Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Oh, heat. Hey, hey, hey. I can feel. Oh, I can feel it. I can feel it. Let me know how you know. I can feel it. I can feel it.

I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I feel it's been awesome. Hello, beautiful.

I want to be Heat. Heat. the April 9th, 2026 Planning Commission hearing. I'll call the hearing to order at 100 p.m. Miss Carmen, can we please have roll call?

Thank you, Chair Boss. I'll begin with chair boss present. Vice chair delicio here. Commissioner Barnwwell here. Commissioner Balkkey here. And commissioner Wiskam here. We have quum. Thank you. Right. Thank you. We'll get started with preliminary matters. And the first topic on our agenda today is requests for continuences, withdrawals, postponements, or exaggenda items. Miss Arson, do we have any? Thank you, Chair Boss. We do not. Okay. Uh do we have any announcements or appeals?

We do not. Okay. All right. Uh we'll go on to item C, review, consideration, and action on draft planning commission minutes from two hearings, March 12th and March 19th. Miss Arsen, did you have apologies to interrupt? I did forget one appeal. The Edgewater project 2339 Edgewater was appealed to city council. So that will be scheduled um I believe at the end of June. Appealed by the neighbor.

Appealed by the neighbor. Correct. Great. All right, moving on to minutes um for from March 12th and March 19th. We'll take these as two separate action items. First, are there any planning commissioner comments on the March 12th minutes? No. If not, are there any public speaker comments for these minutes? I do not have any comments for those minutes. Right. If no comments, can I get a motion to approve the March 12th Planning Commission minutes? So moved. Second. And Miss Carmen, can we please have a roll call vote? Thank you, Chair Boss. I'll begin with Commissioner Balkkey. Yes. Commissioner Barnwwell, yes. Commissioner Wiskam, yes. Vice Chair Delio, yes. And Chair Boss, yes.

Motion passes. Thank you. Right. And are there any planning commissioner comments on the March 19th minutes and resolution? Yes, Madam Chair. I I was confused by the um I think did Commissioner Barnwald, you were the one that mentioned the um mention item number two and item number one and two of the changes. Um is that right? I What were those two? I'm just I'm just questioning whether they actually got put because I don't remember.

They did. I actually Yeah, I actually read the resolution. I compare the original resolution against the um what we decided on and everything's incorporated. But those changes were made. Yes. Did we approve those changes? That's what I'm saying. When I originally made the motion, they were not in there. Oh. And then I think Commissioner Barnwwell came on and said something, but um Miss Arson had already said that that they were very similar to the language in the coastal um in the coastal land use plan.

Um if I may interject to the chair, that is correct. So I think uh commissioners Barnwell uh Commissioner Barnwell's comment was that it doesn't read exceptionally clear. It is language taken from exactly from the coastal land use permit as a policy land use plan. apologies um word for word verbatim as a condition if he felt that that language wasn't clear that we needed to just kind of reorder a sentence basically to help it read better that's still consistent with the policy. So a change that's minor enough that it's matching the language and intent of the policy I think is acceptable to change if it's just for clarity but we can't change the policy language itself. So we uh staff worked to just reorder the sentence. Basically it was putting up front how that would work and the the sentence about expiration kind of bringing that to the front of the paragraph and then I think there was a perhaps a second reiteration or clarification. So the changes um still reflect the policy language and intent just in a different order.

Okay. I I don't I don't we interpreted that it was but um that's fine. That's fine. Let's just leave it like it is. Thank you. Any other comments on the March 19th uh minutes or resolution? Okay. Are there any public speaker comments for these minutes or resolution? I do not have any comments for those minutes. If none, can I get a motion to approve the minutes and resolution? So moved. I'll second. Miss Carmen, can we please have a roll call vote? Thank you, Chair Boss. I'll begin with Commissioner Barnwell. Yes. Commissioner Balkkey. Yes. Commissioner Wiskam. Yes. Vice Chair Delichio. Yes. And Chair Boss. Abstain.

Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. That takes us to item D, comments from members of the public pertaining to items that are not on today's agenda. Miss Carmen, do we have anyone in person uh or remote who would like to give public comment? So, at this time, we don't have uh anyone in the room with us. Um and we don't have anyone online, and we did not receive any written correspondence under General. So, I'll give it back to you.

Thank you. We'll close general public comment and move on to our discussion item today, review of options for waterfront adaptation plan. The purpose of this hearing is to receive an update on coastal erosion and flooding flooding hazards at the waterfront and potential adaptation options to be studied further in the upcoming plan. So, we have uh staff here to provide a presentation who will introduce themselves during that presentation. Floor is yours. Honorable chair and members of the planning commission, thank you for the opportunity to present on our waterfront adaptation plan. My name is Timmy Bolton, senior climate adaptation analyst and project manager for this work effort. I am joined here today by Melissa Hedrickk, adaptation and resilience program manager, as well as Michael Wells, climate adaptation analyst. We're unique as a city in that we have a dedicated adaptation and resilience program with three full-time staff whose purpose is to work collaboratively with teams throughout the city organization to prepare our community for current and future climate related hazards like sea level rise, flooding, erosion, and wildfire. We're actively working on several major work efforts that include a regional coastal monitoring project with our partners at Beacon. We're preparing our water and wastewater infrastructure for all climate hazards. We're addressing flooding from rain in the Laguna Whed and we're supporting an adaptation project at the airport. Our other current major project is the waterfront adaptation plan which is funded by the California Coastal Commission, the California Coastal Conservancy, as well as the city. My presentation today will begin with a brief overview of current and future coastal hazards. I'll then run through the toolbox of potential solutions on how to address those hazards as well as some initial ideas we have on how to improve the waterfront experience for all of our users and then really spend the bulk of the presentation introducing some initial ideas we have on things that we're

considering carrying forward in the process um for a follow-on phase when we do a technical analysis and ultimately build towards a recommended approach. Our guiding light and vision for this work effort is shown on the screen here. It's to develop practical solutions to address coastal flooding and coastal erosion for at least the next 30 years while enhancing beach access, recreation, boating, and habitat. This is about a two and a half year work effort and we find ourselves about halfway through it. We've completed an initial community engagement campaign um in early last year as well as spent a big effort conducting new technical analysis and modeling to get a much better idea of what our hazard risks are today as what they will be in the future with continued sea level rise. We now find ourselves at the exciting juncture where we're starting to talk about solutions and beginning to sketch out some of the ideas on how we can address those risks. What you'll see presented today is really the first pass at whittling down the big spectrum of all the things that we could do to a suite of options that we're considering carrying forward in the process. The next step after this is to do a follow- on technical analysis that will do the technical details of feasibility, effectiveness, timing, and cost. I really want to emphasize that we're at the very beginning of at least a year-long process to build towards that recommended approach and determine what the eventual design solutions will be. Our project area is the three-mile low-line coastal area of our city that spans from Lead Better Beach to the Clark estate. It's one of the city's most valued public assets. It supports beaches, parks, the working harbor, fishing, tourism, recreation, and transportation. and it really serves as one of the cornerstones of our local economy with upwards of hund00 million in recreational value. It plays a big part of the county's $7.7 billion blue economy as well as the $2.2 billion South Coast tourism market. Due to its location and elevation, it's an area

that's particularly vulnerable to flooding, storms, and erosion. The waterfront as a place has a shoreline that has only ever told one consistent story, and that's that it's ever changing. From the thousands of years that the Chumash lived along a naturally shifting coast of beaches, wetlands, and dunes that was naturally shaped by winter storms, and currents to the creation of Sterns Wararf in 1872 that fixed a point on an otherwise ambulatory coast and created a permit and industrial edge to our town that spurred year-round access and intensified those uses along the coast. The shoreline was forever changed with the creation of the harbor that trapped sand that would otherwise move with currents down the coast and created the beaches as we know them today. We now find ourselves at that next major inflection point when we must take deliberate action to address the impacts we face during recent coastal storms and the challenges we anticipate seeing in the future with continued sea level rise to save our beaches, to protect the harbor, and to protect our inland areas. For this project, we're primarily focused on two broad categories of impacts. The first is the area where waves are actively crashing and causing damage. And the second is the inland areas that are being flooded from the ocean. Today, we base we face both types of those impacts. We've experienced big waves bashing against our shoreline. We've experienced undermining and partial collapse of our coastal access parking as shown in the Harbor West parking lot in that middle left graphic. We've separately experienced flooding and our parking lots getting covered in sand as shown in that middle right graphic as well as flooding in the harbor commercial area itself. At the end of the day, it's not sustainable for us as a city to spend $3 million on repair and cleanup from an individual large coastal storm like we did in 2023, which is one of the core reasons why we're doing this work effort. As part of this project, we took a deep dive to better understand how our

