Newsbriefs- June 2025

Graphic courtesy City of East Palo Alto

Flood Protection, Affordable Housing, and Local Grants Take Center Stage at East Palo Alto Council Meeting

In a meeting that spanned four hours on May 20, the East Palo Alto City Council heard from applicants for citywide commissions, reviewed regional flood protection programs, discussed an appeal to an Accessory Dwelling Unit and approved $360,000 in grants to support local nonprofits.

Here’s a breakdown of the most important developments:

One Shoreline warns of rising water levels in East Palo Alto 

As sea levels continue to rise and storms grow more intense, East Palo Alto is emerging as a key focus in a series of climate resilience projects led by OneShoreline, an independent governmental agency for flood and sea-level rise planning.

The organization — tasked with addressing flooding, groundwater rise, coastal erosion, and drought — presented its latest efforts to the East Palo Alto City Council this month. With four core priorities, OneShoreline focuses on building long-term resilience, integrating climate-driven conditions into land use planning, alerting communities to storm impacts and establishing sustainable local funding.

“We know East Palo Alto is one of the most vulnerable communities in the county when it comes to sea level rise,” said CEO Len Materman during the presentation.

Recent efforts include the $10 million Bayfront Canal Project, which diverts floodwater away from five mobile home parks into U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ponds — an example of cross-city collaboration to protect low-lying areas.

The agency is also a partner in the SAFER Bay Project, a larger regional initiative to upgrade levees and bolster coastal defenses across the peninsula. 

“We’re building not just walls and levees, but resilience,” Materman said, underscoring the city’s climate vulnerabilities.

Looking ahead, OneShoreline has secured grant funding for the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan, a state-mandated initiative requiring sea-level rise strategies from shoreline cities, and will include cities of Belmont, Menlo Park, San Carlos, Redwood City, East Palo Alto and Brisbane. Planning will begin in early 2026 with adoption expected by 2028.

Commission Appointments

The City Council interviewed eight community members for positions on the Rent Stabilization Board — one full-term and one alternate — and the Planning Commission — two full-term and one alternate. Due to administrative errors, some incumbent Planning Commission applicants were not notified and missed the meeting.

Applicants for the rent stabilization board were incumbent Vanessa Smith and Devon Taylor. Smith spoke in support of better tenant protections.

“I’m committed to working collaboratively with staff to improve how information is communicated to both tenants and property owners, making it more accessible, transparent, and easy to understand,” said Smith.

Taylor applied for both the rent board and the planning commission and honed in on the need to curb displacement: “Every decision we make should support sustainable, equitable, and healthy growth — that means prioritizing the voices of long-time residents, investing in affordable housing, and designing inclusive processes that make people feel seen and heard and not left behind by change.”

Following a 3–2 vote, the council appointed Smith to the full-term seat and tentatively named Taylor as the alternate, pending the outcome of his Planning Commission application.

Other applicants for the planning commission were: Christopher Kao, Tonga Victoria (absent), Elena Sava, Elena Kogan, Maria Rocha, Andre Guzman (absent), Elizabeth Pulido and Gail Dixon. 

Common themes among Planning Commission candidates included the need for more affordable housing, thoughtful long-term development, accessible public spaces, and inclusive community engagement to help guide East Palo Alto’s future growth. However, since applicants were missing, no appointments were made during the meeting.

Appeal hearing 1174 Laurel Avenue, denied

In a 4–1 vote, the East Palo Alto City Council denied Akhil Aggarwal’s appeal of a permitting violation for converting his garage at 1174 Laurel Avenue into an Accessory Dwelling Unit. The original plans allowed for the roof to be removed while retaining the walls and foundation, but an October 2024 inspection revealed the entire structure had been demolished without securing the required demolition permit.

“I think the city — we could work on improving the process... but I’m just not in favor of making an exemption for this particular project,” said Councilmember Webster Lincoln.

City staff recommended, and the Council agreed, to credit any unused building permit fees from the original application toward the cost of a new ADU permit.

Vice Mayor Mark Dinan was the sole vote in favor of the appeal, though he did not comment publicly during the discussion.

Derek Ouyang, a nonprofit consultant for the city and project representative for Aggarwal, argued the demolition was necessary due to structural defects in the remaining garage walls. 

“I’m asking for the council to provide direction to staff to think about the overt discretion they’re applying right now to bottleneck projects for reasons that don’t fundamentally affect the end goal we all want,” he said.

Iliana Nicholas, ADU Program Manager with EPA Can Do, also spoke in support of the project, emphasizing the broader implications for housing builds in the city.

“The appeal concerning 1174 Laurel provides a powerful learning moment as it illustrates how current processes can indirectly create bottlenecks for homeowners striving to improve their properties and add much-needed housing,” she said.

The council’s decision underscores the tension between adhering to permit procedures and barriers to ADU construction, where a solution could mitigate the city’s housing shortage.

Community Groups Awarded $360,000 in City Grants

As the final item on the agenda, the East Palo Alto City Council quickly approved the distribution of $360,000 through its 2025 Transient Occupancy Tax grant program.

City staff reviewed and ranked 25 applicant organizations, ultimately recommending that 12 groups each receive $30,000 to support programs in youth development, wellness, food access and the arts. The selected recipients are:

Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, Paxton Sports Academy, Live In Peace, Mid-Peninsula Athletic Association, Fresh Approach, East Palo Alto Greyhounds Youth Sports Club, Hope Horizon,Youth Community Service, EPACENTER, East Palo Alto Community Media Center and East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring

During the discussion, Councilmember Webster Lincoln advocated for including smaller or underrepresented groups, such as the rugby-focused East Palo Alto Razorhawks and Bay Urban Eagles, in place of some selected recipients.

“I’m just thinking that maybe these dollars would matter more to a lot of the smaller organizations that could use them and that serve different purposes, maybe even outside of sports,” Lincoln said.

Vice Mayor Mark Dinan raised concerns about gender equity in the selection process.

“If we’re going to be doing things for boys, we should also have some programs for girls,” he said.

Dinan also recommended a more rigorous vetting process in future grant cycles: “I think having a 20-minute interview with every applicant is a good process, and I would hope we would encourage that moving forward.”

While several council members expressed interest in revisiting the selection criteria, Council member Carlos Romero emphasized the importance of timely funding.

“If in the future we don’t like the way things have been scored, we can certainly help fashion the rubric,... but I think at this point I’m just ready to approve the recommendation of the committee that has labored collectively probably over 120 hours to get to these numbers,” he said.

With Mayor Martha Barragan absent, the council unanimously approved the staff recommendation in a 4–0 vote. 

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