1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: March 14, 2023
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Eric Garcia, Fire Chief
BY: Eric Baumgardner, Emergency Management Coordinator
SUBJECT: Adoption of a Resolution Approving the City of Burbank’s Updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK APPROVING THE CITY OF BURBANK’S UPDATED LOCAL HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND
In 2000, the United States Congress adopted the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 as an amendment to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) to authorize a program for pre-disaster mitigation efforts. Congress realized that natural disasters (and human-caused events which Congress later added) posed a great danger to human life and property. Congress determined a larger emphasis needed to be placed identifying these natural and human -caused hazards and proactively assessing the risks posed to communities. The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 provides policy to the State Mitigation Officer and guidance to local jurisdictions to develop a Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP). A LHMP is not required by law, but for a jurisdiction to be eligible for pre- and post-disaster mitigation funds or to receive federal disaster relief through the Stafford Act, a jurisdiction must maintain a LHMP. The Burbank Fire Department’s Emergency Management Division has prepared an updated LHMP (Attachment 2) to ensure compliance with the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and the requirements of the latest Federal Emergency Management Agency’s State Mitigation Planning Policy Guide.
2 DISCUSSION
Hazard mitigation planning is the basis for a community’s lo ng-term strategy to reduce disaster risk and losses through the ongoing evaluation and analysis of an ever-changing environment. The LHMP identifies the City of Burbank’s known natural and human- caused disaster risks . It provides a plan for departments, stakeholders , and the community to decrease risk and loss through various mitigation efforts. The LHMP creates the framework for risk -based decision making to reduce loss of life and injuries as well as lessen damage to property and the economy from future disasters.
As the costs of disaster management and recovery continue to rise, jurisdictions must find ways to reduce hazard risks to their communities. Hazard mitigation efforts are essential both before and after a disaster. Often following a disaster, repairs and reconstruction are completed to simply restore damaged property to pre -disaster conditions. These efforts may get the community back to normal for a time, but the replication of pre -disaster conditions may result in a repetitive cycle of damage and reconstruction. Hazard mitigation breaks this cycle using a long-term view of rebuilding and recovering after a disaster, by looking at what happened and how the impacts can be lessened if a disaster reoccurs. The implementation of these mitigation actions builds stronger, safer, and smarter communities that are better able to reduce future loss of life and property.
The City’s comprehensive approach to mitigation employs the following varied techniques:
• Prevention: the City utilizes administrative and regulatory actions, such as planning and zoning requirements, that influence the way land and buildings are developed to reduce hazard losses.
• Natural Resource Protection: actions minimize hazard loss and preserve or restore the functions of natural systems via vegetation management and post -wildfire watershed management.
• Property Protection: modification of structures, such as seismic retrofit or bolt and brace projects, decrease the physical damage to property. • Public Education and Awareness: informing the public, residents and businesses about hazards and ways to reduce their own loss and to lower risk in the community.
The LHMP is designed to be used as a hazard identification and analysis reference document to help the City reduce or eliminate long -term risk from identified hazards or disasters. It should be reviewed by staff from all departments and considered during pre- and post-disaster planning efforts. The LHMP is a companion document to the City of Burbank General Plan - Safety Element.
3 The LHMP shall be reviewed on an annual basis and updated no later than every five years in accordance with the requirements of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. The Emergency Management Division of the Burbank Fire Department will maintain the LHMP through annual revisions, completed in collaboration with City departments, cooperating agencies, and community stakeholders.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The LHMP is a planning document which identifies hazards and proactively assesses the risks they pose to the City; it has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
The updated LHMP was prepared “in-house,” and as such administrative costs were absorbed within the Burbank Fire Department’s general fund budget.
CONCLUSION
The updated LHMP is a vital component of the City’s emergency management goals.
Staff recommends adoption of the attached resolution.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – City of Burbank Local Hazard Mitigation Plan