Contents Section 18 City of Palo Alto
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Contents Section 18 City of Palo Alto ........................................................................................................ 18-3 18.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................ 18-3 18.2 Internal Planning Process ................................................................................................ 18-10 18.3 Capability Assessment ..................................................................................................... 18-19 18.3.1 Mitigation Progress .................................................................................................. 18-19 18.3.2 Staff and Organizational Capabilities ...................................................................... 18-19 18.3.3 National Flood Insurance Program .......................................................................... 18-32 18.3.4 Resource List: .......................................................................................................... 18-34 18.4 Vulnerability Assessment ................................................................................................ 18-34 18.4.1 Critical Facilities ...................................................................................................... 18-34 18.4.2 Exposure Analysis .................................................................................................... 18-36 18.5 Mitigation Actions ........................................................................................................... 18-59 18.5.1 Primary Concerns ..................................................................................................... 18-59 18.5.2 Mitigation Actions ................................................................................................... 18-59 18.6 Plan Maintenance............................................................................................................. 18-61 18.6.1 Monitoring, evaluating, updating the plan ............................................................... 18-61 18.6.2 Point of Contact ....................................................................................................... 18-61 18.7 City of Palo Alto Appendix ............................................................................................. 18-62 18.7.1 Palo Alto Attachment 1: Palo Alto Outreach Materials ........................................... 18-62 18.7.2 Palo Alto Attachment 2: Repetitive Loss Letter ...................................................... 18-64 18.7.3 Palo Alto Attachment 3: Palo Alto Exposure Analysis ........................................... 18-66 Figure 18-1: Inventory of Soft-First Story Multi-Family Dwellings-City of Palo Alto ................. 18-45 Table 18-1: Hazards of Most Concern ............................................................................................ 18-11 Table 18-2: Items Readily Available to Respondents ..................................................................... 18-12 Table 18-3: Adequate Homeowners Insurance ............................................................................... 18-15 Table 18-4: Earthquake Insurance .................................................................................................. 18-15 Table 18-5: Flood Insurance ........................................................................................................... 18-15 Table 18-6: Property Changes to Reduce Damage from Hazards .................................................. 18-16 Table 18-7: Place of Work in Hazard Areas ................................................................................... 18-16 Table 18-8: Key Departments in the City of Palo Alto ................................................................... 18-20 Santa Clara County Hazard Mitigation Plan May 1, 2012 Page | 18-1 Table 18-9: Technical Capability Matrix ........................................................................................ 18-21 Table 18-10: Financing Mechanisms .............................................................................................. 18-24 Table 18-11: Availability of Ordinances that Support Hazard Mitigation ..................................... 18-31 Table 18-12: City of Palo Alto Critical Facilities ........................................................................... 18-34 Table 18-13: Critical Facilities at risk to Sea Level Rise ............................................................... 18-55 Santa Clara County Hazard Mitigation Plan May 1, 2012 Page | 18-2 SECTION 18 CITY OF PALO ALTO 18.1 INTRODUCTION This City of Palo Alto Annex serves as an annex to the Santa Clara County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan which is an annex to the 2010 Association of Bay Area Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, Taming Natural Disasters. Pursuant to the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, a signed adoption resolution confirms the City Council adopted this annex. This annex is an update to the City’s annex to the 2005 Association of Bay Area Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, Taming Natural Disasters, as adopted on December 12, 2005. Part of the metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area and the Silicon Valley, Palo Alto is located within Santa Clara County and borders San Mateo County. The City’s boundaries extend from San Francisco Bay on the east to the Skyline Ridge of the coastal mountains on the west, with Menlo Park to the north, and Mountain View to the south. The City encompasses an area of approximately 26 square miles, of which one-third is open space. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Portola Valley, and portions of unincorporated San Mateo County and Santa Clara County (including the unincorporated areas of Cupertino and Saratoga in the foothills). It is named after a redwood tree called El Palo Alto. The city includes portions of Stanford University and its affiliates, is headquarters to a number of Silicon Valley high-technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, VMware, Tesla Motors, and IDEO, and has served as an incubator to several other high-technology companies, such as Google, Facebook, Logitech, Intuit, Sun Microsystems, and PayPal. As of the 2010 census, the City had a total population of 64,403 residents. A blend of business and residential neighborhoods, anchored by a vibrant downtown, defines Palo Alto’s unique character. A charming mixture of old and new, Palo Alto’s tree-lined streets and historic buildings reflect its California heritage. At the same time, Palo Alto is recognized worldwide as a leader in cutting-edge development, as a quintessential part of Silicon Valley. Santa Clara County Hazard Mitigation Plan May 1, 2012 Page | 18-3 Utilities Unlike surrounding communities, electric, water, gas and wastewater service within city limits are provided by the City of Palo Alto. A minor exception is a rural portion of the city limits in the foothills area, west of Interstate 280, which gets gas and electric service from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The Water, Gas and Wastewater Division (WGW) operates water, gas, and wastewater distribution networks within the city limits. Natural gas is purchased from third parties and delivered to Palo Alto via PG&E's gas transmission pipeline network. The city operates gas meters and the distribution pipelines. Water is supplied by the San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s Hetch Hetchy system through 5 interconnection points. Emergency water is available through interconnects to adjacent systems and through wells located within the City limits. The City operates its own electric power distribution network and telemetry cable network. The City is connected to PG&E's electric transmission system, which brings power from several sources to the City. Palo Alto is a member of a joint powers authority (the Northern California Power Agency), which cooperatively generates electricity for government power providers such as the Cities of Santa Clara, Lodi, Lompoc, Alameda and Healdsburg. Transportation Palo Alto is served by two major freeways, Highway 101, and Interstate 280, and is traversed by the Peninsula’s main north-south boulevard, El Camino Real (SR 82). The city is also served indirectly by State Route 84, which traverses the Dumbarton Bridge to the north. Palo Alto has only one major cross-town arterial, Page Mill Road / Oregon Expressway, which completely connects the two freeways. Palo Alto is served by Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County (KPAO), one of the busiest single-runway general aviation airports in the country. In addition to private pilot use, the Airport is a refueling and service hub for air ambulance helicopters such as Life Flight and CalStar and is also used for patient transport and related support for Stanford Hospital, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and other such charitable or medical entities. Train service is available via Caltrain, with service between San Francisco and San Jose and extending to Gilroy. Caltrain has two regular stops in Palo Alto, one at University Avenue (local and express), and the other at California Avenue (local only). A third, the Stanford station, located beside Alma Street at Embarcadero Road, is used to provide special services for Santa Clara County Hazard Mitigation Plan May 1, 2012 Page | 18-4 occasional sports events (generally football) at Stanford Stadium. The University Avenue stop is the second most popular (behind