shoreline has changed and evolved over time. And what we found matched our anecdotal experience, which is that there's an erosion challenge at East Beach. And in some areas, it's been eroding up to 5T a year since the year 2000. This photo in the middle shows East Beach during a recent king tide event this past November. And what we see during that elevated water condition is that the ocean was right up to the ice plant and in some cases spilled over to the bike path. This is important because it means we're not only losing recreational access to each beach over time, but that the inland areas around it are increasingly at risk of flooding from the ocean. So what I mean by that is the right portion of this photo is far more vulnerable to coastal hazards today than certainly it was in the year 2000. Luckily, there's different dynamics along our shoreline. So while we've experienced this rose in the east beach, lead better has been generally stable and west beach has been slightly accretional during the same time period. As we look forward in time, we see that our risk profile will evolve and with continued sea level rise, the magnitude and severity of our challenges will only grow. As a quick data point, since the year 2000, we've experienced 3 to 4 inches of local sea level rise based on our local tide buoys. And we expect that number and that rate to increase quite a bit in the coming period, creating quite the challenge. Before I launch into what this will look like along the waterfront, I just wanted to take a quick moment to pause and highlight the nature of our greater um coastal area in the city as well as in the region. Most of our region and about half the city have beaches that have inland bluffs behind them. And why this is important is that over time as the shoreline continues to march inland with continued sea level rise, it means that access to the dry sandy beach in front of these bluff areas will be increasingly limited over time. This will increase the importance of and the demand for the low-lying sandy beaches that we have along the greater waterfront area, which is a core reason

why we're really focused on preserving that function and use. Diving now into future shoreline positions. What these different lines show is where the future shoreline will be over time with sea level rise. All of the historic erosion processes continue. All of the dredging and continued um dynamics and operations continue along our waterfront. These all reflect a so-called do nothing scenario where really the addition of the modeling just considers sea level rise on top of those historic processes. So in the green shows future shoreline position with8 ft of sea level rise or about the year 2050. The red in the middle is about 1.6 ft of sea level rise or the year 2065. And then the blue is 2.5 ft of sea level rise or about the year 2075. And what we see here then based on this information is that we've lost the sandy beach in front of a good portion of lead better and in front of the harbor commercial area within about the next 50 years if we do nothing. although it does fare a little bit better in front of Shoreline Cafe and the picnic area. If we look at West Beach, we see a similar trend where there begins to be some erosion. It's no longer accretional. But one of the key findings here is that even with that bit of erosion, this beach remains wide and sandy. And it remains wide and sandy well beyond the 30-year focus of this project, which really creates this profound opportunity to really focus and encourage and centralize a sandy beach experience in this West Beach area, which is critical when we look at the other reach of our waterfront on East Beach. As I mentioned, we've had this historic erosion challenge, and that only grows when you add in higher levels of sea level rise on top of that. So, what we found in our analysis is that by about the year 2065, we've lost the sandy beach along a huge portion of East Beach. And at some point between 2065 and 2075, this entire area could erode

all the way up to Cababrio Boulevard, which creates quite the challenge. If we take a deep dive down, really hone in on the flood risk side of things, the inland areas being flooded from the ocean, these are similar graphics and that they represent a do nothing scenario. All of the existing infrastructure remains, the existing processes remain. Um, what's new is the addition of sea level rise on top of it. So in the dark teal is our current high tide position. The light teal is future high tide with sea level rise. And then these other colors represent different storm conditions. And what we see is that even today on that left graphic during really big coastal storms, our inland areas already have some risk of coastal flooding and Cababrio Boulevard is already at risk. When you start adding in additional sea level rise on top of that, the extent of that inland flood risk only grows throughout time. The point here is to really emphasize that we need some sort of vertical protective measure that serves as a backs stop to prevent water from the ocean flooding our lower downtown and our inland neighborhoods. For the purpose of this project, we are primarily focused on the paradigm shown in that left and middle graphic while preparing for and setting ourselves up for success for the paradigm shown in that right graphic by the end of the century. So, I know I've talked a whole lot about all the challenges we have, but I really want to emphasize that at the end of the day, it's really not all doom and gloom, and we have a toolbox with proven solutions. We often get asked, can't you just put a seaw wall or a vetman up along the entire waterfront and call it good? And to a certain extent, we could. Those types of hard solutions do a pretty good job of protecting what's directly behind them from erosion, from flooding, from other types of coastal hazards. The massive trade-off and challenge that comes with these types of hard structures is that as waves come in and bounce off them, they can increase the erosion from the beach in front of them.

So, they can cause a narrowing of the beach. So if we have this foundational goal to really save the sandy beach experience, taking these types of hard structures as a holistic approach could be counterproductive relative to that goal. That being said, they can make a lot of sense for certain things. When we have critical infrastructure like the harbor that can't really be moved, these types of things can be a great solution. Beach nourishment, sandsms, and dunes are a softer approach that can be incorporated into um hazard resilience. They can do a good job of widening the beaches by mimicking or um restoring natural processes. The primary Achilles heel with these types of softer approaches though is that because they're not anchored in place like the um seaw walls is that if you have really big waves come in, they can quickly wash that sand out to sea or they can push it inland. That initial photo I showed of the Harbor West and lead better parking lots covered in sand. That was our seasonal sandb that got hit by big waves during a big storm and just bushed it all and covered the parking lot. Because of this, they require ongoing maintenance as well as the sand source and then in the case of dunes, specific conditions to work most effectively. Growings, headlands, and artificial reefs are another portion of that toolbox. The way these types of solutions work is by providing a perpendicular element to the shoreline. They effectively trap sand that would otherwise move with currents down the coast, similar to how our harbor operates. Um, these can be a great solution to widen beaches. The big challenge though is that because they do that sand trapping function, there's also the potential to starve down coast beaches, which creates all sort of political and legal risk associated with that. Because of that, they're more complex to permitting. They require ongoing management and maintenance. And so you have to factor in not only the cost to build these things, but also then to maintain them and make sure they're full of sand over time. The final big category within the

toolbox is the idea of strategically relocating things. It can be a great strategy if you take things that are currently in a hazard area and you take them out of the hazard area. This is certainly approach favored by our funding and permitting partners. Um, and it can be a great aspect of really that sandy beach preservation approach. The big challenge with these is that some things can't be easily moved. The harbor is not something we can easily move. Um, there's not always a replacement site. There can be impacts to the areas and we need to consider um the economic challenges that could be created from this if we're starting to lose revenue generating assets, how it impacts existing leases, those types of things. So, I know I've talked quite a bit about coastal hazards, but we're really taking a holistic approach to infrastructure improvements as part of this project. If we're going to make these big investments in our waterfront, why not also do it in a way that improves the experience for our users. So, the ideas shown on this slide really all came from the initial community engagement campaign that we did last year of, hey, what could we do better? What would make your experience better along the waterfront? A big one is we need to have a safe space to walk and bike throughout the entire project area. There's some pretty notable gaps in that network today where you're along the bike path and then really at the harbor entrance you just kind of get spit out in the Harbor West and lead better parking lot area. So we plan to address that gap and improve that safety as part of this work effort. As I mentioned we really see this profound opportunity to reimagine West Beach. Today we have this paradigm where storm water drains really pull out and pond on West Beach from when it rains. So you end up in that um scenario you see in that top middle graphic where we have these big ponds that then compact the sand and make it not as ideal of an experience as it could be. So we plan to address that. There's certainly epic moments and views along the waterfront, but there are also places that aren't quite as welcoming or connected as they could be. So that's

the theme you'll see sort of embedded into some of these ideas I'll introduce later is how can we make it feel welcoming and connected for our users. We've heard clear demand for additional facilities, everything from bathrooms to boat storage. We're looking at any and all opportunities to expand economic vitality, both to support the local economy, but also to generate revenue for continued operations and management of our waterfront, and also hopefully to help pay for some of these infrastructure improvements. And finally, there's a rich recreational heritage along the waterfront. We want to celebrate and expand that wherever possible. As we start talking about solutions, we're primarily focused on those that are multi-benefit. And so what we mean by that is, okay, if we're going to add this new safe way to walk and bike, this new transportation facility in the Harbor West and Le Better parking lot area, why not design it in a way that also addresses the hazard risk that we've been experiencing, will continue experience in that same area. So one idea is this concept of an elevated walking and biking path. This is a very conceptual drawing done by AI on the right. But the idea being you have this elevated structure that provides the safe space and to walk and bike, but then also provides that ultimate back stop when you have the big storms and you have the higher water levels and then protects our inland areas from being flooded by the ocean. So this is something you'll see embedded in a number of ideas shown later. So, taking all of this information into consideration and building this preliminary list of options, starting the conversation as we work towards figuring out what to study further in this next project phase. It's really all centered around the four goals shown on this slide. First and foremost, it's saving the sandy beach and it's enhancing recreation. It's protecting the commercial working harbor in place and all of its coastal dependent uses. is protecting our inland areas for flooding from the ocean and it's providing that safe way to walk and bike throughout the entire waterfront ideally in combination with that flood

