Santa Clara County Subregional Shoreline Adaptation Plan

A. Background The County of Santa Clara through the Office of Sustainability and Resilience (OSR) received a grant from the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) to develop the Santa Clara County Subregional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (SCCSAP). The SCCSAP will address sea level rise (SLR) risks across the County's unincorporated areas and six participating cities, aligning with the Bay Conservation and Development Commission's (BCDC) Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP) Guidelines. Together with the County, the participating jurisdictions are the Cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Milpitas, Valley Water, and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Key project outcomes include: 1. Development of a Multi-Jurisdictional RSAP-Compliant Plan: The County will lead efforts to update the vulnerability assessments to meet RSAP Elements B and C, and to prepare RSAP Elements A-G for the County, the four cities that fall within BCDC's jurisdiction, and two cities outside of BCDC purview that are facing coastal hazards. The outcomes of this process will be a subregional shoreline adaptation plan, with annexes for participating jurisdictions that cover Element D-F requirements. 2. Equitable Community Engagement: The project will prioritize meaningful engagement with frontline and vulnerable communities to identify priority adaptation areas and ensure that the benefits of adaptation are distributed equitably. 3. Enhanced Interagency Collaboration: The project will strengthen partnerships between the County, participating cities, and special districts, fostering long-term coordination and shared implementation strategies. 4. Prioritization of Nature-Based Solutions: The SCCSAP will emphasize nature-based adaptation strategies to provide co-benefits for ecosystems and communities. B. Project OSR is seeking a team of Contractors to lead the development of the SCCSAP, help coordinate multiple stakeholders from various sectors, and conduct effective community engagement. The Contractor Team will have two components: 1. Facilitation and technical expertise - Contractor will lead stakeholder facilitation, technical analysis, and development of adaptation strategies. 2. Community engagement - Contractor will be a community-based organization (CBO) who will lead community engagement and work with other local CBOs to reach priority communities for the County and each partner City. This Lead CBO will also facilitate distribution of compensation or stipends for community involvement. OSR reserves the right to award one contract for a Contractor Team that includes both components (completed Tasks 1-6), or to contract separately with the Lead CBO (to perform Task 6). The Contractor Team will be responsible for preparing all RSAP submittals to BCDC and generating the final SCCSAP under the County's project management, and on behalf of participating jurisdictions. They will lead the compilation and development of the Existing Conditions Assessment and Vulnerability Assessment (VA) submissions, consistent with the BCDC RSAP requirements. The development of the Existing Conditions Assessment includes listing and describing plans, studies, and other information that is relevant to addressing and responding to coastal hazards; mapping and describing physical and ecological characteristics of the landscape, as well as existing populations, assets, sectors, services, and land uses, within the project area. The development of the VA includes mapping and describing the exposure of the project area to coastal flood hazards across minimum SLR scenarios in accordance with RSAP minimum standards and preparing a vulnerability assessment for priority areas across minimum categories and assets and summarizing current and future vulnerability. The Contractor Team will leverage the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) Adaptation Atlas, United States Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS)-Groundwater projections, SFEI-Pathways-SPUR groundwater modeling, Valley Water's Groundwater Response to Tides, Seawater Intrusion, and Sea-Level Rise in Santa Clara County, California (2025) report, previously conducted city VAs, and other datasets to prepare the updated VA. Additionally, the Contractor Team will lead the identification and development of coordinated adaptation strategies for the project area based on Operational Landscape Units (OLUs). Following RSAP guidelines, the Contractor Team will help the County and participating jurisdictions work together to develop a local vision and goals for the project area and for the jurisdictions within the project area; utilize RSAP Adaptation Strategy Standards to identify adaptation strategy alternatives for priority areas; evaluate adaptation alternatives to select adaptation strategies; and finally develop conceptual plans and descriptions of selected adaptation strategies and pathways for each OLU included in the project area. Adaptation strategies may include physical and non-physical strategies. The Contractor Team will support jurisdictions in evaluating land use and policy changes necessary to enact adaptation strategies and in developing an implementation plan that identifies next steps and responsible entities for implementing selected adaptation strategies with a focus on nature-based solutions wherever possible. The implementation plan will also include a monitoring program and funding strategy. Additionally, each jurisdiction will develop a priority project list that summarizes key adaptation projects, and their role in advancing these projects. The project will include meaningful community engagement with California Native American tribes and vulnerable communities across the project area's shoreline. There are three OLUs within the project area and at least one CBO representing communities within each OLU will be selected to lead the development and implementation of an equitable community engagement plan. The scope of the community engagement includes identifying community assets and priority areas in the VA, providing input on local vision and goals that align with the One Bay Vision, and providing input on evaluation criteria and draft adaptation strategies, ensuring compliance with the Equity Assessment Standard of the RSAP guidelines. The Contractor Team will work with participating jurisdictions to contribute requested data and information and facilitate the review of draft documents. The Team will also support participating jurisdictions in getting the resulting SCCSAP ready for adoption by their respective governing bodies. C. Project Requirements Task 1: Project Management and Stakeholder Engagement The selected proposing Contractor Team shall: 1. Hold regular check-in meetings with the County team and Lead CBO. 2. Hold monthly meetings with the Core Team, consisting of the Project Team (which includes relevant County staff, representatives from six partner cities, Valley Water, and VTA) and the Consultant Team. 3. Work with Project Team to develop a governance plan to determine the method of city approval for any work that goes into the SCCSAP. 