SARATOGA, California. The Saratoga City Council's June 17, 2026 study session asked the council to receive a report on Climate Resilience Districts, or CRDs, discuss their potential applicability to Saratoga, and provide direction on possible next steps. The packet included a white paper on CRD formation, funding and operation, a feasibility study proposal from Ascent, and a financial advisory proposal from Kosmont Financial Services covering financing district advisory work.
What a Climate Resilience District is under California law
Climate Resilience Districts are authorized under Senate Bill 852, signed into law in 2022, which added Section 62300 et seq. to the California Government Code. A CRD is a special district that a city or county may form to finance projects that mitigate or adapt to the effects of climate change. Examples include sea level rise infrastructure, wildfire risk reduction, drought response, extreme heat resilience, and stormwater management. A CRD may use property-related fees, special assessments, special taxes, and limited types of property tax increment to fund its activities, subject to applicable voter approval requirements under California law.
Why Saratoga is studying the option
Saratoga sits at the western edge of Silicon Valley against the Santa Cruz Mountains, which exposes the city to fuel-load wildfire risk along its hillside neighborhoods, atmospheric river flood risk, and drought-driven landscape stress. A Climate Resilience District would create a dedicated, sustained funding stream for the kinds of vegetation management, defensible space, drainage, and emergency-access projects that ordinarily compete for general fund dollars against police, parks, and street maintenance.