protection component. Like all of our projects, we're really focused on right sizing and phasing them based on when they're actually required based on monitored on the ground conditions. So for this project, we've got three project types. The first are the quick wins. These are the lowhanging fruit things that can be done really quickly. Things can that can be done generally within existing city budget reserves. We're talking things like restriping parking lots, minor drainage improvements, and using temporary flood walls when we have storms. The so-called core measures are really the foundational holistic moves as part of this project. They provide comprehensive hazard protection for at least the 30-year life of this project and it covers the entire area as a comprehensive strategy. Things like that elevated walking and biking path. These are things that we would start permitting immediately after plan adoption. The final category is what we're calling so-called future options. These are things that aren't necessarily required to protect from the hazards we anticipate seeing in the next 30 years. Um, and there are also some things that more fundamentally change the dynamics and nature of the shoreline. So things like groins, headlands, those types of things that trap sand. The way we're seeing this all come together is that really the quick winds are minor stop gap solutions while we work on doing the core measure projects. Those will take some time to permit, fund, and build. And so doing those quick wins to provide that stop gap while we do that. regardless of which future options we pursue, we think we'll have to do those core measures regardless. So th that's really the the breadandbut key focus of this work effort while keeping those in mind for later. So diving right into it, we'll work west each along our project area starting first at Lead Better Beach and the options we're considering there. The vision here is really all about preserving this space as a sandy beach and recreation destination. The so-called potential quick win

projects are all about doing um immediate uh safety and flooding fixes. So, a key one there is providing that safe way to walk and bike, exploring the option of really taking the edge of the existing paved area and restriping it in a way similar to you see in that top left graphic where you have separate space to walk and bike. Also looking at the option of doing some temporary deployable flood proofing. So putting out measures when we have storms to protect Shoreline Cafe as well as the restroom. Seeing if there's the option to have a low curb wall at the edge of the paved area to protect that parking lot foundation as well as from low um storm events. That graphic is from West Beach. So similar vibe to that because there's the potential to impact some parking by providing that new restrip space to walk and bike. We're also being exploring the option of can we capture some excess rideway which is in the far left of the graphic and adjacent to shoreline to provide additional parking spaces in this parking lot. Can we take some of the really large landscaped areas, shrink them slightly to provide more parking spaces with a goal here of really having a net zero impact to the number of parking spaces in this area. The so-called core measures here are really all about this idea of strategically moving things inland to allow space for the shoreline to naturally migrate inland over time and remain sandy. So to save that sandy beach experience, an option here is to take area that's currently park, convert it to sandy beach. Behind that, what's currently paved could be converted to a park area as well as space for any relocated assets. Behind that, we would then have the elevated walking and biking path to provide that ultimate back stop from those big storms and the high water levels as well as that safe transportation function. I do want to mention that when we're talking about strategic relocation, this could be done in phases. For instance, we could move Shoreline Cafe in the restrooms when we have replacement facilities available for them to go to or when there's some

sort of on the ground hazard threshold trip that makes them not safe to operate anymore. Because there's the potential to impact some coastal access parking, we're looking at opportunities to expand the number of spaces on the other side of Shoreline Drive out of the hazard zone with the idea of a multi-story parking garage um in the two areas uh generally circled there in the north portion of that graphic as well as addressing some known storm water drainage challenges that we experience in this area today. The potential future options are really an extension of the strategy of strategically moving things in. really things are just pushed back further and that elevated walking back and biking path could be raised higher. I do want to emphasize though that that green area that looks very park-like could be that function. It could also provide space for relocated assets. We could tweak it a little bit. Still figuring out those details. What's new here is the introduction of a potential headland at the harbor breakwater which you'll see in the next series of graphics. with the idea being that coupled with some beach nourishment, you could widen the beach a bit, maintain the sandy beach for longer, and provide some additional hazard protection. Jumping now into the harbor area where our vision is really to maintain it as a commercial fishing, recreation, and public access destination. The quick winds are quite similar to that at Lead Better. It's exploring temporary deployable flood proofing during storms to strategically protect specific assets. It's potentially doing some minor drainage improvements in the harbor commercial area itself to improve drainage and then it's um continuing that restriped area to provide that safe and separated space to walk and bike. The potential core measures are really all about flood protection for the entire harbor commercial area while prioritizing public access and boating. A big move here could be exploring this idea of doing an elevated rock revetment in front of the entire harbor commercial area that would connect to the breakwater that's shown in sort of the bottom left portion of this graphic.

This would provide that hazard protection from erosion, big storms and flooding and it could be topped with a pedestrian prominade to improve public access in this area. It could include stairs down to the beach down to the water down to the ocean. It would also provide a much better connection for our users from the lead better area to the breakwater itself and provide 360 circulation for folks to walk around the entire harbor commercial area. The harbor commercial area is has limited space and there's high demand for what's um all of its coastal dependent uses. So there's a key goal at looking at how to protect and improve that harbor commercial area function to better support public access and boating. also looking at strategic ways to enhance the walking and biking path and raising it in specific areas to provide that ultimate back stop as well as we did a parking study as part of this work effort and found that there is a bit of excess capacity in the harbor main parking lot area. So one idea is exploring the option of doing some economic development there. We could provide new facilities that support boating. We could do retail. We could do restaurants. um looking to see if there's other ways to generate some additional revenue to again fund ongoing harbor operations and management and greater waterfront operations and management as well as funding some of these improvements. The potential future options here are really all about further hazard protection, exploring the idea of raising all the paths and edges to withstand bigger storms, higher water levels. This is where that idea of the headland is introduced coupled with beach nourishment to widen the beach a bit in front of the harbor commercial area and provide some additional hazard protection. Here too exploring some ideas to protect the marina itself. Looking at the idea of a wave screen shown in yellowish in the bottom right of that graphic as well as a potential sand trap at the entrance of the harbor itself. Shifting now to West Beach where the vision is really that premier sandy

beach destination because this is a relatively wide and stable beach for a long time. There's only one project category in this area and it's a core measure project which again is really that vision of a premier sandy beach. The first thing we need to do to achieve that vision is address the storm water challenge. One idea is to consolidate those pipes so that instead of outfalling and ponding onto the beach, they go into a shared pipe that then gets redirected and potentially um drained out by the base of Stern's Wararf, that would improve the sand quality and make it a better experience. If we're really leaning into this idea of a sandy beach experience, a full day out with your family at the beach, we need to add some facilities to support that. So shown in the bottom left in that orange area is a potential area to add some restrooms, showers, cafe, beach concessions, things like that. Like our other areas, exploring the idea of that elevated walking and biking path back um by the road to provide that ultimate back stop. This could also be coupled with a new adjacent park area that could just provide a much better um connection and welcoming experience from our users going from the harbor commercial area to lower state street lower downtown and the wararf. Also want to highlight that we very much intend to retain space for small small boats outriggers to malls etc. probably in a more efficient um better improved facility scenario. And finally, East Beach. The vision here is quite similar to that at Lead Better. It's all about preserving that sandy beach and recreation destination for as long as we can. The challenge here though is that erosion condition that only grows with sea level rise on top of it. The strategy here though is more or less the same thing, which is strategically moving things inland to provide space for that shoreline to naturally migrate inland as long as we can and retain it as sandy as long as we can. So similar idea of taking area

that's currently park converting that to sandy beach and then behind that having that elevated walking and biking path to provide that last line of defense ultimate back stop high water levels big storms for the potential future options. We really don't have any more space to strategically move things in further. So the question becomes are there engineered solutions that we can employ to widen the beach a bit to make it sandy longer provide more hazard protection for longer. So, one of the things we're considering looking at is exploring the idea of groins, headlands, or offshore reefs. Things that could provide that function and while considering all the trade-offs that comes from those types of solutions. The elevated walking and biking path could be raised higher to provide additional protection. As with Lead Better, exploring the idea of taking existing uh surface parking lots and converting that to multi-story to provide more coastal access parking and separately, we're working on a project to improve the resiliency of the Lagona Watershed. So, we've earmarked some space in the western portion of this graphic. So, I realize that was a lot. Um the question is where do we go from here? And really, we're focused on community engagement for the next couple months. We launched a council in March. We're continuing to go to other city advisory bodies really through the end of May and will conclude at the sustainability council committee in early June. We will be releasing a survey in about a week and a half. We are we'll be attending community events, doing some pop-ups along the waterfront, as well as hosting three open houses, two in person and one online, as well as doing direct Spanish engagement via our partners at the Promothurus Network. After we finish this big outreach push, we'll be then doing that technical analysis this summer. Um, working towards analyzing all of these different ideas, um, building towards a recommended strategy, um, with a funding component, with an implementation component, with a goal of releasing a draft plan in 2027, and hope