4. Facilitate the review of project materials and deliverables by the Project Team. 5. Lead consultations with BCDC, assisting the County or Project Team to: a. Meet with BCDC at least 3 times during the planning process: during the initiation of the project; before the adaptation strategies are developed; and before local adoption, prior to the entire RSAP being drafted. b. Submit a Notice of Intent to begin the project to BCDC prior to initiation of the project. 6. Convene and facilitate a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of additional organizations with sea level rise expertise, impacted groups, CBOs, California Native American Tribes, and other stakeholders to advise the Project Team and inform the development of SCCSAP. 7. Prepare draft submittal documents for RSAP Element A, subject to the Equity Standard, for BCDC review, in collaboration with the Project Team. Task 2: Existing Conditions Analysis The selected proposing Contractor Team shall: 1. Collect and analyze existing data relevant to the shoreline, sea level rise, land use, infrastructure, and at-risk communities across participating jurisdictions. 2. Map and describe the physical and ecological characteristics of the project area, as well as existing populations, assets, sectors, services, and land uses, as informed by community engagement workshops. Existing data and maps will be leveraged as much as possible. These maps and descriptions will align with the RSAP's Minimum Categories and Assets Standard and the Equity Assessment Standard. 3. Prepare draft submittal documents for RSAP Element B, in collaboration with the Project Team. Task 3: Multi-jurisdictional Vulnerability Assessment (VA) The selected proposing Contractor Team shall: 1. Conduct a literature review of existing vulnerability assessments to identify analysis, data gaps, and redundancies. 2. Conduct all necessary vulnerability assessment analyses outlined by the RSAP guidelines to fill gaps identified in the literature review. 3. Conduct an analysis of the economic consequences associated with identified vulnerabilities for each partner city and the County. 4. Work with Lead CBO to incorporate input from community engagement related to the VA. 5. Prepare draft submittal documents for RSAP Element C, in collaboration with the Project Team. Task 4: Proposed Adaptation Strategies and Pathways The selected proposing Contractor Team shall: 1. Work with Project Team, the TAG, and Lead CBO to identify a list of potential adaptation strategies - including physical and non-physical strategies - to reduce flood risk at the 0.8 ft (2050) scenario and 3.1 ft (2100) scenario per OLU, as informed by the local vision and goals per OLU developed from community workshops feedback. The list of solutions should incorporate existing solutions and projects already underway. 2. Work with Project Team, the TAG, and Lead CBO to develop evaluation criteria to determine selected adaptation strategies based on TAG team technical expertise, previous adaptation strategy research, and community feedback synthesized from the OLU-specific engagement workshops. Criteria to score potential adaptation strategies and pathways should pay special attention to the tradeoffs and potential unintended negative consequences to vulnerable communities and should prioritize nature-based solutions and green or gray-green infrastructure approaches. 3. Work with Project Team, the TAG, and Lead CBO to evaluate adaptation alternatives and select adaptation strategies for each OLU and Project Team jurisdiction. Provide conceptual plans and descriptions of selected strategies to include in RSAP Element D. 4. Facilitate discussions with Project Team and other relevant stakeholders to develop a land use and policy analysis identifying proposed land use and policy changes for participating jurisdictions necessary to enact the proposed adaptation strategies. The analysis should consider concerns and challenges experienced by vulnerable communities, as outlined by the Equity Assessment Standards, and culminating in a working draft of RSAP Element E. 5. Prepare draft submittal documents for RSAP Elements D and E, in collaboration with the Project Team. Task 5: Implementation Plan, Priority Project Lists, Plan Packaging, and Local Adoption The selected proposing Contractor Team shall: 1. Work with jurisdictions in each OLU to develop an implementation plan for OLU-specific adaptation strategies in priority areas as determined in Element D. The implementation plan will clearly articulate each participating jurisdiction's role in the advancement and implementation of selected strategies. The implementation plan will assign project leads for respective projects, key actions at each phase of the pathway, an anticipated timeline, and potential challenges. 2. In collaboration with the OLU jurisdictions, develop a funding strategy for each OLU-specific adaptation strategies, identifying potential costs, funding sources, and recommended partnerships for project implementation. Funding strategies should prioritize strategies that benefit vulnerable communities, per the Equity Assessment Standard. 