PREPARED BY: GRIFFEN DEMPSEY DATE OF MEETING: 04/07/2025
SUBJECT:
TITLE
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN PABLO ADOPTING THE SAN PABLO ANNEX OF THE CONTRA COSTA COUNTY 2024 LOCAL HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN UPDATE
CEQA: This proposed action is not a project as defined by CEQA.
Label
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Adopt Resolution
Body
Compliance statements
FY 2023-2025 City Council Priority Workplan Compliance Statement
Adopting the San Pablo Annex of the Contra Costa County Hazard Mitigation Plan supports the San Pablo City Council FY 2023-2025 Priority Workplan Major Policy Goal: Enhance Community Resilience and Priority 201: Create community-inclusive emergency preparedness and recovery plans.
CEQA Compliance Statement
This proposed action is not a project under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5): Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONFORMITY
The proposed Plan aligns with the following guiding and implementing policies of the San Pablo General Plan 2030:
SN-G-1 Minimize risks of property damage and personal injury posed by geologic and seismic hazards.
SN-I-5 Support efforts by State and regional agencies to promote public awareness of potential geologic and seismic hazards.
SN-G-2 Minimize the risks to property, life, and the environment due to flooding hazards.
SN-G-3 Protect San Pablo residents and businesses from potential fire hazards.
SN-G-8 Proactively advocate public safety services which respond to the emergency and rescue needs of San Pablo residents and employees.
SN-I-34 Continue to participate in the Association of Bay Area Governments’ multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation planning process and implement policies in the latest multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan.
BACKGROUND
Hazard Mitigation Planning Process
In December of 2023, City staff joined a coalition of Contra Costa County cities and special districts in embarking on a planning process to prepare for and lessen the impacts of specified natural hazards by updating the 2018 Contra Costa County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. Responding to federal mandates in the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-390), the partnership, spearheaded by Contra Costa County, was formed to pool resources and to create a uniform hazard mitigation strategy that can be consistently applied to the defined planning area and used to ensure eligibility for specified grant opportunities. More information about the County’s planning process can be found here: <https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/6415/Local-Hazard-Mitigation-Plan>
This effort represents the fourth comprehensive update to the initial hazard mitigation plan, approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in November of 2005 and developed in partnership with the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). The 39-member coalition of partners involved in this program includes unincorporated Contra Costa County, 16 city and town governments (including San Pablo) and 23 special purpose districts. Over the course of this process, extensive public outreach has occurred on both the City and County level, with the Draft LHMP and Draft San Pablo Annex released for public input in May of 2024. The result of this organizational effort will be a FEMA and California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) approved multi-jurisdictional, multi-hazard mitigation plan. As of March 2025, the base plan has been approved by FEMA and adopted by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, and all annexes, including the San Pablo Annex, are pre-approved by FEMA and awaiting adoption by the appropriate local governing body. Additionally, the plan has been aligned with the goals, objectives and priorities of the 2023 California State Hazard Mitigation Plan.
A Planning Team consisting of local officials has taken the lead in developing the hazard mitigation plan. All participating local jurisdictions have been responsible for assisting in the development of the hazard and vulnerability assessments and the mitigation action strategies for their respective jurisdictions and organizations. The Plan presents the accumulated information in a unified framework to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated plan covering the entire Contra Costa County planning area. Each jurisdiction has been responsible for the review and approval of their individual sections of the Plan, referred to as Annexes.
In addition to the Planning Team, a 16-member Steering Committee (SC) composed of representative stakeholders was formed early in the planning process to guide the development of the Plan. Public involvement has been solicited via a comprehensive public outreach campaign that included over 80 in-person events across the County, web-based information, two online surveys, and multiple social media updates. In addition, residents were asked to contribute by sharing local knowledge of their individual area’s vulnerability to natural hazards based on past occurrences.
Summary of LHMP and San Pablo Annex
Given the length of the Contra Costa County 2024 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, the complete document can be can be downloaded from this link:
<https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/82620/2024-Contra-Costa-County-HMP-Volume-1---Approved?bidId=>
The City of San Pablo Annex of the Contra Costa County 2024 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan is attached to this staff report. City adoption is only required for the San Pablo Annex; the complete Volume 1 of the Contra Costa County Hazard Mitigation Plan does not need to be adopted by the City.