to be returned in front of council at least a year from now. For folks who want to get involved and learn more, the best approach is to visit our website. Um, sign up for the email list. We'll be sending out a big communication blast in about a week and a half to announce the survey being live as well as these upcoming open houses. We're also working on building out the schedule for the pop-ups and events. So, that will all be on there. Hot off the presses is our information about the open houses. You are the first board and commission to know about this. U, we will be at the Falconer Gallery on Wednesday, April 29th in the evening. and then the Maritime Museum the following day. We'll then have a virtual meeting um during the lunch hour the following week, that first week of May 6th. I'd love to talk to you or anybody else who has any ideas on how we can make this the best project we possibly can. My contact info is shown on the screen here. To help guide your discussion today, we have a series of questions for you. The first is, are we generally headed in the right direction with all the things we've chatted about? Are there other things we need to consider and look at in this next analysis phase? What are we missing? What key questions do you want answered when we do this technical analysis? And do you have any initial thoughts on phasing and timing for these different types of projects? And that concludes my presentation. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for the frank and comprehensive uh presentation. Um so that takes us to comments from members of the public pertaining to this specific item. Miss Carmen, do we have any?

Thank you, Chair Boss. At this time we still don't have anyone in the room with us. We don't have anyone online and we didn't receive any written correspondence for this item. So I'll give it back to you. Great. Um so I appreciate we have the discussion questions up on the um the slide up. Um I think it would be um efficient if we first ask clarifying questions um and then we'll move into feedback and uh guided by those discussion questions. So um just clarifying questions now as opposed to have you thought about doing this? We'll save that for the feedback uh discussion. Um so first we'll ask if you have any questions and I see Commissioner Barnwell first.

Thank you Madam Chair. I some of my questions I think end up I I'll be brief in them and then I'll come back I think in my comments but I'm curious if there is a biological uh solution to some of these problems rather than hardscape landscape which I didn't hear a discussion of. Um also a question of the creek deltas that bring down sand. How is that sand or can that sand be incorporated into expanding our beaches? The um the issue came up two weeks ago about um the protection of the shallow water marine environment. I presume that that falls on you guys, but I don't see any discussion here in that. And by that I mean when we talk about fishing, the pier has a lot of fishermen on it and the fish have disappeared to a great extent over the last 20 years. So how are we how is this plan looking at the underwater component of what we're doing? And and is that legitimately part of what you're doing? I think it would be because we keep using the phrase recreation and fishing is a big part of recreation. Um, are those things in those are I'm turn this into a question. Are those kinds of things you're thinking about to add or because I don't see them in here.

Honorable chair and commissioner Barnwell, thank you for all those questions. Um, we definitely in intend to include nature-based elements to all the solutions we're talking about here. with some preliminary conversations with our consultant. We really view those as additive. We can do things like, you know, do offshore kelp forests. We can do some dune restoration. We can do some living seaw wall type elements that build habitat. At the end of the day, we'll still need some sort of hard protection to prevent the inland flooding component of things. We'll need that back stop regardless. And if we pursue a lot of these things, they will probably done in some sort of hybrid component. So, we very much intend to pursue that as sort of like an additive layer to the ultimate solution. Um, but it's a piece of the puzzle, if that makes sense. Um, and then for the um the creek question about sediment moving down through that, we I might defer to Miss Hedrickk on that one.

Chair Bratz, um, Commissioner Bard, Melissa Hedrickk, adaptation and resilience manager. There there is actually a separate effort going on um countywide um to look at um sediment removal that the county and other jurisdictions do within our creeks and where we can deposit that that material to make it a beneficial use for our beaches. And so um the city is part of that study. um we are interested in making sure that our sand makes it all the way down. Um and so that is another um related effort to this. But one of the things we will be looking at is how anything we do on the waterfront either requires additional sand or changes how how sand's coming out of the rivers or how the river mouths are changing. Um and then what was your last question?

Water. Oh, and then we will be modeling um so we have a whole sediment model and model of how things are changing along the the waterfront. And so for each adaptation option, the there'll be technical analysis showing what happens when we put in say a groin or move the shoreline. And so that will show different um sediment levels over time and how things might build up in certain areas and things like that. So that would inform how certain habitats and things could change, but we're not specifically doing a habitat change analysis, but I think that that's a good comment if if you had that.

Uh thank you. Well, in in in that same uh arena, we have stopped grooming the beach, which we used to do from Lead Bitter all the way to the Clark estate. And we've stopped doing it in the area of the mouth of Mission Creek to allow for that lagoonish thing to occur and and those plants. But we do still groom in other places. Now, I know there's a balance between tourists, but have you done any studies or have you thought about what it would mean to groom less in certain areas and in the doing of that finding some vegetation or some some vegetation revetment against the ocean? Because that's the thing when I when I look at all the other coastal areas, much of the revetment against the ocean tends to be natural. It isn't just a seaw wall. And so that was my question about how we could expand that investigation a little bit more and what it would mean and and if we could do it. And certainly because of our experiences with the squid discussion two weeks ago, it's our responsibility to protect that low that shallow water marine environment and what we're talking about here has not addressed it at all. And I don't know how what we are doing would or would not affect them. So that would be my question. Are we going to look at that? Because I I want to come down kind of heavy on that one.

Honorable chair and commissioner Barnwell, I think that's a great um element that relates to number four, which what's the key questions you want to answer in that follow-on analysis and we can see how it impacts all the things you're talking about. Okay. Well, that was a question I won't do anymore. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Uh, additional clarifying questions. Commissioner Balkkey. Uh, two questions. Uh, one, is there going to be a cost estimate that goes with this program? And the question one and question two, is there going to be a financing uh plan to go with the cost? Yes.

Honorable chair and commissioner Baky, I appreciate the question. The answer is yes, absolutely. So, as part of where we are in this process now, we're trying to figure out what ideas are worth spending the resources on to do all these follow on technical analyses, probably the most important one is how we're going to actually pay for all these things. So, when we release the draft plan, included in that will be a costing component on like order of magnitude costing component as well as a funding strategy to figure out how we're actually going to do all this stuff. So, we're early in the process and that we don't have that information yet, but it will be one of the key things we're going to answer in that next project phase. Thank you. That's my clarifying questions. Great. Thank you.

And if I also might add one thing to that, what's cool about this project is that it's more than just a planning exercise. Included within our existing grant funds and consultant contracts is doing preliminary construction drawings for targeted core measures. So, we will continue through this project momentum to do things as part of this. and the quick wins are envisioned to be done with existing money that we've already held in city reserves. So certainly we'll need outside fundings and creative strategies, but there are elements of this that are already funded or in motion post the plan being adopted. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Commissioner Wiskam,

thank you. Excuse me. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um I think thank you for the presentation. It was great. Um, I'm when I went over this, I'm just really concerned about or I don't know if concerned is the word, but I was puzzled by the fact that there's waterfront improvements and they're not related really to um mitigation for uh coastal erosion and flooding and sea level rise. So, I'm I'm trying to I'm trying to grapple with, you know, why there's things enhancements in there like the striping a new path, which I totally support, but striping a new path um in the West Harbor area to connect to where you join it in the harbor and back to Lead Better. Um why are those things in there? Were they always in in were they always part of the goal of this plan?

Commissioner Wiskum, that's a good question. So where things are related um and where we can tackle them at the same time, we've included them in the plan. So there's not space now for a separate bike path without rem say removing parking or putting it on the sand. And so um that was really folded in pretty early on because our project could also affect parking and the same be in the same location and and we are looking at options that could combine um or be have multi-benefits. So such as having the bike path raised so it's also a flood control device. So to the extent that we can make improvements to the waterfront and make it even better at the same time that we're doing doing um our projects, we're looking at that. We're also looking at the fact that um by improving public access um and coastal dependent uses in several areas, we can also have a better package altogether um that has the balancing aspects needed for permitting and funding. And so we really are looking at those multi-benefit solutions and for instance on West Beach like making it a beach that people are using because we are going to lose the other beaches. So they are all related but if you have any comments related to that of things that you think are kind of left or left field um please let us know.

