County of San Mateo Office of Sustainability
The County of San Mateo’s 2018 Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment highlights the county as the most vulnerable in California to sea level rise in terms of property value at risk. The assessment identified 43 County-owned facilities located in the 3.3 feet of sea level rise scenario, and fifty facilities in the 6.6 feet of sea level rise scenario. An additional south county assessment identified five significant facilities at risk to long-term sea level rise.
The intent of this policy is to understand the vulnerability of County-owned property and assets over their life cycle; develop an incremental approach to adaptation based on the current and future level of risk; and coordinate with other communities on developing regional solutions.
Pathways Climate Institute, in collaboration with Carollo Engineers, is supporting the County of San Mateo Office of Sustainability to develop a suite of tools to mainstream compliance with the policy across all county departments. The tools include an easy-to-use checklist, online map viewer, comprehensive guidebook and customized trainings for department staff.
Pathways and Carollo conducted department-based interviews to understand how each department currently complies with the policy, what data needs and gaps exist, and what types of projects trigger the policy. A best practices review, focused on researching and interviewing other agencies, was performed prior to developing the tools.