Dear Judge Pichon: Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Santa Clara County Grand Jury Report entitled*

The cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale want to retain control of Sea Level Rise related efforts within their jurisdictions, but would like to have an organization assume responsibility for coordinating the plans and activities involved in addressing Sea Level Rise. <b>RESPONSE to Finding 1:</b> The City agrees with the finding.

The City of Milpitas does not have a Climate Action Plan which addresses Sea Level Rise. <b>RESPONSE to Finding 2:</b> NA

The City of Palo Alto's 2014 "Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment" did not identify the effects of Sea Level Rise as one of the hazards. <b>RESPONSE to Finding 3:</b> 1 The City does not agree with this finding. The City's "Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment" (THIRA) already addresses climate change and Sea Level Rise (SLR), see <a href="https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/thira">www.cityofpaloalto.org/thira</a>: p. 24: Section 5.3 Flood/Severe Winter Storm Hazard Summary "Palo Alto, along with the entire Bay Area, is also subject to increasing flood risk as a result of rising sea levels, requiring city planners to collaborate with regional organizations and projects, such as the SCVWD, SFCJPA, the US Army Corps of Engineers' South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Study, and the State Coastal Conservancy Salt Pond Restoration Project, who have each initiated studies on impacts of sea level rise in the vicinity of Palo Alto." p. 40: Section 6.1 Planning, Recommended Actions: "Continue to collaborate with regional planning efforts to mitigate impacts of sea level rise/ climate change." In addition, the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) addresses climate change and related issues, including Sea Level Rise: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/oes/PlansPublications/Pages/LHMP.aspx. While the THIRA tends to address threats and hazards that are evolving (cyber terror) and/or to which shorter-term mitigation measures could be applied based on federal criteria, the LHMP focuses on longer-term planning issues. Climate Change and associated Sea Level Rise will also be addressed in the City's updated Sustainability and Climate Action Plan and Comprehensive Plan (General Plan), which are currently under development and are scheduled to be completed in 2016. The Bay Area Security Initiative (UASI) also has a number of regional catastrophic planning efforts that relate to these topics: http://www.bayareauasi.org/programs/rcpgp/working-groups

2 The Santa Clara Valley Water District, which is by law tasked with the responsibility for flood control in Santa Clara County, has not coordinated Santa Clara County's efforts to address Sea Level Rise and all of the cities in Santa Clara County that abut the Bay. <b>RESPONSE to Finding 4:</b> NA

According to the Santa Clara Valley Water District's website, since July 2012, it has held only one public meeting to share information about Sea Level Rise. <b>RESPONSE to Finding 5:</b> NA