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Santa Barbara staff narrow near-term options to reduce airport flooding, select Carneros Creek measures for costing
Summary
City staff presented a draft climate adaptation plan for Santa Barbara Airport that prioritizes near-term flood-reduction measures — including a permanent berm and wetland restoration at Carneros Creek — and recommended hydrodynamic modeling, cost estimates for three priority measures, and policy updates to the local coastal program.
City staff on Feb. 5 laid out a draft climate adaptation plan aimed at reducing frequent flooding at Santa Barbara Airport and recommended immediate studies and cost estimates for three near-term measures focused on Carneros Creek.
Jessica Messer, a city staff presenter, said the vulnerability assessment — funded in part by two Coastal Commission grants — mapped airport assets and showed flooding has been a persistent problem historically and recently, with three closures in the past six weeks. Messer said precipitation modeling indicates storms of a given intensity will become more frequent and that sea-level rise will worsen tidal inundation over the long term.
The plan directs near-term attention to the airport’s northwest quadrant, where sediment buildup in Carneros Creek and local watershed runoff concentrate flood risk. "We installed the Carneros Creek K Rail temporary barrier," Messer said, describing earlier temporary measures deployed during recent storms. She said the…
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