The Coyote Point Recreation Area (Recreation Area) is managed by the San Mateo County Parks Department and is a popular destination with more than 500,000 visitors annually. The Recreation Area was identified as an area at risk from Sea Level Rise during the Sea Change SMC Vulnerability Assessment. The Recreation Area also houses the CuriOdyssey museum and wildlife center, Boardsports kite- and windsurfing concessionaire and school, the Siebel Firearms Range, operated by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, and the Peninsula Humane Society & Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The shoreline along the recreation area provides protection for these facilities and adjacent neighborhoods in the City of San Mateo.
To prepare for future sea level rise risks, the County of San Mateo developed a Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan for Coyote Point Recreation Area (Assessment). The Assessment highlights flood risks for 2030, 2050, and 2100 plus the 1%-annual-chance flood and the market and non-market economic impacts of flooding to the site.
A series of adaptation strategies have been identified to protect the area from sea level rise risks anticipated by 2050 and 2100, some of which are in the implementation phase. The Parks Department anticipates implementing the Eastern Promenade project in the summer of 2020. The City of San Mateo is planning pump and levee upgrades. Both projects will protect facilities and residences from sea level rise impacts identified in this Assessment.
Additional activities needed to protect the Recreation Area from Sea Level Rise impacts that would occur by 2050 include enhancing the tidal marsh, raising the trail along the marina, and implementing stormwater backflow prevention devices. To prepare for 2100, regional shoreline protection measures would need to be put in place, including raising levees, trails, portions of the marina, and breakwaters and expanding the tidal marsh to protect the marina from wave action.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS