Vulnerable Shoreline Communities Plan for Sea Level Rise

With sea level rise likely coming to Alameda , the Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee (OAAC) is heading a cross-jurisdictional planning effort to create climate-ready communities along the shorelines of Oakland and Alameda.

“Working to accelerate sea level rise adaptation, protect and restore water quality, recreation and habitat, and promote community resilience,” OAAC states that it is currently collaborating on three funded adaptation projects that will address sea level rise vulnerabilities. Two near-term projects focus on mitigating flood risk in areas around the Oakland Alameda Estuary and Bay Farm Island , while the third is a longer-term Subregional Adaptation Plan that will highlight strategies for communities to take in order to adapt to changing climate and shoreline conditions. The total project cost is estimated at $22 billion, according to Jamie Phillips, a Principal at CMG Landscape Architecture, the consulting firm leading the project design.

Beyond building resilience, the adaptation projects also aim to integrate habit and nature-based solutions, improve access to shoreline recreation, and protect vulnerable residents and underserved communities that live along the water. The planning process also accounts for the strategic adaptation of the area’s critical infrastructure, transportation connections, and development projects while ensuring that prioritizing community health and well-being.

To engage and educate the public about these projects, OAAC held two workshops in Alameda and one workshop in Oakland in August.

Alameda Estuary Focus

The Alameda Estuary workshop was held at REAP Climate Center , located off Tynan Avenue just east of the Posey Tube, on Saturday, August 3. Posters introducing the projects lined the campus, inviting community members to ask questions about vulnerability and resilience in their neighborhoods.

Built along a former railroad corridor, the REAP Climate Center is a combination pollinator garden, food forest, and demonstration hub where the community can build and learn. The property and its surrounding areas of Barnhill Marina, Mariner Square, and portions of Marina Village are especially prone to flooding due to their low elevation and shallow depth to groundwater. Without intervention to address existing conditions, water from the Estuary could potentially overtop the shoreline at its lowest points and flow inland, collect at the REAP Center, and then overflow down into the Posey and Webster Tubes, leading to a regional transportation nightmare.

The Oakland Alameda Estuary Project is a design concept that aims to mitigate coastal, stormwater, and groundwater flooding for up to two feet of projected sea level rise by the year 2080. For Alameda, the concept highlights numerous locations where new stormwater detention areas, known colloquially as “rain gardens,” could increase the absorption of rainwater into the soil while providing additional areas for habitat and recreation when there is not an active storm.

Sophia Strena, a volunteer fellow at the REAP Center, reflected on the potential incorporation of such a “rain garden” on the property.

“To be able to be in one of the areas that is both part of the threat and the solution of sea level rise is a really grounding way to approach the subject,” said Strena.

Executive Director Jonathan DeLong went further and explained how the event aligned with the REAP Center’s core values .

“Our mission, related to ecological experiences all the way up into climate jobs, means that we’re not just doing things here, but we’re also supporting community initiatives. We can be a gathering place, but we also want to make sure that our job training lines up with what the community needs in the long term.”

DeLong added, “Climate change mitigation is community opportunity. If there’s going to be $22 billion spent regionally to mitigate climate change…those are real jobs and real opportunities that I want to make sure go to the most vulnerable communities.”

Along Alameda’s Northern Waterfront, the design concept proposes a combination of seawall and levee treatments to raise the shoreline by 14 feet, which is the elevation deemed necessary to counter not just 2 feet of sea level rise, but also high tide, extreme tides resulting from large storms, and additional freeboard.

The selection of either protection method is dependent on the existing infrastructure and available shoreline space between Bohol Circle Immigrant Park and Shoreline Park. Construction of levees would create new opportunities for public trails and shoreline access, but would require up to 46 feet of space to implement. Seawalls are much costlier and are proposed for areas near the Marina Village Yacht Harbor and Barnhill Marina where land use along the shoreline is more constrained and cannot accommodate a levee.

“I’m particularly interested in the environment and want to learn what the current status is and how the City is responding,” said Alameda resident Rosemary Reilly. “It’s so important to me that this is happening.”

Ruth Abbe, a member of Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda (CASA) , added, “I’m here because I really want to support Alameda, Oakland, and San Leandro in their planning project for this eventual mitigation of climate. But we also want to do whatever we can do to support the cities in raising awareness to reduce the impacts.”

Bay Farm Island Focus

The Bay Farm Island-focused workshop was held at the Leydecker Recreation Center from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. on August 12. The open-house event featured large posters circling the room to highlight the effects of climate change on Bay Farm and what the City plans to do about it. Also in the rec center were several friendly climate experts with the City and its consultants who spoke with community members about their questions and ideas. It was an interactive evening filled with discussion as Alamedans roamed the room reading and talking about the posters.

The Bay Farm Island Adaptation Project is a near-term sea level rise adaptation project to address two feet of sea level rise over the coming decades. The project will also include long-term (2080 and beyond) adaptation strategies for the area. The near-term project covers the northern shoreline of Bay Farm Island, while the long-term plan covers the entire island, including Doolittle Drive/State Route 61. Funding for the project is through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with federal community project funding.