3. Work with Project Team to develop a monitoring framework that identifies a monitoring lead linked to key triggers for SLR and groundwater, thresholds, and/or decision points for each adaptation pathway, as well as identification of ways to measure and communicate publicly and transparently on the progress of selected adaptation strategies. This should culminate in a working draft of RSAP Element F. 4. Compile a list of priority adaptation projects for consideration for funding. The list should include those which are already in the pipeline and those that are planned to be developed in the foreseeable future. Any benefits to vulnerable communities due to listed priority projects should be noted, per the Equity Assessment Standard. This analysis will culminate in a draft of Element G. 5. Prepare draft submittal documents for RSAP Elements F and G, in collaboration with the Project Team. 6. After BCDC consultation, compile all element drafts into one SCCSAP and work with the Project Team to facilitate administrative review from each participating jurisdiction. The draft should include city annexes that will break down each RSAP element by what is relevant to each city. Cities will provide draft feedback before finalizing the plan. 7. Support the Project Team in determining analyses required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for each OLU-respective adaptation plan and decipher the role of each city in conducting CEQA review. 8. Develop city-specific presentation slides for each jurisdiction under the SCCSAP to present to their City Councils for adoption and prepare City staff for their presentations. 9. Submit the RSAP to BCDC for approval. After receiving RSAP draft approval from Project Team, the Proposer will combine all Element submittals into one SCCSAP and seek adoption and approval from BCDC. Said plan will have incorporated all previous feedback from BCDC reviews of each successive Element. Task 6: Community Engagement - scope of Lead CBO The selected proposing Contractor Team shall: 1. Develop a formal community engagement and education plan, outlining when engagement is necessary in the project schedule, how engagement will be conducted at various levels, and what insights the engagement is seeking at each outreach point. The Community Engagement Plan will clarify the role of the CBOs (at least one per OLU) that will support targeted outreach in priority areas, including to California Native American tribes (Tribes). The community partners will work with the Proposer on outreach materials, graphics, content, and messaging for all outreach efforts and events. The Community Engagement Plan will align with the Equity Assessment Standards, ensuring multilingual language services at engagement events and targeted outreach to vulnerable communities. 2. Work with the County to conduct outreach to Tribes impacted by SLR in the county and determine the best engagement approach and incorporate this into the engagement plan. 3. Engage with communities for the Existing Conditions Assessment (Element B) and Vulnerability Assessment (Element C) development. With the support of CBOs, the Proposer will deliver at a minimum: four (4) community workshops in the Santa Clara Valley OLU; three (3) community workshops in the Stevens OLU; and one (1) community workshop in the San Francisquito OLU to determine existing conditions, critical community assets and services, and define priority action areas. The number of workshops per OLU is proportional to the number of cities per OLU to account for varying degrees of complexity along the shoreline. If Tribes would like to be liaised independently, this will also be facilitated via this task. Community input from each workshop will be combined and refined by the Proposer afterwards to inform the development of Element B and C. 4. Engage with communities for local visioning for Element D. With the support of CBOs, the Proposer will deliver at a minimum: four (4) community workshops in the Santa Clara Valley OLU; three (3) community workshops in the Stevens OLU; and one (1) community workshop in the San Francisquito OLU to develop a localized vision and goals for a future SLR-adapted shoreline. The local vision and goals developed will be influenced by the One Bay Vision. If Tribes would like to be liaised independently, this will also be facilitated via this task. Community input from each workshop will be combined and refined by the Consultant Team afterwards to inform the development of Element D. 5. Engage with communities for development of adaptation strategies for inclusion in the Adaptation Plan (Element D). With the support of CBOs, the Proposer will deliver at a minimum: four (4) community workshops in the Santa Clara Valley OLU; three (3) community workshops in the Stevens OLU; and one (1) community workshop in the San Francisquito OLU to identify adaptation strategy alternatives that are the most favorable to the community and to help develop evaluation criteria to determine selected adaptation strategies; and one (1) community survey, distributed per OLU to gather feedback on relevant adaptation strategies and evaluation criteria. If Tribes would like to be liaised independently, this will also be facilitated via this task. Community input from each workshop will be combined and refined by the Proposer afterwards to inform the development of Element D. D. Deliverables Contractor Team shall produce the following: 1. Task 1: a. Meeting agendas and meeting minutes for weekly and monthly meetings with the Project and Core Teams, respectively. b. Meeting memos for all BCDC consultations. c. List of TAG members, meeting agendas and summaries from TAG meetings. d. Governance structure document approved by Project Team. e. Element A draft submission to BCDC. 2. Task 2: a. Existing conditions literature review. b. Community attribute maps and descriptions. c. Element B draft submission to BCDC. 3. Task 3: a. Literature review of vulnerability assessments. b. Economic consequences analysis for all cities and the County. c. Element C draft submission to BCDC. 4. Task 4: a. List of potential and existing adaptation strategy alternatives. b. Evaluation criteria. c. Conceptual plans and descriptions of selected adaptation strategies. d. Land use and policy analysis. e. Elements E and D drafts and submission to BCDC. 5. Task 5. a. Elements F and G drafts and submission to BCDC. b. Administrative and public drafts of full SCCSAP. c. Memo to cities on CEQA determination for OLU adaptation pathways. d. Presentation slides for respective cities. e. Final draft of RSAP-compliant SCCSAP to be submitted to BCDC 6. Task 6: a. Community engagement plan. b. List of OLU-specific community-defined important community assets and services. c. List of OLU-specific priority action areas. d. OLU-specific community defined local visions and goals. e. Meeting notes from OLU-specific community workshops. f. Survey results summary.