Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Fred Crowder, Agricultural Commissioner / Sealer of Weights & Measures
Jim Eggemeyer, Director, Office of Sustainability
Peggy Jensen, Interim Parks Director
Steve Monowitz, Community Development Director
James C. Porter, Director of Public Works
Subject: Memorandum of Understanding with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy for the preparation of a Fine-scale GIS mapping of physical and natural landscapes of San Mateo County
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing:
A) The President of the Board of Supervisors to execute a Memorandum of Understanding with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy for the preparation of a county-wide fine-scale vegetation map and landscape database, with a term expiring July 1, 2022, and a not-to-exceed amount of $229,500; and
B) The County Manager, or their designee, to execute amendments to the Memorandum of Understanding to modify the County’s maximum fiscal obligation by no more than $25,000, and/or modify the Memorandum of Understanding’s terms and/or services, so long as the modified term(s) and/or services is/are within the current or revised fiscal provisions.
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BACKGROUND:
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (Conservancy) is interested in collaborating with partners from San Mateo County to obtain high quality, countywide GIS data. The GIS data to be collected includes location and extent of communities and species of vegetation, surface characteristics, landscape-level hydrology, topography, and fire fuels (Project). With this information, users will be able to classify all impervious and non-impervious ground surfaces; model watershed boundaries, stream centerlines, and subsurface flows; identify fire fuels and areas of high risk for fire spread; and determine relative cover of forest stands.
Due to the value of this information, multiple entities are interested in participating in the Project. Interested entities include several departments from the County, the National Park Service, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and Peninsula Open Space Trust. An outline of Project partners and their expressed financial contribution to the Project is detailed in Exhibit A attached.
County departments interested in participating in the Project include the Parks Department, Office of Sustainability, Department of Public Works/San Mateo County Flood Control District, Planning and Building Department, Information Services Department, and Agriculture/Weights and Measures. Supervisor Don Horsley has also committed to contributing to the collection of specified GIS data.
DISCUSSION:
When completed, the Project will assist departments in achieving many countywide priorities. These include managing and reducing fire fuels, preserving and restoring native habitat, eradicating invasive plant species, coordinating and demonstrating compliance with the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Municipal Regional Permit, monitoring and mitigating the impacts of sea level rise, issuing permits, and enforcing land use policies. Further, once fully developed, the GIS data will be able to support CEQA analysis and regional permitting efforts for capital and maintenance projects implemented by the Department of Public Works, Flood Control Zones, and Parks Department.
As detailed in Exhibit B attached, Project deliverables will include an impervious surface data layer and a hydrologic modeling data layer to inform management actions regarding flood control and risk reduction, vegetation management, and sea level rise planning. Another deliverable will be data that assists in wildfire risk planning and implementation of wildfire mitigation strategies by fire and land-management agencies within the County. Completion of the final work product is estimated to occur in early 2022.
Conservancy staff will be responsible for managing the Project and fundraising. While the Conservancy has yet to fulfil fundraising requirements, it anticipates satisfying the fundraising goal in the near future.
County staff will provide support in data collection and analysis. All data, documents, materials, maps, and records prepared as a deliverable or draft deliverable for the Project will be equally owned by all contributing project partners. Each partner is allowed to use the data, maps, and files as determined most appropriate by each partner.
County Counsel has reviewed and approved the resolution and Memorandum of Understanding as to form.
Approval of the Memorandum of Understanding contributes to the Shared Vision 2025 outcome of a Collaborative Community as the Project entails multiple entities collaborating to collect and analyze important GIS data that will create efficiencies in how County departments complete projects and satisfy priorities.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Pursuant to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, the County’s total not-to-exceed contribution amount is $229,500. This amount is comprised as follows: Parks Department - $50,000; Office of Sustainability - $50,000; Department of Public Works/San Mateo County Flood Control District - $25,000; Planning and Building Department - $25,000; Information Services Department - $25,000 funded through FY 2018-19 Enterprise GIS Implementation Project Budget (non-departmental funds/CMO); Department of Agriculture/Weights and Measures - $25,000; and Office of Supervisor Don Horsley District Discretionary Measure K [Specifically for Fire Fuels Modelling] $29,500. Funding for this project is included in each department’s FY 2018-19 Adopted Budget and will be included in future budgets, unless otherwise specified.