OneShoreline’s Planning Policy Guidance

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Why develop a Planning Policy Guidance?

Over the course of the past few years, weather extremes in San Mateo County were extraordinary in terms of dramatic changes from drought to deluge and we saw repeated, substantial flooding. Meanwhile, the development and redevelopment of our cities and unincorporated areas goes on, guided by the general plans, specific plans, and zoning ordinances that reflect our values and priorities on issues like housing affordability and supply, economic vitality, transportation routes, safety, equity, and open space. While weather extremes have impacted these key aspects of our communities, until recently climate change has not materially affected the planning documents that guide them and local decision-making regarding where and how development should occur. 

This issue is urgent as new development and redevelopment projects along this county’s Bay shoreline are being proposed frequently, and they are intended to function for decades, during which time the impacts of climate change will grow. These projects should be designed to function under future conditions, including extreme storms and rising sea level and groundwater, and be synchronized with regional resilience efforts to avoid the difficult and costly effort to retrofit these assets later.

To meet these objectives, OneShoreline is proud to introduce its Planning Policy Guidance – a voluntary resource for the twelve cities within San Mateo County and the County itself that are directly impacted by the Bay. While each city has different priorities and processes to shape its future, the transformative impacts of climate change, including extreme storms and rising sea level and groundwater, do not respect their jurisdictional boundaries. Thus, through this Planning Policy Guidance, as well as ongoing engagement with each city and project proponents, OneShoreline seeks to align the long-term protection and enhancement of our communities and serve as a model for other areas facing similar challenges. 

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Background

The Planning Policy Guidance is the culmination of a multi-year effort that began in 2021 when the City of Burlingame reached out to OneShoreline for assistance in developing a chapter focused on sea level rise in its citywide zoning ordinance update. Burlingame’s Public Access, Flood and Sea Level Rise Resilience Performance Guidelines became effective in January 2022, and South San Francisco (SSF) soon followed with its own Flood Plain/Sea Level Rise Overlay in its updated zoning code adopted in October 2022. In 2022, OneShoreline also engaged with the cities of San Carlos and San Mateo to account for climate-driven flooding, sea level rise, and groundwater rise in their General Plan Draft Goals, Policies, and Actions.

Since first developing its recommended template language for these zoning code updates, OneShoreline has incorporated lessons learned from the implementation of these planning documents and regulations, and in early 2023, created an Administrative Draft of the Planning Policy Guidance that received over 300 comments received from the County, 10 cities along the County’s Bay shoreline, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG), San Francisco Estuary Institute, and consulting firms with expertise in land use planning and engineering. After incorporating these comments, OneShoreline staff released the Public Draft of the Planning Policy Guidance for a 30-day public comment period from April 19 to May 19, 2023. OneShoreline staff – with consultant support from Good City Company – then reviewed and incorporated over 200 comments and questions received on the Public Draft from 21 entities, including public agencies, private developers, engineering consultants, environmental organizations, environmental justice organizations, and private citizens. The result of these efforts is the Final Draft of the Planning Policy Guidance that is now published for your review.

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What is the Planning Policy Guidance?

OneShoreline’s Planning Policy Guidance is intended to be a standardized, yet evolving, resource for cities and the County to account for anticipated increases in flooding, sea level rise, and shallow groundwater rise due to climate change in two key areas:

1. Planning documents (general and specific plans, zoning ordinances), and
2. Approvals of new private development projects in areas near the Bay subject to these foreseeable climate impacts.

• This document is written for jurisdictions and everyone who wishes to weigh in on land use planning and development near the Bay shoreline of San Mateo County. The intended audience of the Planning Policy Guidance is the County of San Mateo and the twelve cities within its boundaries that are directly impacted by sea level rise from the Bay, including Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo, and South San Francisco. In addition, this document is designed to advance conversations regarding climate resilience in new development among regulatory agencies and organizations interested in housing, transportation, utilities, environmental protection, environmental justice, and other matters. The specific hazards and jurisdictional landscape along the County’s Pacific coast are substantially different from the Bayside and thus planning guidance is also substantially different (a current resource on this topic is the California Coastal Commission’s guidance on sea level rise planning).

• This document is voluntary guidance, not mandatory regulations. Jurisdictions along San Mateo County’s Bay shoreline are highly encouraged to include Planning Policy Guidance provisions in key planning documents and processes.

• This document is an actionable template, not a reference document only. While accounting for future conditions does require a perspective shift, this document is designed to be as implementable as possible, with chapters of template text to insert into pre-existing processes and documents (Chapter II: General and Specific Plans, Chapter III: Zoning Amendments, Chapter IV: Project Review Checklist, and Chapter V: Standard Conditions of Approval).

• This document is focused on new or substantial private development, not existing development or public infrastructure. OneShoreline’s current focus is to ensure new private developments are sited and designed to accommodate protection infrastructure. Complementary guidance on integrating climate risks into capital planning is anticipated in 2024.

• This document is evolving, not static. OneShoreline intends to periodically update this document as new climate science – including projections regarding storms, sea level rise, and groundwater rise – become available, and as lessons are learned from the implementation of this guidance by local jurisdictions.

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2 Key Features of the Planning Policy Guidance