The Contra Costa County LHMP Planning Area includes the entirety of Contra Costa County, with the partial exception of the cities of Antioch, Concord, and Pittsburg, which developed their own plans separately. The San Pablo Annex of the LHMP includes the full area of the City of San Pablo within its Planning Area. The hazard identification and profiling in the hazard mitigation plan address the following hazards of concern within the planning areas:
1. Climate change
2. Dam failure
3. Drought
4. Earthquake
5. Flood
6. Landslide
7. Sea level rise
8. Severe weather
9. Tsunami
10. Wildfire
With the exception of dam failure, this plan does not provide a full risk assessment of human-caused hazards. However, brief, qualitative discussions of the following hazards of interest are included: terrorism, cyber threats, hazardous materials release, utility interruptions, and active shooter incidents.
According to Section 1.2 of the base LHMP, hazard mitigation is defined in this context as any sustainable action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property from future disasters. Mitigation planning breaks the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. Hazard mitigation includes long-term solutions that reduce the impact of disasters in the future. Mitigation can also protect critical community facilities, reduce exposure to liability, and minimize post-disaster community disruption.
Adoption Process
Once the hazard mitigation plan annexes are adopted by all of the jurisdictional partners (including San Pablo) and approved by FEMA, the partnership will collectively and individually become eligible to apply for hazard mitigation project funding from both the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program (PDM) and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The PDM competitive grant program provides funds to State, Tribal, and local governments for pre-disaster mitigation planning and projects primarily addressing natural hazards. Cost-effective pre-disaster mitigation activities reduce risk to life and property from natural hazard events before a natural disaster strikes, thus reducing overall risks to the population and structures, while also reducing reliance on funding from actual disaster declarations. Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis for mitigation planning and project applications intended to make local governments more resistant to the impacts of future natural disasters (For more details on this program see Exhibit A to Attachment A). The HMGP, authorized under Section 404 of the Stafford Act and administered by FEMA, provides grants to States and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures after a major disaster declaration. The purpose of the program is to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster (For more details on this program see Exhibit A to Attachment A).
Once the San Pablo Annex to the LHMP is adopted, the City will integrate it into the Safety Element of its General Plan, as part of the ongoing General Plan Update process. When this has been completed, the City may be eligible for additional cost-sharing from the State on eligible projects during State-declared disasters.
Grant Eligibility
Upon adoption of the City of San Pablo Annex of the Contra Costa County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Update (LHMP) and subsequent approval of the plan by CalOES and FEMA, the City of San Pablo will be eligible to apply for specified grants. The grant funds are made available to states and local governments and can be used to implement the long-term hazard mitigation measures specified within the City of San Pablo’s annex of the LHMP before and after a major disaster declaration. The City will also move to integrate the LHMP into the Safety Element of the General Plan, unlocking eligibility for the State to increase its cost share and reduce the City’s cost share for certain expenses in the event of a State-declared disaster. The LHMP is considered a living document such that as awareness of additional hazards develops and new strategies and projects are conceived to offset or prevent losses due to natural disasters, the LHMP will be evaluated and revised on a continual 5-year time frame.
FISCAL IMPACT
Adoption of this plan does not involve the expenditure of funds in itself, so there is no direct fiscal impact at this time. However, the tables under Section 11 - Mitigation Actions of the San Pablo Annex of the Contra Costa County LHMP identify future projects that will require funding based on priority. Funding for mitigation projects will be identified in future annual budgets. In addition, the adoption of this plan will enable the City to pursue future grant funding opportunities, and will enable the integration of the LHMP into the Safety Element of the General Plan, which will in turn allow for the City to reduce its cost share of certain expenses in the event of a state-declared disaster.
AttachmentS:
Att. A. - Resolution
Exh A - City of San Pablo Annex of the Contra Costa County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan
Att B - Contra Costa County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Volume 1