Assessment Chapter Contra Costa County Adapting to Rising Tides Project Parks and Recreation The San Francisco Bay area has more than one million acres of open space including regional, local and state parks. However, only 25,000 acres of this open space is along the shoreline1. These open spaces share the shoreline with seaports, residential development, airports, interstate highways, business parks and many other uses. The high density of development along the shoreline leaves little space for developing new major shoreline parks, so current and future demand for shoreline recreation will likely need to be met by existing parklands. However, as sea level rises and storm events begin to cause more extensive and longer duration flooding, park and recreation assets along the shoreline will become costlier to maintain, have services disrupted and compromised and some may disappear entirely. This will diminish the important regional role that shoreline parks and recreation serve in providing ecosystem and community services, and in defining, improving and maintaining the Bay Area’s quality of life. Shoreline parks in the Bay Area are often comprised of marsh habitat, wetlands, bluffs and other natural areas that bring communities in direct contact with the Bay and its natural resources. The Bay Area’s shoreline parks are most often used for walking, nature-viewing, and picnic areas but also provide shoreline-specific recreational opportunities such as kayaking launches, beach access, and fishing piers. In addition to recreation, these shoreline parks provide a variety of benefits, including critical wildlife habitat for aquatic, terrestrial, and avian species, reduced flood risks to inland communities, and improved public health. These valuable services may be lost as these natural shorelines face increased wave and tidal energy, and in some locations, longer duration periods of flooding or permanent flooding as sea level rises. Shoreline parks serve as de facto coastal flood protection for much of Alameda and Contra Costa counties; these areas were developed and are managed as park and recreation areas, not coastal flood protection for inland areas. In some parks this protection consists of structural shoreline components, such as levees and riprap shoreline; others provide natural shoreline protection through wetlands and coastal bluffs. Shoreline parks buffer Bay Area communities from flooding events in three ways. The first is by detaining stormwater in wetlands and permeable surfaces. The second is by reducing the height and strength of waves across wetlands, which reduces the need for expensive shoreline protection like levees and seawalls. The third is by serving as a setback from the Bay, separating denser and more sensitive development from storms and sea level rise. Sea level rise will increase the importance of the role of shoreline parks and natural areas as critical flood and stormwater management services. 1 Staff Report Recreation and San Francisco Bay July 7, 2006, http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/pdf/planning/bpa_02_06/bpa_02_06_rpt.pdf FEBRUARY 2016 1 Assessment Chapter Contra Costa County Adapting to Rising Tides Project Another important benefit of park and recreation areas is the economic benefit provided to communities and regions that have functional open space systems. EBRPD analyzed the economic benefits of all its 111,000 parkland acres, including shoreline parks, and found that the park system in Contra Costa and Alameda counties provides $200 million in direct, regional economic benefits (EBRPD 2013). The Trust for Public Land has observed that strong park systems can increase property values by 5% in cities across the country, therefore contributing to the tax revenue2. The combined economic, environmental and community benefits of shoreline parks demonstrates that planning for sea level rise resilience must be a priority for the entire region, not just park supervisors and decision makers. Parks and recreation areas in the ART Contra Costa area provide a wide variety of services to the public. Resources and activities at these sites include scenic views; walking, running, and biking on paths and trails; nature viewing; interpretive displays; swimming; paddleboating; sailboarding; motorboating; picnicking; playgrounds; family/group event areas and facilities; dog recreation; historic or cultural activities; and sport facilities. Parks and recreational areas in the ART Contra Costa area serve users in four major categories: • Regional shoreline areas that attract visitors from the entire Bay Area and beyond • Small shoreline parks that serve a surrounding community or neighborhood • Marinas, often privately owned or managed, which provide boat access and other for-profit recreation experiences • San Francisco, a bicycle and pedestrian corridor with over 80 miles of trail in the Contra Costa Project. The Bay Trail is planned at the regional scale but individual trail segments are owned and maintained by cities, park districts, other agencies, and private landowners. This section focuses on the vulnerability and risk to 13 parks, 8 marinas, and the San Francisco Bay Trail in the project area from sea level rise impacts. 