Mitigation and Community Sustainability

1. Mitigation and Community Sustainability Virginia Mitigation Summit, 2004

2. Presentation Overview • Sustainability and Hazard Mitigation Planning • Opportunities for Success • Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 • Post-disaster window of opportunity • Case study #1 - Town of Boone, NC • Case study #2 - City of Kinston, NC • The Future of Hazard Mitigation: Challenges and Opportunities

3. Sustainability and Hazard Mitigation Planning • Sustainability Defined • Benefits include: • Environmental • Economic • Social • Hazard reduction (hazard mitigation/safe growth) • Self reliance • Political will • Salience of hazards

4. Opportunities for Success: Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 • History of the Disaster Mitigation Act • Stafford Act • Un-obligated HMGP funds • Rewarding proactive planning at the state and local level • Reducing repetitive disaster losses • Project emphasis

5. Hazard Mitigation Planning • Hazard Identification and Vulnerability Assessment • Capability Assessment • Mitigation Strategy • Planning Process

6. Mitigation Planning and Sustainability • Importance of Policy • Land use • Floodplain management • Multi-Objective Planning • Improving the livability of your community • Enhancing the regulatory standing of mitigation • Creating a Mitigation Ethic • Institutionalizing mitigation into daily governmental activities • Building capability • Public participation • Garnering political support • Self reliance

7. Opportunities for Success: Post-Disaster Assistance • Funding Identified Sustainability Objectives • Housing • Economic development • Environmental • Recreational opportunities • Disasters as an Entitlement • Post Disaster Window of Opportunity

8. Case Study #1: Boone, North Carolina

9. Glenstone Health Care Middle Fork New River National Guard Armory South Fork New River Hunting Lane Elizabeth Drive Winkler Creek Anne Marie Drive Anne Marie and Elizabeth Drive Project • Moderate income residential area • Since 1977, sixteen flood events required evacuation • 50% of the homes located in the floodway

10. Solutions to Repetitive Flood Losses • Remapping of floodplain (risk assessment) • Structural (detention, levees, channel improvement) • Property protection (dry/wet flood proofing, elevation, relocation, or acquisition) • Multi-Objective planning approach • Sustainability

11. Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) HMGP Planning Initiative Section 406 Public Assistance Program Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMA) Town of Boone Boone Housing Authority State of North Carolina Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Housing Development Program Urgent Needs Program Community Revitalization Program Disaster Recovery Initiative North Carolina Finance Agency (NCHFA) First Time Home Owners Program Funding Sources

12. Buyout Strategy • Options: • Acquisition / demolition • Identify appropriate reuse • Fire and Rescue Training • Shortage of Recreational Space • Affordable Housing Needs

13. White Laurel Development • Developed by Northwest Housing Authority, a non-profit, private corporation focusing on affordable housing. • Phase I of White Laurel: 42 rental units for low income residents. • Phase II of White Laurel: 20 single family homes for low to moderate income families.

14. Measuring Success in Boone

15. Summary • Identified a serious and life threatening problem (hazard assessment) • Updated Flood Insurance Rate Maps (risk assessment) • Developed community support (capability assessment and public participation) • Identified multiple funding sources (mitigation strategy) • Implemented project in a way that meets multiple needs (mitigation strategy) • Affordable housing • Recreational facilities • Alternative transportation

16. Case Study #2: Kinston, North Carolina

17. 2 Major Flood Events in 3 Years • Hurricane Fran (1996) • 25-year flood event • 93 homes destroyed or sustained major damage • Lack of affordable housing • Hurricane Floyd (1999) • 50 to 100-year flood event (locally) • Over 400 homes destroyed or sustained major damage

20. Greater Kinston Smart Growth Plan adopted October 1998 2000-2010 2 2 3 1= primary 2=secondary 3=long term GTP 2 1 Kinston 3 Flood “Buyout” areas Neuse River 100 yr. Flood Plain 2 3

21. Infill Housing Sites

22. Post-Floyd Recovery • Temporary Building Moratorium • evaluate base flood information (hazard and risk assessment) • Conduct damage assessment (hazard assessment) • Formulate mitigation and recovery strategy • Housing emphasis • Revised Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance (mitigation strategy – policy) • 2 foot freeboard • No new construction in the 100-year floodplain

25. Hazard Mitigation and Sustainable Recovery • Relocating an estimated 1,750 residents from special flood hazard areas to higher ground • Removing sewer lines & facilities from floodplain • Waste water treatment plant relocation • Replacing lost tax base via infill development • Enhancing tax base by higher reinvestments elsewhere within the city • Creating open space and enhancing recreational opportunities • Improving water quality in Neuse River

26. The Future of Hazard Mitigation: Challenges and Opportunities • Linking Practice and Benefits • Accreditation • Accountability • Standardization of Mitigation Planning • Multi-objective Planning • Natural and human-caused hazards • Measuring success • Land use and “safe growth” • Use of existing planning tools • Creating a Mitigation Ethic in Your Community