Okay. Thank you. I just I think um well I would yeah I you know one of the core on page four one of the core measures to start permitting now is um the last bullet has language like expanding services for boating and commercial uses and creating new revenue opportunities that help fund waterfront improvements. And I'm wondering if we're getting con conflicting if you're applying for grants if if the grant the grant uh providers aren't going to say, "Well, what does this have to do with with mitigating for uh erosion, coastal flooding, and sea level rise?" So, I you know, I'm feeling like it's just mixed in there as

Commissioner Wiskam. Um that's another really good question. So um several of these measures actually remove revenue generation. So parking is a re revenue generating for the waterfront in addition to lease spaces. And so we're really looking at, hey, if we have to remove parking to to move back the beach and lead better, where can we replace that revenue so that the waterfront can keep operating, but also how are we going to pay for all this stuff over time because this is just kind of the beginning of a multi-phased approach at the waterfront. And so that's the purpose of the re revenue generation. It's also since that we're looking at the general uses along the waterfront because we're talking about reducing the space that available at the waterfront. There is somewhat looking at like prioritization of uses. How much parking do we really need? And so that's where um kind of like revisioning spaces or keeping that in mind for later is kind of tagged in some areas. Not that we'll be immediately building all these revenue generating things, but again, in order to fund the project and also to keep our operations going, it's something that we need to think about.

Okay. You we need to think about revenue generating. Okay. Okay. I I guess I get that. I think that needs to be as a comment. It needs to be a little bit clearer that um in in the in the report in terms of because when I looked at this, I looked at it as why is why are these improvements that have nothing to do with mitigating uh for sea level rise in here and um so okay, we'll move on from that. I appreciate Miss Hetrick. I appreciate your answers to that. Um so Mr. Bolton, you re you referenced the parking study that was done, right? So, and there are excess spaces at the waterfront in the lots.

Honorable chair and commissioner Whiskcom in the Harbor Main parking lot. Yes. Um, we did Is that Harbor West or is that the main one? Um, that's directly in front of the main one's the one where you you enter the parking lot, you make a lot of goes up. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And there's there's actually some excess parking everywhere in the harbor based on the study we did, but there was more there than anywhere else.

Okay. So, when you go to um can you go to slide 31? I some of these are in the weeds and some of them are sorry about that. But um number four, convert unused area to parking. So, I was confused about that. Um what what that is is that at is that at Lead Better or where is that? Honorable chair and Commissioner Whiskum, thank you for the question on there. It's it's hard to see in this graphic and with any luck you can see my mouse, but over here there's this kind of excess rideway area that's between Shoreline Drive and the existing parking lot that comes in here. It's hard to see it in this graphic, but if you ever drive down Shoreline Drive, look right, and you'll see there's this wide paved area that just has these large planters at random intervals.

So, the idea would be we basically increase the width or depth of the parking lot here to capture that space and then provide additional all these parking spaces more or less along here are shifted back and added relative to what's today. Okay, so that's what we mean by that.

Okay, great. Um Okay. And um there was one correction in your report. I was going to ask you what a headline is, but I looked up the word. I thought I can't find I can't find a definition that so in just in the report it should be headline. Um which I figured out in your presentation. Um let's see. Uh um so I'm I'm a little bit conflicted about your approach to West Beach. I understand that that's the pre that's the going to be the premier sandy beach, but I I just worry about a message that you're sending to add amenities such as a restroom and showers to West Beach when you know the other other areas you want to move the facilities inland or you you know that's one of your um objectives. So, can you address that a little bit or or perhaps maybe it would be better to address it as you move on because cuz that kind of had a red light for me. Why are we saying that's okay when it's not okay, you know, at Lead Better and other facilities that will have to be relocated? Honorable Chair and Commissioner Whiskcom, it's a great question and really it just comes down to how at risk that area is from hazards and really the big one is from a coastal erosion standpoint. So when we look at that modeling, we see that West Beach is going to be really wide for a really long time. Any of the places we're looking about adding new stuff to, we'd be doing that in areas that we don't think are at risk of being eroded into anytime soon. And so that's the big difference from there versus Lead Better East Beach especially. In general, the goal is very much any

infrastructure improvements we're doing, we want to do it in a way that's as far out of the hazard zone as possible and we're not adding risky infrastructure that's going to get destroyed. Okay. Okay. That would probably be good to emphasize that more about West Beach then. Um Okay. And um let's see. Um, so what options have you did you previously considered that you've eliminated from what we're seeing?

Honorable Chair and Commissioner Whiskcom, um, really it's been the honing in for specific areas. So, you know, as I mentioned, there's one option is you just build a seaw wall along our entire waterfront. So, that we started and we looked at the whole spectrum of things and that was an option. And then we started to look at the trade-offs and then more or less whittle down that as an op as not a viable option anywhere except for the greater harbor commercial area. So, that's one example. Um, we've looked at a bunch of other things that are still sort of in question with these concepts of like where do you actually locate the bike path? There's ongoing conversations about keeping it as close to the water as possible or moving it inland so it doesn't have to be as tall. Um we've looked at um like at one point there was a bigger conversation about potentially uh redoing the breakwater and at least the initial conversations are that doing a wave screen may be way more cost effective. Um so there's been some little things like that along the way. It's really been trying to refine the spectrums to be most appropriate for the specific areas if that makes sense. Looks like Miss Hetrick has something to add.

Yeah, Commissioner Commissioner Whiskum. Um, we also have been and are continuing to think about whether or not things like grow and headlands are are better sooner or later. Um our initial thoughts are that these core measures are likely needed either way even if we put in those. Um and as you know those are can be quite controversial. So you can spend a lot of time spinning your wheels on a project like that. Um and so we're really trying to focus on what is actually needed in the next 30 years while looking toward the future. But that's also something we're looking at. We have gotten a lot of questions like why haven't we considered raising Cababrio Boulevard or relocating Cababrio Boulevard? And as you know, as part of the sea level adaptation plan, we did take that like 100red-year look at options.

And the focus of this effort is really that time period when our waterfront's more or less the way it is now, except for with some changes as far as uses. Um but before the time period where we need like largecale changes to the city that might be needed um that would involve a lot a lot um more protection. And so we're really keeping the focus um on the core measures south of Cababrio Boulevard except for where we need like replacements of things like if we need additional parking or because we're removing parking but we are not at this time looking at raising Kio Boulevard or rerouting it because from our perspective these projects would be needed first anyways. Um and so just that's kind of the way we're thinking about it but again open to comments on the process. Okay. And when we did the sea level rise adaptation plan, the did are you doing work with uh Galita and Karp are or coordinating with them on on this plan? Because I I I think I recall when I was on that committee and I think I recall that they're impacted by what we do. Isn't that correct? KARK would be right. Is that right?

Yes, Commissioner Whiskum. That's exactly right. I mean the areas we are impact we are impacted by our own actions. If we were to put a headland at lead better it would affect sand supplies to east beach. Um so yes we are all affected particularly down coast areas and we all want to work together. So yes we are closely coordinating with our with our neighboring partners. Good. Okay. And are they are they at the same kind of stage that you are or are you kind of leading the effort? Honorable Chair and Commissioner Whiskcom, I think as a community, Santa Barbara's out ahead of a lot of places in California

and that we already have that comprehensive longerterm look at sea level rise through our citywide adaptation plan and then we're now implementing it of which this is one of the highest priority actions that came out of that project. So, there are some other communities that are in a similar place down south, Oceanside. Um, there's some others, but we're ahead of most communities in addressing the low rise. Um that being said, as Miss Hedrickk said, we are in close coordination with our adjacent partners. Good. And some things like the um sediment management work, we're in direct coordination with which certainly affects us all.

Good. Thank you for that. Um I think I think that pretty much covers all I have at this point. Um Um Oh, just one more. I had one more question. Um Oh, yeah. Okay. I I think that um under the core measures to for to start permitting now you talk about and I've said this before expanding services for boating and commercial uses and creating new revenue opportunities to help fund the waterfront improvements. Um, do you have specific examples of this at this point or um because you do say start permitting now. So, I'm just wondering if there are specific examples of the opportunities to um to create new revenue for the waterfront if that's honorable chair and commissioner Wiskum. In terms of improving the boating experience, we've heard clear demand to improve the launch ramp area. That's been something that's come up also in the sort of western lower western portion of the harbor commercial areas where they do a lot of the work on the like the dry boat work and so looking at ways to expand that facility because there's they quite frankly need more space than they have today. So that those are some of the reconfiguration things we're looking at. Those though would be part of the core measures when we're reconfiguring uses. So that wouldn't we'd start this next phase is when we would go into like the details of what this would look like for permitting.

