Hazard Mitigation Planning in Contra Costa County:
In November of 2016, a coalition of Contra Costa County cities and special districts embarked on a planning process to prepare for and lessen the impacts of specified natural hazards by updating the Contra Costa County Operational Area Hazard Mitigation Plan. Responding to federal mandates in the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-390), the partnership was formed to pool resources and to create a uniform hazard mitigation strategy that can be consistently applied to the defined planning area and used to ensure eligibility for specified grant funding success.
This effort represents the third comprehensive update to the initial hazard mitigation plan, approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in November of 2005 and developed in partnership with the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), as well as a return to a truly regional effort following the 2010 planning process. The 35 member coalition of partners involved in this program includes unincorporated Contra Costa County, 14 city and town governments and 20 special purpose districts. The planning area for the hazard mitigation plan was defined as the Contra Costa County Operational Area. The result of the organizational effort will be a FEMA and California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) approved multi-jurisdictional, multi-hazard mitigation plan.
Mitigation is defined in this context as any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to life and property from a hazard event. Mitigation planning is the systematic process of learning about the hazards that can affect the community, setting clear goals, identifying appropriate actions and following through with an effective mitigation strategy. Mitigation encourages long-term reduction of hazard vulnerability and can reduce the enormous cost of disasters to property owners and all levels of government. Mitigation can also protect critical community facilities, reduce exposure to liability, and minimize post-disaster community disruption.
The hazard identification and profiling in the hazard mitigation plan addresses the following hazards of concern within the planning area:
1. Dam failure
2. Drought
3. Earthquake
4. Flood
5. Landslide
6. Sea level rise
7. Severe weather
8. Tsunami
9. Wildfire
Climate change is incorporated as a summary assessment of current and anticipated impacts for each identified hazard of concern.
With the exception of dam failure, this plan does not provide a full risk assessment of human-caused hazards. However, brief, qualitative discussions of the following hazards of interest are included: terrorism, cyber threats, hazardous materials release, pipeline and tank failure, and airline incidents.
A Planning Team consisting of local officials has taken the lead in developing the hazard mitigation plan. All participating local jurisdictions have been responsible for assisting in the development of the hazard and vulnerability assessments and the mitigation action strategies for their respective jurisdictions and organizations. The Plan presents the accumulated information in a unified framework to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated plan covering the entire Contra Costa County Operational Area planning area. Each jurisdiction has been responsible for the review and approval of their individual sections of the Plan.
Additionally, the plan has been aligned with the goals, objectives and priorities of the State’s multi-hazard mitigation plan. The Plan also integrates with the general plan, climate action plan and emergency operations plan.
A 13 member Steering Committee (SC) composed of representative stakeholders was formed early in the planning process to guide the development of the Plan. In addition, residents were asked to contribute by sharing local knowledge of their individual area’s vulnerability to natural hazards based on past occurrences. Public involvement has been solicited via a comprehensive public outreach campaign that included two rounds of public meetings, web-based information, a questionnaire, and multiple social media updates.
Why adopt this Plan?
The plan has been conditionally approved by CalOES and FEMA. Once the hazard mitigation plan is adopted by all of the jurisdictional partners, FEMA will issue a final approval and the partnership will collectively and individually become eligible to apply for hazard mitigation project funding from both the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program (PDM) and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). For example, the following jurisdictions currently have submitted applications for funding under the HMGP:
City of Antioch
City of Concord
City of El Cerrito
Bethel Island Municipal Improvement District.
What is the Pre-Disaster Mitigation competitive grant program?
The PDM competitive grant program provides funds to State, Tribal, and local governments for pre-disaster mitigation planning and projects primarily addressing natural hazards. Cost-effective pre-disaster mitigation activities reduce risk to life and property from natural hazard events before a natural disaster strikes, thus reducing overall risks to the population and structures, while also reducing reliance on funding from actual disaster declarations. Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis for mitigation planning and project applications intended to make local governments more resistant to the impacts of future natural disasters (For more details on this program see Attachment 1).
What is the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program?
Authorized under Section 404 of the Stafford Act, the HMGP administered by FEMA provides grants to States and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures after a major disaster declaration. The purpose of the program is to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster (For more details on this program see Attachment 1).
Where do we go from here?
Upon adoption of Volume I and the unincorporated Contra Costa County and Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District Annexes of Volume II of the Contra Costa County Operational Area Hazard Mitigation Plan Update (HMP) and final approval of said plan by CalOES and FEMA, unincorporated Contra Costa County and the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District will be eligible to apply for specified grants. The grant funds are made available to states and local governments and can be used to implement the long-term hazard mitigation measures specified within the unincorporated Contra Costa County and Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District's annexes of the HMP before and after a major disaster declaration. The HMP is considered a living document such that, as awareness of additional hazards develops and new strategies and projects are conceived to offset or prevent losses due to natural disasters.
Failure to approve the Hazard Mitigation Plan update may cause the County or the Flood Control District to become ineligible from applying for and receiving FEMA Disaster Mitigation Funds and/or disqualification from receiving state disaster assistance funding.