Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
New local sea‑level‑rise maps prompt Santa Barbara committee to send funding/resolution to council
Summary
City staff presented updated local hazard maps and a wastewater adaptation plan schedule that show flooding and East Beach erosion earlier than previous models. The committee voted to direct staff to bring a funding/resolution item — including consideration of support for AB 1243 ('Make Polluters Pay') — to the full City Council.
City adaptation staff told the Sustainability & Resilience Committee that newly developed local hazard models show coastal flooding and erosion arriving sooner than prior statewide models indicated, prompting committee members to ask staff to prepare a resolution for City Council that would prioritize funding for monitoring and resilience measures.
"We are seeing significant erosion at East Beach, almost 5 feet a year," Melissa Hedrick, the city’s adaptation and resilience manager, said during a map briefing showing tidal inundation and storm scenarios. Hedrick said staff created a local model using USGS inputs and additional local data because regional models (she referred to 'Cosmos') left the harbor and West Beach area blank or used less‑accurate shoreline starting points.
Hedrick walked committee members through maps showing tidal inundation (regular high tide stripes), a 1‑year storm footprint and progressively…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
