DR-4569-CA Public Notice 001

INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE: Estudillo Canal and Neptune Drive Flood Protection Project, Alameda County, California | HMGP 4569-468-014R

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) intends to provide federal financial assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District in Alameda County, California to modify the Estudillo Canal by making improvements to the tidegate, lowering a portion of the canal, and creating a berm and floodwall along Neptune Drive. The proposed action would mitigate impacts from flooding by increasing flow capacity and redirecting flow in the Estudillo Canal, thus increasing shoreline protection at Neptune Drive to prevent coastal flooding from entering the project area. Pursuant to Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management) and Executive Order 11990 (Wetlands Management) and FEMA’s implementing regulations at Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 9, FEMA hereby provides interested parties with a notice of its intent to carry out an action affecting a floodplain and wetland.

The purpose of the proposed action is to reduce flood hazards. The proposed action consists of improvements to the Estudillo Canal, including expanding the capacity of the existing tidegate to allow for greater discharge flows, lowering a section of the southern canal bank to allow for temporary water storage in existing holding basins (“retention ponds”), and salt marsh modifications. The proposed action also involves shoreline flood protection components along Neptune Drive, primarily the construction of a berm and floodwall.

The project area is in the 100-year floodplain as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Numbers 06001C0258H and 06001C0254H, both with effective date December 21, 2018. The FIRM shows that the Estudillo Canal project area, in Panel 06001C0258H, lies within Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) Zone AE, an area that has a 1-percent probability of flooding every year and where predicted base floodwater elevations (BFEs) are ten feet. The Neptune Drive project area, in Panel 06001C0254H, is also in SFHA Zone AE, with a 1-percent probability of flooding every year and with a BFE of ten feet.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory map shows five wetlands within the project boundaries and adjacent areas. The Neptune Drive project area is directly adjacent to a 210.33-acre estuarine and marine wetland. The Estudillo Canal project area overlaps with the edge of 261,265.24 acres of estuarine and marine deepwater and 2.41 acres of estuarine and marine wetland and is adjacent to a 15.11-acre lake habitat.

Additional information about FEMA’s proposed action, including maps showing the potential impacts on floodplains and wetlands, may be obtained by writing the FEMA Region IX Environmental Officer at FEMA, 1111 Broadway, Suite 1200, Oakland, California 94607, or fema-rix-ehp-documents@fema.dhs.gov. All requests should be received within 15 days after publication of this notice.