Um so we have some initial ideas but that's we'll have more details when we release the draft plan. Okay. I just as a comment I'm not supposed to comment right now but as a comment I think you need that that this is a really general um core measure. I think you maybe need to add some specifics to it even, you know, if they don't become realities just so people understand what that is. So, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm done. Thank you, Vice Chair Delucio.

Okay. Thank you. Um, you did a great job, you guys, on this and I've been following it on city council and everything. So, uh, this is great. So, you're using a consultant to do this. What is the background of the consultant? What experience does he have? He has obviously experience but what's he's worked with other cities or in California?

Honorable chair and commissioner delusio. So we have a multidisiplinary consulting team. Stantech is the prime consultant on this and they're supported by environmental science associates ESA bionic CRC coastal recreation consultants as well well as summit environmental. ESA's been involved with quite a number of our projects since the very beginning, including doing the technical modeling work for our citywide sea level rise adaptation plan. Um, Bionics brought a great experience from the landscape and public outreach side of things. And then Stantech has a local office here and also has at least countrywide but maybe beyond that scope too from doing coastal engineering. So they're they're a big corporate firm with a really um deep deck and some great staff members on that team. Um so there's a strong background from everyone on our team in doing this type of work.

And I can see that's from what's what you're producing here. So um so basically right now you've done there's been analysis and and modeling done and there's uh and you've um collected data and all that you're outreaching. So there's no plan yet. You just have the analysis and the modeling and and information like this. You're presenting it to us right now. Correct.

Yeah. Honorable chair and commissioner Ducio, you're absolutely right. We this outreach process is a bit earlier than often times things come to you. We wanted to do this initial phase of outreach before things were too fully baked because it's it takes a lot of resources to do all the technical analysis on all this stuff. What's cool about this project is based on the model we created, we'll be able to do an intervention. It's the, you know, explore the groin idea. We put that groin in, how does it change the beach? How does it change the risk? How does it do this, that, and the other thing? And so, right now, we're just trying to figure out what things are worth spending those resources on so we're not spinning our wheels when we come back and have way more of the details of what's in this thing. So that's why the the questions here are a bit higher level of just like does it seem like we're headed in the right direction and

if we're missing anything or things are out of left field let us know so we can not look at them. So these are um using city dollars or are they coming from the enterprise zone the dollars for this project?

Honorable chair and commissioner Ducio appreciate that question. This project is primarily funded through grant funding. So we have grants from the California Coastal Commission and the California Coastal Conservancy. They are funding the entirety of the consultant contract as well as a good amount of the staff time for city staff working on this project. The city is also contributing u monies in the form of inind staff dollars to support this work effort because we have a big interdep departmental staff team working on this. We have a great core team as well as a broader city team with representation from our parks and recck department, from our waterfront department, from planning. There's it's a big list. So, in other words, when you structure the actual plan that we will see, um, it'll be structured in a way where it will allow make it easy, and I think, uh, Commissioner Whiskam alluded to this, to get to get funding the way the plan is positioned.

Yes. So I would I would also just note that um it's important that we kind of package it all together for permitting purposes too because to the extent we're putting in hard infrastructure and then need to restore areas to balance it out etc is important and um getting back to the point that Miss Whisk Commissioner Whiskum brought up um really permitting anything new at the waterfront right now is really difficult with regard to coastal permitting because it's hard to make the safety findings going out in time without a plan for what we're doing

because of sea level rise. And so really to get any new project permitted out there requires this type of planning now. Um and so some of the projects you see in there are just coming immediately after this because they couldn't quite propose what they were going to propose without this bigger analysis of what's going to come. And so that's why it's kind of more and more things kind of get packaged into this project because they're waiting on this analysis to be able to get permitted if that makes sense.

And you'll have u when the plan is put together there'll be a page of objectives and stuff because the thing I I don't see here right now is obviously um I understand why we're doing this is um besides um it's a public safety issue. is it's for health safety reasons and also has to preserve you know our environment and also for um tourists and for the pleasure of the residents. So I I see the um things about enhancing stuff in this so far we're talking about but and I know the execution is probably is alluding to uh the way you're doing it is to preserve and and and safety measures. though, but I don't I'm I'm I'm taking my takeaway is that, but I I think it needs to be spelled out perhaps more in to the actual plan that you produce. Um and then also, well, there'll this is a a 30-year plan and um so you'll have quick this quick uh the quick fixes and and the core measures that that leads up to the 30 years, the core measures. Honorable Chair um and Commissioner Delusio, yes, the goal is that um any measures we're putting in from the core measures provide at least 30 years of protection, if not more. They will take a bit of time to permit to fund to build um but that is the goal. Yes, that they provide 30 years of protection.

And then will the when you put the plan together, I imagine there'll be um intervals where you'll be reviewing the plan. Yes, absolutely. the idea with all of this there'll be a phasing adaptive management component to all of this because I'm sure over the 30 years a lot of technology is going to change and also um so there'll be flexibility built into the plan in other words okay honorable chair and commissioner ducio yes that's correct um then just a couple more questions um it's interesting the east versus a west beach the erosion and um so you will be balancing out the the approach will be balanced out where the fixes need to be need in the plan. It sounds like the the east beach needs is going to need a lot more work than the west beach.

Yeah, Commissioner um Delio, the reason for that is that the harbor breakwater essentially traps sand and makes West Beach bigger over time. That's the only even though there people get confused because they're right next to each other why it is that the beaches are so different but that really is it's really just because West Beach has the Harbor Breakwater in front of it. And so yeah, to the extent that we see say erosion of the volleyball courts at East Beach and can move some of them to West Beach, we're really looking at it as how can we replace park space that's lost. How can we, you know, replace the various uses that we might have to move?

Just two more questions. The relocation of assets, you you began to talk about I know I know this is more input and things are going to change when it comes back to us and goes to the council. Um, but in the harbor area, what I what I you mentioning that uh you may consider maybe on some of the parking area to build a commercial. Is that because what's there now may need to be moved. Honorable chair and commissioner Delusio, the Are you talking about the economic development stuff in the parking lot? Well, yeah, because you made a comment about how you the parking lot you could consider.

Sure. Yeah. So that that's primarily it's um relates to Commissioner Wiskam's comments and Miss Hetrick's response to that about we're trying to find ways to ensure that our operations and management of the greater waterfront remain solvent over time. So if we're taking things that generate revenue like parking and moving it elsewhere, we got to make up for that in some ways. So the move there isn't really about directly hazard protection as it is to provide funding for both ongoing operations but also all of these things are going to cost a lot of money and even with outside funding we'll need some sort of city match so to provide revenue streams internally to help do that.

Okay. And then final question is um which I'm intrigued by is the elevated walking and bike path. Can you um tell me a little more about that? Um what it what it will do and um you know and how will you know how it will protect you know the beach and all that.

Honorable chair and commissioner Delusio really the concept of the elevated walking and biking path. It's similar to like a living levy if you've heard that term. So it's providing a vertical measure that prevents water from being able to flood the inland areas. And really, it's this idea of if we're going to make the transportation improvements, let's address flooding at the same time with the same multi-benefit thing. It'll help us get funding. It'll make it easier to permit. Like there's there's reasons to do these things together are ideas that the ultimate design we're we need to figure out that will happen in the next phase. But it could be some sort of thing where you have like terracing and low angles and you build it so it's more feels like a park than just the separated levy function. So, we're looking at how much space we have to do this combination type facility, but that's the idea is more or less it serves as a levy to prevent water from the ocean impacting lower downtown and our inland neighborhoods in an elevated configuration if that makes sense.

Yes, it does. Okay, thank you. Those are my questions, I guess. Thank you. A couple clarifying questions. Um, first on slide 39, the lead better storm drain relocation, where is it now? Honorable chair, the what happens now is so essentially before Oh, sorry. Lead better. I thought Yes, that's that's the right one. Oh, you're talking about Beach House. Were you talking about West Beach or I'm sorry. Yes, West Beach. I'm sorry.

So, right now, um because West Beach didn't used to exist before the Harbor Bridgewater was put in the storm drains there, there used to not be a beach at all. So the water went all the way up to essentially where the bike path is. And so the storm drains actually end at the bike path and dump water at the beginning of the beach and essentially create a huge swimming pool of storm water where there's debris and and it just hardens the sand and kind of mucks up the sand. Um and that's why it's a sub ideal in sub ideidal conditions. And so really the idea here is to redo the storm drain system to extend it or concentrate it and extend it out so it's not just discharging right onto the beginning of the beach.

