Santa Clara Valley Water District
File No.: 22-0211 Agenda Date: 2/15/2022
Item No.: 2.4.
BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:..Title
Update on South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project - Phase I.
RECOMMENDATION:..Recommendation
Receive an Update on South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project - Phase I.
SUMMARY:
The South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project - Phase I (Project) is being undertaken by Valley Water in partnership with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy) and with other stakeholders such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Project looks at restoring tidal marsh and related habitat that was lost due to former salt production activities, providing recreational opportunities and public access along the bay shoreline, and takes into consideration safeguarding against sea level rise over a 50-year period.
Valley Water and the Conservancy are the non-federal sponsors, also referred to as “local study sponsors.” The Project’s study efforts began in 2005 for all of Santa Clara County, which was divided into 11 areas, called Economic Impact Areas (EIA). In September 2010, Valley Water requested that USACE re-evaluate the study scope and conduct the study in phases beginning with the area of highest potential for flood damages and economic impacts. Conducting the study in phases was requested because studying the entire 18 miles was proving to take too long and resulting in study cost overruns. Valley Water’s Board endorsed this new study scope in March 2011, and the study was thereafter refocused to the EIA 11 area located in north San Jose between the Alviso Slough and Coyote Creek.
The Project area consists of five reaches broken up into Reaches 1-3 located between the Alviso Slough and Artesian Slough and Reaches 4-5 located between Artesian Slough and Coyote Creek.
The Project received authorization for design and construction in December 2015 at a cost of $194 million. The Project then received the full federal cost share in July 2018 of a fixed federal fund amount of $124.3 million from the 2018 Bipartisan Budget Act to design and construct the Project.
The Project has since realized significant cost increases. In early 2021, USACE updated the Project costs to $545 million, which nearly tripled the 2015 authorized design and construction cost. Prior to the 2021 Project cost increase, Valley Water’s Fiscal Year 2022-2026 Project budget included planned expenditures for the entire Project, but as a result of the significant project cost increase the majority of planned funding was reallocated to Reaches 1-3 in order to advance construction of the Reaches 1-3 elements. The revised Project cost leaves Reaches 4-5 largely unfunded, posing a Santa Clara Valley Water District Printed on 2/10/2022Page 1 of 2 powered by Legistar™
File No.:22-0211 Agenda Date:2/15/2022
Item No.:2.4.
significant challenge to fully implement the Project by the partners. The partners are exploring ways to lower the cost of construction for Reaches 4-5 and identify additional funding sources.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
While the Project has environmental justice impacts this update has no environmental justice impact.
The project team has conducted significant outreach to the impacted community and engaged with them in educating them on the impacts and benefits of the project.
The Project exists in a known environmental justice area that includes 1,100 structures, 2,500 residents and 3,000 commuters who work and travel through the area each day and includes the community of Alviso, a disadvantaged community. Completion of this Project would have a positive impact on this low-income community by reducing the potential for economic flood damages caused by any coastal flood event. The Project would provide integrated 100-year coastal and fluvial flood protection, as well as resiliency against projected sea level rise. Without this Project, the community of Alviso would remain at risk to flooding that would continue to grow due to impending rising seas.
The community of Alviso sits at 13 feet below sea level and has experienced severe flooding many times, specifically in 1973, 1983, 1998, 2003, 2005 and 2014. A single flood event that would occur today, would result in more than $100 million dollars in structure and content damages to the Alviso community with a 100-year flood event resulting in more than $200 million in structure and content damages. These damage estimates are projected to increase over the next 50 years as seas rise.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with this item.
CEQA:
The recommended action does not constitute a study under CEQA because it does not have a potential for resulting in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: PowerPoint
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:..Manager
Rechelle Blank, 408-630-2615
Santa Clara Valley Water District Printed on 2/10/2022Page 2 of 2 powered by Legistar™
South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project
– Phase I
Attachment 1
PROJECT
PARTNERS
Reach 4/5
Reach 2/3
South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project – Phase 1
PROJECT ELEMENTS
Attachment 1
Reaches 1-3 (all elements)
Design and Construction Costs
• $247.6M (fully funded)
Reaches 1-3 (levee)
Construction Underway
• $129.8M Construction Contract (Valley Water’s share = $58.4M, paid in full) Reaches 4-5 (all elements)
Design and Construction Costs
• $270.4M (partially funded)
*
No funds received for Phase I from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project – Phase 1
PROJECT ELEMENTS
PHASE 1: DESIGN AND
CONSTRUCTION COSTS
(REACHES 1-5)
2015 Authorized Cost: $194M
2021 Updated Cost: $545M
NEXT STEPS
• Eliminate contractor competition for fill and incorporate lessons learned from Reaches 1-3 construction. • Explore ways to lower the cost of construction for Reaches 4-5 and identify additional funding sources. • Look into cost sharing a nd assistance on right-of-way needs for Reaches 4-5. • Need continued support for requesting federal funds and determining funding sources and ways to lower t
he Reaches 4-5 project costs.
Attachment 1
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK