Projects Recommended for Third Round of Measure AA Funding heard by Governing Board

Oakland, CA - Today, in its first ever virtual meeting, the Governing Board of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority (Authority) heard the slate of nine projects that staff will recommend for the third round of Measure AA grant funding.  

In response to its third grant solicitation, which closed on December 13, 2019, the Authority received 21 applications requesting a total of approximately $29 million for restoration projects around the Bay. The Authority has approximately $11.6 million available to authorize for Round 3 projects.[1]

Staff and members of the Advisory Committee reviewed and scored the applications, developing the following list of projects to be recommended for funding in Grant Round 3:  

• $5,000,000 for the San Pablo Baylands Collaborative Protection & Restoration (CPR) Project (partial funding) 
• $4,000,000 for the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Removal and Tidal Restoration Project 
• $644,709 for the North Richmond Shoreline Living Levee Project  
• $545,624 for the Suisun Marsh Fish Screen Rehabilitation Project 
• $500,000 for the Hayward Marsh Restoration Project  
• $450,000 for the American Canyon Wetlands Restoration Plan (partial funding) 
• $380,000 for the Greenwood Gravel Beach and Marsh Protection Project  
• $180,000 for the Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy 
• $120,000 for the Roberts Landing Shoreline and Long Beach Restoration Project  

At today’s meeting, the Governing Board approved funding for two of those projects; the San Pablo Baylands Collaborative Protection & Restoration (CPR) Project: Phase 1 and the North Richmond Shoreline Living Levee Project. The remaining projects will be considered at subsequent meetings.

Restoration work is a powerful economic engine that supports local jobs.  Recently completed projects have created as many as 30 jobs for every $1 million invested.  In California, for every dollar spent on restoration, the state gains $2.10 of economic activity.  As the region plans its recovery from the current crisis, restoration work will be an ongoing source of employment and expenditure. 

“Our staff, board and committee members have done a terrific job of moving to online operations during the COVID-19 crisis, so we are able to approve grants today and keep funding flowing to important Bay Restoration projects,“ said San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, the Chair of the Restoration Authority Governing Board.

“As we shelter in place, we are reminded of the importance of outdoor recreation and healthy, natural spaces for our mental and physical wellbeing.” said Pine. “Thanks to Bay Area voters, we’re able to support projects that provide open space and also much needed local jobs during the difficult economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The projects selected for recommendation from the third round of applications include a number of grants to advance innovative approaches to shoreline restoration and community-led restoration projects. The Oakland Shoreline Leadership Academy, for example, is a six-month leadership training and community-led planning process that trains residents from disadvantaged communities living near the Oakland shoreline on issues related to shoreline restoration. And the North Richmond Shoreline Living Levee Project proposes to develop conceptual designs for a living levee that will provide upland transitional habitat, flood protection for vital infrastructure and improved public access along the North Richmond Shoreline. Other projects recommended in this round advance regional goals for landscape-scale wetland restoration, such as the Invasive Spartina Project which works across all nine counties to eradicate invasive cordgrass and protect the native tidal marsh ecosystem, and the San Pablo Baylands Collaborative Protection & Restoration (CPR) Project which will restore 290 acres of tidal marsh, allow enhancement of 740 acres of seasonal wetlands, improve habitat quality, and acquire property prioritized by the Sonoma Creek Baylands Strategy in the North Bay.

The full list of projects to be considered in the third round of funding can be found here: http://sfbayrestore.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/Item%2009%20Grant%20Round%203%20Staff%20Overview.pdf

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Notes to editors:

Measure AA requires that revenue be allocated to projects throughout the region, with 50% of funds allocated to the four Bay Area regions in proportion to each region's share of the Bay Area's population, as determined in the 2010 census, and 50% allocated without regard to county. The minimum percentages that will be allocated to each of the four Bay Area regions are listed below: 

·         North Bay (Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Solano Counties) = 9% minimum allocation; 

·         East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) = 18% minimum allocation; 

·         West Bay (City and County of San Francisco and San Mateo County) = 11% minimum allocation; and 

·         South Bay (Santa Clara County) = 12% minimum allocation. 

Twenty-year targets for minimum allocations were calculated assuming that Measure AA generates roughly $500 million over 20 years. The table below show progress toward these targets. Funding for the Bay Restoration Regulatory Integration Team Project is not included in the regional totals because it is a special project focused on permitting. Funding for the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Removal and Tidal Marsh Restoration Project is divided equally among the four regions for the purpose of this analysis. 

The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority is a regional agency created to fund shoreline projects that will protect, restore, and enhance San Francisco Bay through the allocation of funds raised by the Measure AA parcel tax.  Measure AA, the 2016  San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure, is a regional parcel tax expected to raise approximately $25 million per year over 20 years. 

[1] Although the Authority has close to $23 million available annually, this amount is reduced due to last year’s authorization of five-year funding of approximately $57 million for the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project, which is allocated at a rate of approximately $11.4 million per year.