Thank you. Now I know why there's that area. Um and then uh slide 42, there was an area for a parking garage and I couldn't quite tell where that was or what's there now. Honorable chair, that is the current Garden Street lot. So that's on the corner of Garden and Cababrio, and we probably should label that. So that's a good point. Thank you.

Thank you. Um and then a question about um when the the plan is further developed, will specific populations be considered? And I'm specifically um thinking about our unhoused community members um or people who are living in vehicles um who might be living in the area and how they'll be affected by whatever plans are put forward. Honorable chair, I think that's something we can definitely include in this follow-on analysis. That's a good comment of things that you'd like to see answered when we do that. Okay. Thank you. Um any other clarifying questions needed? Yes. Yes. Uh, Commissioner Wiskum,

thank you, Madam Chair. Just one question. Um, this has come up many times before, but the the parking lot um across from Lead Better over over at City College. Um, that I know that has a lease on it for City College leases that. Have have you looked into that in terms of utilizing that space or um even reconfiguring it, restriping it or something to get more parking in there or taking over some space there.

Honorable Chair and Commissioner Whiskum, that's the area we're looking at doing the multi-story parking garage on to really expand the number of spaces there. the city owns the the underground actual land there and then we have a joint use agreement with city college for management and use of that lot.

Um so we're exploring options there. It's an initial idea. We haven't met with them yet. We will be soon um to start those conversations to see what folks want to see there. But we can also look yeah to see if within without doing a multi-story if there's ways to get more spaces by restriping that area. We can certainly look at that. kind of it's kind of a I don't know puzzle of spaces now. So, um it might might be might be um looked at in terms of making it more efficient. So, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Um so, I know you got a little bit of feedback there um with some of our questions. Um but we'll move to the discussion questions. So around design direction, additional options, priorities and trade-offs, key questions for analysis and timing and phasing. I think we'll try to summarize our comments at the end as well. So um we'll start with Commissioner Balky.

I'll just go through the list. First off, very good presentation and I'm glad you're looking at this very very comprehensive and looking at both dealing with the environmental hazard issues, but there are other things that the coastal commission will be looking for at the same time and their policy framework. And I see you trying to find that mesh uh and you're doing a good job of it. So, uh, I don't have any concerns with what you're proposing. Uh, I think you're on the right framework. Additional options. I have I've been racking my mind as to additional options. I think we might want to be a little bit more aggressive on the sand retention side of things if the headlands at least is to the extent uh because I think that's the key thing is if there is no beach uh at least sandy beach we sort of lose our uh we'll call it marketing uh position in the uh with other communities um and as I mentioned before you know financing and cost estimates and all that sort of an interactive thing. But I think at the same time we need to understand that this is a pretty heavy lift at the end of the day. Uh now whether or not uh the city of Santa Barbara wants to follow Portland with some kind of climate uh tax or something or pollution tax to our friends of the pro chemical industry who are creating this problem. Uh we'll leave that to the council on a policy question, but I think there's definitely a need to come up with some kind of funding mechanism that's tied to the causation that we're dealing with. Um as to additional uh thoughts and phasing, I would say the heavy lift of the elevated

levy uh multimodal system. You're sort of getting two things at once. We should really focus on the feasibility of that real soon because I think that's the one item that you have here that can make the biggest change both from a hazard protection standpoint and as somebody that spends my formative years in the south levies are a thing that's used in lots of the country to deal with situations of flooding the problem is and sometimes the you don't want the situation that there's water on the wrong side of the levy and and and so that that's that's a complicated thing, but you know, we don't want to create a bathtub, too. So, um, but I think you're on the right track, and I look forward to the work that you're, uh, pursuing, and I I think you've made good steps on this one. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Barnwell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I I I want to echo all those remarks about how truly wonderful this is to tackle this project. it that beach stretch in terms of all the things you can do and then the the the average person's interface with the environment is literally the lungs of our entire town. And so it's essential and I know you know this that we look at all of the components of it. We talk about parking and we talk about sand, but we haven't talked about the lawn. And I go down there five or six times a week. I walk down there and the lawn that's over on East Beach is used repeatedly for soccer games. And the lawn to the East Beach side of Sterns Wararf is where we have our art shows. And the lawn over on Lead Better Beach is also a huge component of the public experience of going to the beach. I say that because I think a missing ingredient in here is just I'll use the general term. It's probably not the correct one. Landscaping. Um, and I want to I want to say one more time the underwater environment as well as the abovewater environment. I happened to be on this planning commission years ago when a study was done by scuba divers at the end of Stern's Wararf and it was it was horrific at how there were no kelp beds and the fish were disappearing. And I think if we could make an analogy, what if all the palm trees disappeared?

We'd go, "Oh my god, we need to focus on that. We don't see the underwater, so we really don't know what's going on there. But this seems to me like a perfect time to begin to incorporate an awareness of that because we are talking we are using phrases of recreation and working a working harbor and a recreational place and that undersea environment is a huge component of that. So I would I would suggest that we give it a little more biological uh look rather than just simply an engineering hardscape. Although the engineering hardscape of course is super important. Um I agree with my esteemed commissioner, Miss Wiskam, who said that some components of your report don't seem to directly fit into how we handling the the water intrusion issue. And then you explained adequately that they're part of a fundraising process that will help us pay for these things. specifically. I think she mentioned the um the little area um um next to to the west side of West Beach where you're going to put in some so in the writing of the report if you can separate these out you know we're going to do this but then look at to support that we do so that the report itself reads in some logical way as to what your focuses are using that beach frequently I think putting some commercial right along there would be a really great thing to do because it's filled with volleyball players and they're all looking for some place to get a hot dog or a cup of coffee and there isn't anything unless they walk for you know 500 ft. Um there's a hole in the pier at the very far end where you can look down to the pilings.

I have vivid memories of that being covered with starfish. There's not a starfish one on those pilings. I can remember little kids and tourists pointing to them. That's the kind of thing that I think relates to what are we watching? How are we caretakers for that underwater environment? Because it has changed so dramatically. Um, I think also if we can look at how the the deltas of these creeks Oh, another question. Um, when I went to Honolulu, I was shocked at how the texture of the sand changed as I walked along Wiki Beach, it was and some of it being a general contractor, some of it looked like constru felt like construction sand. And it turned out it was. It turns out they drive trucks out there and they dump sand on Wiki Beach to keep the ocean from coming in too close to uh the Moana Hotel. Have we ever thought about trucking in sand or doing something like that as a also a potential? Honorable chair and commissioner Barnworld. Yes, that's definitely a part of this and that would be in the broad category of beach nourishment. One of the mechanisms to do that is by truck. The challenge is depending on the volumes that can be

very expensive and very carbon intensive too. So if you're doing a bigger project with a lot of nourishment, oftentimes we end up doing it by barge instead of by truck. But yes, that's absolutely a portion of the toolbox and something we're looking at. Thank you.

Uh thank you. And I um I don't think I have any more, Madam Chair. I just I just also want to say I I greatly appreciate you coming to us in this formulative phase of this thing. We can you know give you some and everyone the community and everyone else give you some uh heads up on the topic so that when you do finally draw up this report you've really reached out and got a hold of everything. Um thank you very very much. Thank you Commissioner Wiskam.

Thank you Madam Chair. Um okay thank you very much. I I also agree that um I appreciate you're coming to us at this stage of the of the process. Um the um so number one initial concerns I' I've been over it. I think um and I think Commissioner Barnwell just mentioned it too. We need a better explan explanation of integrating um the mitigation with creating new revenue opportunities um for expanding services and boating and commercial uses. And you do you do talk about that a little bit in um on your website underwaterfront adaptation. Um and it's just one long sentence. Um but uh enhanced rec recreation, commerce, beach access, habitat, and critical infrastructure. So I think that's a sentence, but you just need to go into a little more detail. So the dots are really well connected, if that makes sense. Um, and then, um, number two, um, I think it was Commissioner Balky. No, who talked about Mission Creek? Was that That was you. Yeah. Okay. That was Commissioner Barnwell. Um, I didn't see anything in there about that, but I think there should be some sort of Do you want to respond to that or

Yes, Commissioner Whiskum. Um we are look making sure that we're not causing any impacts to how Mission Creek and Lagona function. Um one of the concerns that was has been raised is because um if the if the beach berm um at the Mission Lagoona outlet and the Sycamore one gets too high, it can actually cause inland flooding, right? And so, um, one of the things we'll be looking at when we look at these different interventions is how it might build up the beach in different locations and trying to make sure that that doesn't happen. In general, we're kind of reserving that area um to be studied further um later. Um, mostly because we are doing that Laguna resiliency study. So really looking at um flood control and restoration options with the Laguna wershed which is really the source of a lot of our nuisance flooding right now during rainfall events and we don't have those options yet. So we just don't want to design that area without knowing what's going to be needed for that area. So really what we have in there right now is just kind of placeholder. We we haven't done any big visioning exercise for that area. Um but we are hoping that it can be improved. um in the future and restored and and um visually as well as habitat.

