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From:tomercer@comcast.net <br />To:publiccomment <br />Subject:Comment June 9 Agenda 8A - Priority Conservation Areas <br />Date:Saturday, June 7, 2025 10:52:57 AM <br />You don't often get email from tomercer@comcast.net. Learn why this is important <br />Dear RWC Council, <br />Hurray for your designation of Priority Conservation Areas along the bay shore! This is an essential <br />first step to address the most pressing issue of our time – adaption to Sea Level Rise (SLR). <br />I urge you to prioritize natural solutions to the maximum extent. It has been demonstrated <br />worldwide that engineering solutions are only temporary – water always wins – and sea walls end up <br />being more costly in the long run as they are undermined by nature and fail to halt rising ground <br />water. <br />PCAs allow space for horizontal levies – nature’s sustainable buffer to rising tides. <br />But eventually this will not be enough. I urge city engineers and planners to look ahead; much of our <br />existing sea-level development will be unsustainable as rising ground water undermines <br />infrastructure and foundations. We need to develop zoning designations to guide development away <br />from such areas and incentivize development on high ground, not at shorelines. The change is <br />coming faster than expected; we need a policy NOW to retire poorly cited development and move it <br />to higher ground. <br />Thank you for this first step. Now, please continue and expand your conservation area planning. <br />Kristin Mercer