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Page 2 of 7 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />Due to Seaport Centre’s waterfront location and the associated flood risk, in 1984, a perimeter levee and <br />related flood and inundation protection facilities such as retaining walls and riprap (collectively, the <br />“Seaport Centre Levee”) were constructed to protect the area. In 2001, Seaport Plaza was constructed on <br />Seaport Peninsula adjacent to Seaport Centre. Following construction of the Seaport Centre Levee, <br />ownership of the levee and related facilities transferred to the City in December 1985 because the City is <br />the entity that must own and maintain public levees. Concurrently therewith, the City established the <br />Seaport Centre Maintenance District (“Maintenance District”) to fund the City’s ongoing operation and <br />maintenance of the Seaport Centre Levee, as well as certain stormwater, sanitary sewer, and water <br />facilities within Seaport Centre (“Wet Utilities”). Seaport Plaza was not included in the Maintenance <br />District and did not have levee facilities along its border with Redwood Creek. The northern-most segment <br />of the Seaport Centre Levee was located along Seaport Plaza’s southern border with Seaport Centre, <br />inland from Redwood Creek. <br />In 2019, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) prepared updated maps and determined <br />that the Seaport Centre Levee did not meet the national standards for protecting against a 100-year flood <br />event. This major flood event, as defined by the National Flood Insurance Program, has a one percent <br />chance of occurring in any given year. Consequently, the Seaport Centre Maintenance District area was <br />classified as being in a special flood hazard area, meaning it is susceptible to a high risk of flooding. The <br />designation is important because buildings located in a special flood hazard area are required to obtain <br />and maintain flood insurance for mortgages from federally regulated or insured lenders. Flood insurance <br />for buildings and structures in a special flood hazard area is also more expensive. If a building or structure <br />in a special flood hazard area does not have flood insurance and there is a flood, the property owner is <br />ineligible for any type of federal assistance. <br />In order to remove Seaport Centre and Seaport Plaza from the special flood hazard area, FEMA required <br />improvements to the Seaport Centre Levee and required City to (a) construct levee and related flood and <br />inundation protection facilities along the perimeter of Seaport Plaza facing Redwood Creek, along the <br />border of HCP’s property with the neighboring property owned by Stanford, and along the side of Cardinal <br />Way that faces the property owned by Abbott Laboratories (“Seaport Plaza Levee Improvements”) and <br />(b) raise the existing levee improvements in Seaport Centre to an elevation above the 100-year flood <br />event and replace or reinforce several retaining walls (“Seaport Centre Levee Improvements”). <br />Collectively, the Seaport Plaza Levee Improvements and Seaport Centre Levee Improvements are the <br />“New Levee.” To assist SCOA, MetLife and HCP in financing construction of the New Levee to meet FEMA <br />requirements and future maintenance costs for the New Levee, City, SCOA, and HCP entered into the <br />Levee Financing and Improvement Agreement dated October 27, 2020, as amended by that certain First <br />Amendment dated December 13, 2021 (“LFIA”). <br />The LFIA provides that the Parties shall enter into a Purchase Contract substantially in the form attached <br />as Exhibit C to the LFIA (“Form Purchase Contract”) for the City’s acquisition of the New Levee. Under the <br />LFIA, the purchase price for the New Levee is the lesser of the final budget for or the final, actual costs of <br />the New Levee based on an accounting of actual costs prepared by SCOA. The LFIA and Form Purchase <br />Contract require that City make an initial payment to HCP and MetLife when an Easement Deed and Grant <br />Deed for the New Levee from each of HCP and MetLife are recorded. The LFIA provided that the initial <br />payment would consist of the balance in the CFD Maintenance Fund after offsets for the projected costs <br />of capital repairs for Seaport Centre Wet Utilities. Thereafter, City would pay the balance of the purchase <br />8.C. - Page 2 of 117 <br />192