Recently Orinda has continued its efforts to try to improve wildfire safety in the city by renewing its contract with Ladris – a disaster evacuation modeling platform for planners, first responders, and residents – and introducing an Orinda Ready website. The two-year extension of the Ladris contract will cost the city $252,700. 

    The Orinda Ready website offers four main categories, the first of which is access to the Ladris platform. In addition, Orinda Ready provides suggestions for making an emergency plan, preparing your home and getting emergency alerts. Also, the city’s Emergency Operations plan has undergone a major revision, taking it from 75 pages to 450 pages. 
 
    Moreover, the city conducted a tabletop exercise in June where city staff sat down with all of Orinda’s (Public Safety and School) partners.  There was a scenario for the exercise, with some participants calling in “injects” – pieces of information introduced during a drill to prompt participants to react and test their response skills.

    In 2020, two years after the deadliest fire in California history, the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and injured 17 and during which residents of Paradise were unable to evacuate on the single road leading in and out of town, the residents of Orinda adopted Measure R, a half-cent sales tax increase, bringing Orinda’s sales tax to 1%. Orinda had been long aware of fire danger, having come close to the 1991 Oakland Hills disaster that was just across from Orinda’s western border. 

    The money raised by Measure R is intended to be devoted to wildfire safety provisions and repair and maintenance of roads and storm drains. Measure R will last for 20 years and also covers storm drain maintenance, which is related to evacuation safety as was demonstrated by a serious sinkhole on Miner Road, a major artery and evacuation route, in January 2017 which led to onerous detours for about six months. 

    The passage of Measure R led to the establishment of the Supplemental Sales Tax Oversight Commission (SSTOC), which replaced the former Citizens' Infrastructure Oversight Committee. Orinda started taking a hard look at wildfire threats, including evacuation routes and fuel reduction efforts. Using the funds raised by Measure R, Orinda has invested in wildfire safety measures, such as giving grants to citizens for fuel reduction, and purchasing the city’s own chipping vehicle.

    In the meantime, the City of Orinda was trying to deal with the issue of housing.  The State of California has been increasing pressure on local governments to provide for more housing, and the city had to submit plans for the 6th Housing Element to cover the 8-year period from 2023 to 2031.  

    On Jan. 31, 2023, the Orinda City Council adopted Plan Orinda — a strategic planning effort to shape the future of Orinda. The community-wide planning process identified Orinda's best option for meeting state housing mandates, acknowledged the risk of wildfire and identified key strategies for protecting the community. 

    Plan Orinda included several key components: a Housing Element update that was certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), a Safety Element update, the Downtown Precise Plan (DPP), and an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The EIR, required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), analyzes potential impacts of Plan Orinda and identifies possible methods to minimize those impacts. 

    On March 3, 2023, Orindans for Safe Emergency Evacuation (OSEE) filed a CEQA lawsuit against the city. The plaintiffs sought a writ of mandate against the city, and the court issued a writ addressing some of the plaintiff’s concerns.  To satisfy the court order, the city entered into an agreement with the plaintiff that required the city to set aside its approval of the Downtown Precise Plan until the completion of a revised Environmental Impact Report. On March 18, 2025, the City Council passed Resolution 14-25, which directed staff to consider potential revisions prior to any readoption of the DPP.

    In addition, the city agreed to enter into a contract with Ladris. The original contract ran from August 2025 to August 2026, and the city council authorized renewing the contract for an additional two-year period on July 21.

    Despite the actions taken to resolve the OSEE lawsuit, Orinda residents remain very wary that new residential developments may have a deleterious effect on evacuation, and OSEE has threatened to bring a new suit against the city.

    The city has introduced a new local activity development map that allows visitors to the city’s website to see a visual representation of the developments and to obtain further information, such as details on Senate Bill 9, Senate Bill 1123, multi-family, mixed-use and other key development projects across the city with their interactive map.

    SB 9, which became effective in January, 2022, allows property owners to divide one single-family parcel into two equal-sized lots, bypassing traditional minimum lot size rules. SB 1123, which took effect on July 1, 2025, requires cities to give ministerial approval to qualifying projects and allows developers to split lots to build up to 10 new housing units. Accessory dwelling units built on the property do not count toward the 10-unit limit.  

    However, SB 1123 does not apply to high or very high fire hazard severity zones, flood hazard areas, earthquake fault zones or protected natural habitats for endangered species.

    According to Cole Haselip, Orinda Assistant City Manager, almost all city staff have received training on Ladris, and it is used by Linda Smith, City Manager and Director of Emergency Services, as well as by planning department and public works employees. The city works with the Moraga-Orinda Fire District on developing the scenarios for Ladris to work with to predict evacuation outcomes. 

 

Orinda Ready: https://www.orindaready.com
Local Development Activity Map: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9977c52c48ce4611a0475698ceba942f
Orinda Emergency Operations Plan: https://www.cityoforinda.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6309/Emergency-Operations-Plan-EOP-July-2026