2 Because there is not a good metric for park quality, a low end estimate of 5% increase in property value is included for parks that convey a strong positive value to surrounding residents, https://www.tpl.org/sites/default/files/cloud.tpl.org/pubs/ccpe-econvalueparks-rpt.pdf FEBRUARY 2016 2 Assessment Chapter Contra Costa County Adapting to Rising Tides Project Regional Parks East Bay Regional Park District owns and manages the seven regional shoreline parks in the Contra Costa project area. EBRPD is responsible for providing recreation and open space in a highly developed and growing area. EBRPD’s role has expanded over the years to include a greater range of management objectives on the parklands it owns and operates, including natural area restoration, community engagement, and new partnerships with neighboring landowners. KEY ISSUE STATEMENT EBRPD shoreline parks face flooding, groundwater infiltration, erosion, and habitat impacts from sea level rise and future flooding. These regional shoreline parks contain important marsh habitat, unique historical resources, and large-scale recreation assets including trails, fishing, wildlife viewing, and off-leash dog areas. The EBRPD shoreline parks serve 2.8 Million visitors each year. Sea level rise and future flooding will affect parks and shoreline habitat, as well as inland land uses in places where EBRPD provides the official or de facto shoreline protection. EBRPD will need to protect its park and recreation areas; it will also need to work with the inland neighbors that its shoreline parks protect from flooding, such as the Union Pacific Railroad, cities, and private landowners. EXPOSURE TO CURRENT AND FUTURE FLOODING All seven regional shoreline parks in the ART Contra Costa project area are exposed to some degree of current and future flood risk. This does not necessarily ensure damage or disruption by flooding; the regional parks contain marshes and seasonal wetlands that need temporary inundation to function. On the other hand, even short term flooding would damage certain aspects of shoreline parks, such as athletic fields, restrooms, and community facilities. Water levels between MHHW and MHHW+6’ were selected because they represent a reasonable range of potential Bay conditions that will affect flooding and inundation along the shoreline. For four parks in the project area, the extent exposed to each water level was determined (see table below). For many of the parks, the total park acreage includes submerged areas. To avoid a gross misrepresentation of the exposure percentages, the analysis was based on the dry land area of the park. This land area, or footprint, was visually determined and digitized in GIS using aerial imagery in combination with maps that show park boundaries. Therefore, the footprint values in the table below are approximations, as are the calculated exposure percentages. FEBRUARY 2016 3 Assessment Chapter Contra Costa County Adapting to Rising Tides Project Current 100- Sea Level Rise Asset City year Flood 1' 2' 3' 4' 5' 6' Martinez Shoreline Martinez Yes 45% 56% 62% 66% 74% 78% Point Pinole Richmond Yes 13% 18% 19% 21% 22% 23% Miller Knox Shoreline Richmond Yes 1% 2% 2% 2% 2% 7% Brooks Island/Point Richmond Yes 14% 22% 27% 30% 32% 33% Isabel ASSET DESCRIPTION Martinez Regional Shoreline Martinez Regional Shoreline is a 342-acre park with shoreline trails, marshes, fishing, picnic areas and separate recreation areas managed by the City of Martinez, including a marina and athletic fields. Park infrastructure is over 35 years old. Shorelines are rapidly eroding and erosion has forced the closure of over 300 feet of trail in past years. Outer turf areas are experiencing increasing salt-water intrusion, and planted trees are showing increasing signs of exposure to salt water. Interior marshes were designed and built to alleviate flooding in downtown Martinez through a joint agency project with the City of Martinez that was completed in 2004. Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline is a 307-acre shoreline park that includes trails, a swimming area at Keller Beach, picnic facilities, the Golden State Model Railroad Museum, a fishing pier and a lagoon. The park is built at the site of a historic ferry terminal that no longer provides ferry service. Several historic structures are located on the property, although they are vacant and frequently vandalized. The park contains seven miles of Bay Trail with views of the Bay and historic sites. The park contains an unused railroad right-of-way that is now owned by EBRPD, but still contains railroad bed and tracks. Point Isabel Regional Shoreline Point Isabel Regional Shoreline covers 23 acres, and includes Bay Trail, grass areas, Hoffman Channel and Hoffman Marsh, and riprap shoreline segments. The park also contains a dog grooming business, cafe as a concessionaire, restrooms and a parking lot for visitors. Despite its small size, it is a very popular location for off-leash dog walking and serves 1.4 Million visitors each year.