Restoring a Living Shoreline + Providing Open Space
The project area was once water and tidal flats, located near Ssalson, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone. In the mid-to-late 1960’s, it was filled by the Anza-Pacific Corporation out of concrete debris and slabs from the original San Mateo Bridge – this created the perimeter wave break of the 146-acres Anza Peninsula. Burlingame Waterfront proposes to raise approximately 750 linear feet of embankment at the Anza Lagoon and install new riprap-armored shoreline to enhance long-term shoreline sea level rise resiliency. Additionally, this opens an opportunity to create a living shoreline zone at the northwest corner of the site along Anza Lagoon between the Bay Trail and the shore. This area will be graded to have areas lower than the raised Bay Trail to accommodate future sea level rise and upland migration of the shoreline. This zone will be planted with native, salt tolerant upland coastal scrub and upland marsh species.
The project proposes a total of 2.3 acres of public open space. Waterfront public amenities include picnic tables, seating areas, and a state-of-the-art outdoor fitness area. An approximately 26,200 square-foot publicly accessible plaza located in between the two buildings includes a vehicle drop-off area for the building entrances and a stroll garden with intersecting paths, seating nooks, shade trees, and drought-tolerant native and climate-adapted planting. Additional outdoor rooms are proposed to provide seating areas along the edge of each building.
Over time, with sea level rise and periodic inundation, it is expected that plant communities will adapt and change with changes to sea level and frequency of inundation. New planting will span throughout the project site, including in the Public Plaza area, along the Bay Trail, and around the perimeters of the proposed buildings and surface parking lot. The proposed planting area would total approximately 105,625 square feet with approximately 70,000 square feet of planting around the shoreline.
