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The Redwood City Council approved a less-disruptive design for a project aimed at protecting Redwood Shores from sea level rise. Vice Mayor Kaia Eakin was the lone dissenter.
“This is a design that’s going to have a similar look and feel to what the levee is in its current condition today,” Engineering and Transportation Director Tanisha Werner said. “This alternative provides our core flood protection goals. It has a lighter touch on the environment.”
Redwood City sits amid a constellation of marshes and has the highest risk of severe coastal flooding among California cities, according to 2025 data from Climate Central. A major storm could inundate all of Redwood Shores and U.S. Highway 101, as well as parts of Woodside Road and downtown, too, San Mateo County’s Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment reported.
The design is part of the Sea Level Rise Protection Project, a flood risk reduction initiative meant to protect homes, schools, businesses, critical infrastructure and shoreline access in Redwood Shores and Federal Emergency Management Agency-mapped flood hazard areas.
The city must update its levee system to meet FEMA’s grant requirements, which include a 60% design deliverable due Aug. 28 for a $2 million hazard mitigation grant.
In February, the council unanimously chose to connect roughly 7 miles of shoreline and raise the levee system 3.5 feet, rather than 6 feet.
The design approved Aug. 24 would maintain the trail’s 10-foot width with a 2-foot shoulder in most places, rather than doubling the levee width by 20 feet as the other option proposed.
Redwood Shores is made up of bay mud that is “really squishy over time,” Werner said. Both levee alternatives would require soil strengthening.
The approved design calls for a sheet pile wall, which would be driven into the ground to stabilize the levee and help it meet FEMA standards. The wall would stand about 3.5 feet above the levee, roughly a foot taller than under the other option.
“However, it’s still at a height where most people can still enjoy the view of the bay, and this is to help obtain accreditation height,” Werner said.
In developing the design, the city received just under 500 survey responses from Redwood Shores community members, held three community meetings and two office hours, and presented at the annual Redwood Shores Community Association meeting.
Residents have emphasized preserving the levee’s current “close to nature” feel, Werner said. Designers are considering trail and habitat improvements, and areas for seating and shade.
The city currently has a “funding gap” for construction, Werner said, as the cheaper alternative will still cost around $324 million, about $200 million of which would fall on the city’s shoulders. The other alternative would have cost $440 million.
The city is looking at cost-sharing opportunities with other agencies along the levee, including the San Carlos Airport and the cities of Belmont and San Carlos, as well as state and federal grants.
Eakin voted against advancing the project because she said the city is “being driven too much by cost” and feared the less protective option could cost the city more in the long run if additional flood protection is needed sooner.
Werner said staff estimates the levee project as designed should maintain FEMA accreditation until 2060, though “climate change is continuing” and requirements are expected to evolve. She said the design can be expanded or raised in the future. t
Following the Aug. 24 council meeting, the project team moved into the environmental permitting and review process, which the city anticipates will take about two years, assuming funding is secured.
Final design is expected to take at least two years after, followed by roughly five years of construction once funding is secured. The levee project is estimated to be completed by around 2034.
