Critical Infrastructure Project
For over a decade, the City has been exploring ways to protect its two connector roads—Beach Road and San Rafael Avenue—from earthquake, storm, and sea-level rise risks. The two roads sit atop 80-year-old earthen levees, which are vulnerable to significant displacement in an earthquake and flooding in a large storm. The city’s utility trunk lines embedded within these levees are also at risk.
After years of consultation and planning, the City unveiled a project plan to strengthen the levees by installing steel sheet piles deep into the sand and mud layers under the roads and to increase the height of flood protections to address storms and rising tides. The project was estimated to cost $28 million, $20 million for the seismic upgrades and $8 million for the flood protections.
In November 2022, Belvedere voters were asked to approve introducing a 0.8% real property transfer tax to fund the seismic upgrades, the project's first phase. The measure failed at the ballot box. Securing funding remains a challenge to completing this critical project. For now, the City is actively pursuing grant funding.
2025 Emergency Beach Road Repairs
Until funding is secured for the larger project, the City is focused on shoring up the Beach Road seawall, which is the most at risk. Having already undergone two emergency repairs in the last decade, the City is preparing for a third repair project to three sections of the Beach Road seawall, where erosion is undermining the footing of the wall, causing uneven settlement, visible cracks and separation between the curb and the sidewalk. This $3 million partial repair is planned for FY 2025-26. Funding has been set aside from within the City's budget.