Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan for the San Francisco Bay

The State of California passed legislation requiring the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to develop guidelines to improve the resilience and adaptation of cities and counties along the shoreline of the San Francisco Bay estuary, with a priority on communities and ecological health and a focus on local government planning and actions. BCDC needed support in developing visions and goals; selecting and designing metrics to measure progress on resilience within each municipality and across the region; developing a framework to support local and subregional plan design, and establishing criteria for the State and the region to assess the adequacy of local plans.

ERG served as a member of the design team with Mithun (the prime contractor leading the work) and Environmental Science Associates to develop the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP) for BCDC in a way that is consistent with California state legislation. ERG developed a framework and guidelines for vulnerability assessments, adaptation strategies and pathways, and minimum standards for assets, community engagement, and hazards. The framework focuses on helping jurisdictions reduce risks from hazards and includes guidelines around engagement plans and criteria to be used for planning and prioritizing adaptation and resilience projects and pathways. ERG also provided support for a series of focus groups and community-based meetings to better understand and incorporate local perspectives in developing the RSAP.