The Race to Reinvent State Route 37
A sweeping plan to elevate SR 37 is underway, tackling chronic flooding, traffic congestion, and sea level rise while restoring Bay wetlands.
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Mention: BCDC
Reforming Rules to Speed Adaptation
Bay Conservation and Development Commission to vote early this year on amendments designed to expedite approval of climate projects.
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Coordinate or Fall Short: The New Normal
Public officials and nonprofits say teaming up and pooling resources are vital strategies for success in a climate-changed world.
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CEQA Reforms: Boon or Brake for Adaptation?
California Environmental Quality Act updates may open up more housing, but some are sounding alarms about bypassed environmental regulations.
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Regional Resilience Plans
Three initiatives—the Bay Adapt Joint Platform (BCDC), Plan Bay Area 2050 (MTC/ABAG), and the Estuary Blueprint (SFEP)—together provide a basis for a regional response to climate change.
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The Hardest & Most Important Thing to Do Next: Education
This August BCDC approved a public sea level rise education program to be spearheaded by the Exploratorium, in lieu of a fill removal project for their redevelopment of Pier 17.
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Alameda Flood Group Keeps Chin Up Despite Claw Backs
A group of 30 Oakland-Alameda partners refused to give up on a Bay Farm Island sea level rise adaptation after losing a $50 million grant.
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San Francisco Youth Explore Flood Risk on Home Turf
At the Shoreline Leadership Academy, high school students learn about sea level rise through hands-on tours and community projects.
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Bumpy Road Ahead for Fast-Tracking Program?
The multi-agency BRRIT has streamlined wetland permitting, but ongoing federal cuts could slow its progress.
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Testing Adaptation Limits: Mariposa Trails, Marin Roads & San Francisco Greenspace
In KneeDeep’s new column, The Practice, we daylight how designers, engineers and planners are helping communities adapt to a changing climate.
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High-Concept Plans for a High-Risk Shoreline
OneShoreline’s effort to shield the Millbrae-Burlingame shoreline from flooding has to balance cost, habitat, and airport safety.
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Vote Cinches Robust Regional Response to Sea Level Rise
BCDC adopted a Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan in December 2024, setting the stage for local governments to address growing flood threat.
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When Housing and Climate Crises Collide
Marin’s failure to develop truly affordable housing sparks debate about equitable growth and climate resilience in a fast-gentrifying county.
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Getting Serious at the City & County Scale About Future Flood Threats
BCDC’s Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan lays out four “Minimum Standards” that Bay Area municipalities must meet as they prepare for sea level rise.
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Memo Distills Joint Approach to Flood Protection
Seven Bay Area agencies sign an agreement to beef up coordination on sea level rise adaptation projects and clarify who’s on first.
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Sizing Up Progress on Nature-Based Infrastructure
A May 2024 environmental conference covers levees, seawalls, reefs, wetlands, and other climate resilient shoreline designs for the Bay Area.
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More Training Academies Percolating
Shoreline residents from San Francisco and Contra Costa counties could soon be better equipped to influence local planning decisions.
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Is the Bay Area Coasting?
Scientist and coastal engineer Kris May shares her views on global versus Bay Area climate experiences in 2023, and the Fifth National Climate Assessment.
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Nested Plans Neck and Neck with Rising Bay
Like Russian dolls, Bay Area preparations for sea level rise finally began fitting together this fall.
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Crunching the Adaptation Numbers – Not Peanuts
Regional agencies made splashy headlines when they released a joint study on the likely cost of protecting Bay Area shores from rising seas: $110 billion. But the top-line number didn’t offer much insight into the complexities. A new inventory and map from the same agencies is much more revealing.
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Oaklanders Leading on Climate
The 14 graduates of the inaugural 2021 Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy have new skills to confront the rising tide head-on. “It’s completely changed how I look at the environment,” confesses Academy alum Shy Walker.
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Q&A: National Conference, Local Take-Homes
More than 800 climate adaptation professionals went to the national forum in October. KneeDeep asked attendees from the Bay Area for their takeaways.
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Mapping Those Most At Risk
With NOAA’s recent update to their Billion Dollar Disaster Map, urban planners and citizens can see for themselves how disaster risk and vulnerability vary at the much finer “census tract” scale.
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30 East Bay Partners Gel on Adaptation Path
On an overcast June afternoon at Bay Farm Island’s Veterans Court, Danielle Mieler explains that if it weren’t for low tide, water might be at her feet.
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A South Bay Levee Breaks Ground, And Records
On a drizzly Thursday in April, dozens gathered beside a weedy San Jose shoreline to break ground on four miles of new levee and 2,900 acres of restored habitats, a future buffer from the rising Bay.
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Suisun City Is No Island
Suisun City has always had the waterfront and nearby wetlands at its heart but it won’t be long before the entire area is vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise.
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Residents Readied to Shape Future of Oakland’s Shores
Shadow future Oakland influencers as they learn about their shoreline in this up close 7-minute video by journalist Kristine Wong.
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Big Plans for Big Problems
October brought more than just a very welcome rainstorm to parched and fire-scarred California—it also saw big advances for three major efforts to help the state and the Bay Area plan for a climate-altered future.
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Coalescing as a Region Around Sea Level Rise Response
Regional leaders approved a joint platform of nine actions and 21 tasks this June aimed at galvanizing the Bay Area into collaboration on sea level rise adaptation. Actions range from rooting planning in communities to raising more money for resilience and making the best local science and technical support accessible to all. The platform also “centers the most vulnerable” – 28,000 disadvantaged people in the future flood zone and wildlife in drowning wetlands. Leaders approving the platform commended the effort to address so many governance challenges and channel so many diverse opinions
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Mega Developments Hedge on Sea-Level Rise
On September 3, 2019, Golden State Warriors CEO Rick Welts stood proudly in front of the newly inaugurated $1.4 billion Chase Center basketball arena. “A brand new journey starts today,” he promised the assembled luminaries and fans. Having built on Mission Bay’s watery footprint, the Warriors defended their new arena against sea-level rise, saying in an official statement it will stay dry in 2100 “even with the anticipated 36 inches of sea-level rise.”
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