Our vision for South San Francisco’s Colma Creek

The Colma Creek Adaptation Planning report is now available as a public resource via the Bay Area Regional Collaborative.

‘Colma Creek Connector’ looks to adapt an urban waterway in South San Francisco to manage flooding and restore ecology and community access, using creative storytelling to engage the creek’s future custodians.

Funded by regional grants, the feasibility report includes a toolkit of design options for the flexible adaptation of Colma Creek, which could also apply to other waterways. This suite of solutions will be made available to communities around the Bay Area.

Local communities are central to this new vision for the city’s waterways. So we partnered with local groups to host events and broaden the audience for our study, and created a children’s storybook to distil complex ideas into a compelling narrative for families.

The report focuses on the creek section between Orange Memorial Park and Highway 101. Subject to ongoing funding, the next phase will focus on the section between Highway 101 to the Bay, then align with long-term planning for the area.

‘Colma Creek Connector’ builds on earlier work done by Hassell and San Mateo County for the Resilient by Design Challenge. For more progress updates on the projects that emerged from Resilient by Design, visit the BARC website.