in support of the Bay Conservation and
Development Commission (BCDC).
Marin County Community Development
Agency, Stinson Beach Adaptation
Resilience Collaborative /
Stinson Beach CA
Overseeing planning, community outreach,
and coastal engineering for the project,
which is evaluating a range of approaches
to reduce coastal erosion and flooding of
private and public development while also
maintaining ecological and recreational
value of a popular beach.
Marin County Community Development
Agency, Tomales Bay Living Shorelines
Feasibility Project / Marin County, CA
Project director exploring the feasibility of
living shorelines approaches in Tomales Bay.
Site-specific living shorelines approaches
are being developed for the bay, screening
a series of candidate sites, developing
a regulatory roadmap, and developing
conceptual designs.
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy,
Bothin Marsh Sea Level Rise Adaptation /
Marin County, CA
Project director assisting with sea-level
rise resilience planning for the public
trails and is helping to identify potential
opportunities for future trail alignments and
address future flood protection on adjacent
properties. Michelle is overseeing the ESA
design, planning, and geomorphic analysis.
Resilient State Route 37, Metropolitan
Transportation Commission under
contract to TYLI / Marin and Sonoma
Counties, CA
ESA project manager providing natural
resources and stakeholder outreach
expertise to the Ultimate Resilient Design
Alternatives Assessment for Highway
37 within Marin and Sonoma counties
between U.S. 101 and Highway 121. Michelle
previously served on the Environmental
Technical Work Group for the Design
Alternatives Assessment for SR37 in
Sonoma, Napa, and Solano counties.
Representative Projects
ESA
Wetlands and Estuaries Director
PE
Role: ESA Environmental Engineer
58 59
Ethan
Wynacht
Ethan is an urban planner working at entry level on community outreach efforts as well as planning project research, analysis, and writing. Prior to joining ESA, Ethan attended the University of California, Davis, where he earned a BS in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning with an emphasis in Inclusive Policy Development. While at UC Davis he conducted research with Dr.
Gwen Arnold on the environmental and social impacts of fracking.
Ethan also held a board position with the UC Davis MANNRS program, working to promote diversity in the environmental sector through outreach and student support programming. In addition, he acted as a outreach lead with UC Davis Undergraduate Admissions, gaining additional engagement and program
development experience.
Education
BS, Environmental Policy Analysis &
Planning, University of California, Davis
Professional Affiliations and Activities
American Planning Association
City of Richmond, Hilltop Specific Plan /
Richmond, CA
Ethan is supporting the preparation of the
Hilltop Specific Plan as a planner, which
will encompass 143 acres within a defined
Priority Development Area (PDA) that
includes the Hilltop Mall and adjacent
properties. Hilltop is an aging mall that
has declined over the years and is currently
economically underutilized. ESA is leading
a multi-disciplinary team of consultants
that will define a new future for the Mall site
and adjacent properties that enhances the
communities’ prosperity and meets some
of its unmet needs. Ethan’s work includes
supporting the outreach and community
engagement component of the project.
Sacramento Affordable Housing Plan /
Sacramento, CA
Deputy Project Manager. ESA prepared
an Affordable Housing Plan (AHP) for the
Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment
Agency, in collaboration with the City and
County of Sacramento, and Sacramento
Steps Forward. In January of 2023 the City
and County of Sacramento entered into
a legally binding partnership agreement
to address homelessness. Ethan acted as
lead author for the AHP with direction from
the project manager and input from the
contributing partners.
Alameda County Environmental Justice
Element / Alameda, CA
Environmental Technical Analyst. Alameda
County is joining many other jurisdictions
throughout California in addressing
environmental justice (EJ), by preparing an
Environmental Justice chapter or “element”
in the County General Plan. The impacts
of environmental injustice have led to
disproportionate environmental burdens
being placed on low-income families and
BIPOC communities. These burdens, which are
perpetuated by climate change, affect health
outcomes, food access, safety, community
opportunities, and many other integral
aspects of peoples’ lives. Ethan has actively
participated in the creation of outreach
materials, presentation content, and the
facilitation of engagement meetings.
Representative Projects
ESA
Planning
Role: Project Planner
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