Palo Alto updates committee on sea-level rise adaptation, horizontal levee pilot and county-led subregional planning under SB 272

Palo Alto staff told the Climate Action and Sustainability Committee they have advanced vulnerability assessment tools, are constructing a horizontal levee pilot at the regional water quality control plant and will participate with Santa Clara County in a county-led subregional shoreline adaptation plan funded by an Ocean Protection Council grant.

Julie Weiss, the city's watershed protection manager, reviewed the city's vulnerability assessment and explained that planning now for long-term conditions is appropriate because both higher bay elevations and rising shallow groundwater will affect utilities, foundations, transportation and urban forest over the coming decades. "There is a lot of interesting content in the vulnerability assessment, but the key takeaway is that it's appropriate for us to start planning…