The goals of the project are to remove the lagoon area of Bay Farm Island from FEMA’s 100-year floodplain, bolster the northern shoreline and Bay Trail from erosion, enhance the shoreline habitat with nature-based solutions, and enhance public recreation, including improvements to the San Francisco Bay Trail.

Pathways Climate Institute’s Senior Resilience and Flood Risk Specialist, Maryellen Hearn, believes adaptation isn’t something that should take place in a closed room. “It has to be a conversation among all the different folks involved, and that of course involves the community,” she told the Alameda Post at the Monday evening workshop.

“We want to help people understand what we’re doing here with the Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee (OAAC),” she said of the City’s workshop series. “We want to make sure they have an understanding of what types of risks and hazards may be coming more frequently and intensely down the road and then what people are doing about it today for the future.”

According to Hearn, community engagement has been robust at recent workshops with questions ranging from hyper-individual ( What’s going to happen to my house? ) to broad and abstract ( What does this mean for the world? ).

In an overview of where OAAC stands with its Bay Farm Island projects, Hearn explains: “We’ve dug into the existing conditions in terms of coastal flooding, groundwater consideration, storm water flooding, and also considering the fraction of earthquake hazards. We’re getting to the point where we’re looking at a few different alternatives, especially focused on the coastal flooding components of the risk profile.”

One of the posters in the Leydecker Rec Center inspected sea level rise and coastal flood hazards affecting the island.

“The lowest portions of this shoreline are already vulnerable to inundation during major coastal storms under current conditions,” the poster warned. “Without adaptation measures, rising seas and coastal flooding will overtop the shoreline more frequently. Areas of the shoreline at low elevations may allow floodwaters to enter and flood areas further inland. Within the Bay Farm Island project area, the lowest areas of shoreline are at Veterans Court, and at the Lagoon Pump outfall along the north shoreline, and along Doolittle Drive.”

Groundwater rise is another issue that affects Bay Farm.

“As our climate warms, the intensity of rainfall events is increasing and sea levels continue to rise,” another poster stated. “During rainfall events, precipitation infiltrates into the ground, reducing the capacity of the ground to absorb water from future storm events and temporarily raising the local groundwater table. As a result, localized flooding can occur and is more common with storms that happen back-to-back.

“Meanwhile, rising bay water gradually pushes the groundwater table closer to the surface,” the poster’s message continued. “During a storm, this further limits the capacity of the ground to absorb rainwater. The groundwater table can also rise above the ground surface and create permanent ponding on the land in places that have historically remained dry, even long after storms have passed.”

On Bay Farm, the groundwater is shallow, as most of the island consists of reclaimed land (formerly wetland) and protected from tidal flooding by levees and pumps. As sea levels rise, so does the groundwater level, potentially causing an increase in flooding.

Inland flooding is another issue that can occur. Inland flooding takes place during and after a storm due to precipitation, upstream stormwater runoff, and saturated soils. As the climate warms, the frequency and intensity of storms will increase, possibly leading to increased inland flooding. To address this, Alameda’s stormwater management systems need to be adapted.

“The Bay Farm Island lagoon is part of the stormwater system,” one poster explained. “Before a forecasted storm, lagoon water is pumped into the bay to make space for additional runoff. The lagoon’s pump, pipe system, and back up power need upgrading to address growing stormwater management issues. A strategy of slow, store, and re-use stormwater using green infrastructure will additionally reduce the burden on the drainage system to meet future water storage capacity needs.”

One near-term adaptation strategy involves raising the Bay Farm Northern Shoreline and Bay Trail from Veterans Court to the Lagoon Pump Station, improving the lagoon outfall pump, and adding natural and nature-based features from Veterans Court to Sea View Park. In the long-term, a seawall can be added to provide coastal flood protection.

Carole Parnes has lived in Alameda for about 40 years. This was her first time attending a climate workshop put on by the City. “I want to see what’s going to happen to my house,” she told the Alameda Post . “ And I’m here to find out what they’re going to do. I’m not an expert, but I’m learning. It sounds good. From what I’ve heard, the process is definitely necessary.”

Parnes was relieved to learn that there are people at work on the issues resulting from climate change.

“It is about time, and I am hopeful that they can do something with it. I probably won’t live long enough to see it,” she said, her white bob lifting in the breeze from the open window, “but maybe somebody else I like will.”

Next Steps

A third Oakland Estuary project workshop was held on Thursday, August 15, to discuss mitigation projects proposed along the waters of Jack London Square. Feedback gathered from the public during this round of community engagement will drive concept development through 2025. A final concept for the Oakland Alameda Estuary Project is expected by early 2025 for further input and to meet a grant funding deadline, while a 30% design concept for Bay Farm Island will be available in summer 2025.

Ken Der is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post . Contact him via ken@alamedapost.com . His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Ken-Der . Kelsey Goeres is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post . Contact her via kelsey@alamedapost.com . Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Kelsey-Goeres .

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