Okay. Thank you for that. Um okay. And then um Commissioner Barnwwell talked about lawns. I think that's important. There's a lot of places where people picnic and stuff like that. And I think you should bring that up in your report in terms of um the impact that that some of these measures will have to the the lawn areas um at our beaches because they're very well used all the time. So um and number four, key questions you want answered in the detailed followon analysis. um the core measure of in the harbor commercial area of expanding services for boating and um uh commercial uses and creating more uh revenue opportunities to help fund improvements. I think that's needs to really be expanded on. Um uh key question is what are these you know what are these projects that you're talking about? um what are these new revenue opportunities? You give us a couple examples of that. Okay. And I don't have any thought on phasing. I think that's something that you leave to the experts because there's funding, there's permitting, there's timing, there's a whole bunch of things that go into that. Um I too would like to see more e exploration on an artificial reef. I know that these have been done in other communities. I know up in the state of Washington, one of my friends actually who's a landscape architect did one um and I know that I think the commercial fisherman have talked about that. But um it would be good to coordinate with that

and and have a look at that and um and I hope that you are involving groups like the commercial fishermen of Santa Barbara in in this effort. Um, and I just as a last comment, um, I agree with Commissioner Balky about sand retention and also, um, emphasizing beach nourishment within our budget constraints. Um, but I thank you for for bringing this to us and um, I hope that we've been helpful to you and we wish you luck in the future. You you're doing a great job. No, you really are. This come a long way. I remember seeing you down at the down at the harbor that day doing the talking to people all day about it. So, it's great. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair Deluchio.

I don't think you need luck. I think you're doing a great job on this. And um I number one, options, you're headed in the right direction. I don't have any initial uh concerns. Number two, additional options should be evaluated. I think my fellow commissioners touched on that a little bit. um miss missing objectives or priorities. I realize that the plan is going you're collecting data now then you'll flush it out then you'll put a plan together because I'm not really um I just want to be sure when we do the objectives that it's laid out right now I'm getting taking away from this obviously um I know it's there safety concerns here but that's not really coming through to me here is me I'm getting I'm reading from this objectives like um economic economics to pay for it. I'm reading things like um um the enhancements, speech enhancements. I'd like to see maybe more fleshed out, you know, the um the public safety aspect of it, the human portion of it and the also the public envir and and how this is a u to protect this as an environmental resource. So, I'd just like to see things like that. Um I think that'll probably come out when you when you flesh it all out in the objectives. And then um number four and five. Well, I have just my other thoughts would be obviously you're when you put the plan together um you already mentioned it'll be a flexible plan. Uh I mean flexible in in the sense of um you're predicting where we're going to need to put the efforts but something an emergency or something can come up where you where the flexibility needs to come in and you need to um go maybe from east beach to west beach. So, um, and then, um, and also, um, funding options, which I, which we haven't seen that yet, but I'm I'm sure that'll be in here, too. And the way this plan is structured, where we can take advantage of, um, which you do a great job on grants, but we can take, you know, get funding for this because we don't get federal funding or state funding,

it's going to be really we'll be in a really difficult uh, situation. So, um, and then obviously you've mentioned Spanish engagement you're going to be doing on this as well. Um, and and again, you're going to be reviewing this on intervals and because I know a lot new techni technology is going to come along over the years and um, so anyway, those are my thoughts. Thank you very much.

Great. Thank you. A couple of additional comments from me. Um, in terms of design direction, if you're restriping the first row of parking, I'd agree um to protecting or elevating it. So, I think we've heard about the um elevated levy. Um I think we've talked about the financing a bit, but I think emphasizing the cost comparison, I think it I was struck by the $3 million a year to respond to this. um as opposed to it might be more, but it's a long-term solution to its real adaptation. So, I think emphasizing that for the public is helpful when we see big dollar signs. Um, also emphasizing the um I think I forget which slide it was, but I think it was the goals of like save the sandy beach versus the the seaw wall solution was helpful. So, um making sure to include that in in the actual plan. uh and that I mentioned specific populations as well. Um so I'm thinking about again folks who are um who are living unsheltered um who are especially affected and I'm in particular thinking about one of the storms we had in the last few years where the Veterans Memorial Building on Cababrio um was an emergency shelter warming center for the day um because that's where people were so they could walk there. Um but me having to deliver water and um food there was a big challenge because I couldn't drive there. So how are we planning for people who are living unsheltered in the area that's affected who are seeking shelter in that area and then how are we also planning for people who have to deliver emergency food um to those areas. So I think those specific um vulnerable populations are always important to include. Um if there no other feedback then I'll do my best to summarize.

That's okay. I'll try. All right. And um uh and these may move around between you know question one and four. Uh but uh I think under design direction we talked about an elevated levy. Um appreciating early engagement in this process. Um, important to acknowledge and emphasize safety concerns and multilingual engagement. Under additional options, uh, consider being more aggressive with sand retention, headlands. Include lawn or landscaped areas and their recreational, um, or other uses. Consider the underwater environment from, um, kelp to starfish to, um, artificial reef. uh consider economic development or food service in areas where it's not currently available. Need an analysis of impacts from and on creeks as a creek delta's mission creek. Look at beach nour nourishment um trucking or barging in sand and involve commercial fisher people and priorities and tradeoffs looking at the cost comparisons and the goals and integrate mitigation with enhancing commerce economic development and voting. There are key questions for analysis. Uh financing including potentially climate other kind of levy um cost estimates harbor commercial revenue producing opportunities flexibility. Um so pri know what we're prioritizing but uh make sure that we're building in flexibility in case of emergencies and consider specific vulnerable populations and emergency response. Then under timing and phasing um the elevated levy again prioritizing sand retention um and really deferring to

experts on some of the the recommendations for timing. Did I miss any key feedback? No. All right. So I don't think we need a motion. You just need a general feedback. Correct. Okay. No motion. No, we don't need a but we like to do motions.

No action needed. it is listed as a discussion item. Um, well, thank you again for your time. Really appreciate the early engagement and the thoughtful way that you're you're going about this. So, thank you. All right. And it I'm because it's not an action, I don't think there's any appeal period. Correct. Okay. All right. Well, then we will close that item. Thank you again for your time and effort and we'll move on to our administrative portion of our agenda beginning with the committee and leaison reports. staff hearing officer leaison. I'm gonna uh spare you this week and next week I'll have a couple of reports HLC and um HS staff her hearing officer reports unless our esteemed secretary wants to give one.

Well, the meeting last week wasn't very eventful but the meeting next week will be for sure. Yes, it will be. Absolutely. He'll have feedback from that. Yes, it'll be on on the Melpus project. Great. Uh, Commissioner Barnwell, uh, for other leazison reports. I I just wanted to remind everybody that there's going to be a state of the cities conference at the what I mistakenly call the Red Lion, but I think it's the Hilton, right? The Hilton Hotel. So, in case you can go. Thank you. I will um interject there that I understand that we'll be getting some announcements or updates about um permit streamlining at State of the Cities. So, looking forward to that. tomorrow.

Any other committee or leazison reports? Okay. Discussion on subcommittees and workshops. Um so I I think we've we've discussed this in the past, but if there is a request for uh workshops, um you can send that to staff. Uh for example, we've had a training on the planning process. We've asked about legislative updates. This fall we'll have an annual progress report and update on the housing element. Got a report on Brown Act, but if there are other requests um please do send those to staff. So any final Commissioner Barwell. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We've talked about this uh planning commission looking at issues related to housing and and an inventory of city property and things like that, right? Mhm. And did we also did we also mention the idea that we need to realize that we've lost planning tools when it comes to downtown development and we need to maybe have some kind of an awareness of what tools are left to us because there are no longer parking requirements for example state height limitations etc different. I think that's something that would be worthy of a little gathering of uh eagles.

Thank you. And we do have that noted under legislative updates, the impact of legislation such as no parking. So, um, yes, to be continued in one of the the future workshops. Any other comments for today? If not, it is now 2:39 and that concludes our April 9th, 2026 planning commission hearing. Our next meeting is tenatively scheduled for April 16th, 2026. Thank you.