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File Number: 21-128 <br />BACKGROUND <br />The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) most recent flood insurance risk maps <br />indicate increased risk of flooding to approximately 1,000 San Leandro properties. The maps <br />indicate that there is a risk that water may enter the Mulford Gardens and Marina Faire <br />neighborhoods via a low spot on the San Francisco Bay shoreline near the intersection of <br />Neptune Drive and Marina Boulevard as well as by overtopping of the north levee along the <br />Estudillo Canal. Improvements at both locations are required to reduce the flooding risk. <br />The City has engaged Wood Rogers, a consulting engineering firm, to prepare a design for flood <br />protection improvements near the intersection of Neptune Drive and Marina Boulevard. The City <br />has also engaged NBS Consultants, a firm experienced in creating special financing districts, for <br />services related to the outreach, voting, and formation of an assessment district to fund the <br />project. <br />The Alameda County Flood Control District (District), which operates the Estudillo Canal, <br />designed a project to modify the levees along the canal so that the canal along with the City’s <br />proposed improvements will protect the Mulford Gardens and Marina Faire neighborhoods from a <br />one-hundred-year flood. The District advertised their project for construction; however, all bids for <br />the work were rejected in Spring 2020 because the bids resulted in a project cost approximately <br />$2,700,000 more than the available budget. <br />To supplement funding for canal improvements, the District is applying for federal funding through <br />the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, a Federal grant program managed by FEMA. Grants <br />awarded though this program cover 75% of eligible costs. <br /> <br />The contract with NBS was previously extended via Amendment 1 to cover the delay in <br />proceedings caused by the District’s rejection of bids in 2020. <br />Analysis <br />Award or denial of the grant is expected in late fall 2021. In the event that grant funding is denied, <br />funding from an alternate source will be required to construct the Estudillo Canal Improvements <br />Project. One option, if approved by property owners, is formation of an assessment district to <br />fund both the Neptune Drive Shoreline Flood Protection Project and the $2,700,000 shortfall of <br />the District’s Estudillo Canal Improvements Project. <br />Preliminary work on formation of the proposed assessment district can occur simultaneously <br />while the City’s grant applications is under evaluation. If the grant award outcome is unfavorable, <br />then this effort will enable the earliest possible vote for funding of the project and commencement <br />of construction. This will minimize delays in completion of the project that would otherwise result <br />in properties remaining longer in the high flood risk area and subject to higher flood insurance <br />premiums. <br />Expanding the assessment district to include the funding shortfall on the Estudillo Canal project <br />requires additional cost-share analysis and outreach. NBS will provide a new cost/benefit <br />analysis with updated general and special benefits and new rates modeled to address increased <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 4/14/2021 <br />109