DATE:
September 16, 2025
TO:
LaTanya Bellow
FROM:
Pedro Jimenez, Assistant City Manager
Lori Elefant, Retired Annuitant, Human Resources Department SUBJECT:
Resolution Of The City Council Of The City Of Emeryville Adopting The 2025 – 2030 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) To Replace The Existing LHMP Appendix To The Safety Element Of The General Plan In Accordance With Assembly Bill 2140 (CEQA Determination: Exempt Per State CEQA Guidelines Sections 15308 And 15061(b)(3) Recommendation
The Planning Commission and staff recommend that the City Council adopt the 2025 – 2030 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan to replace the existing LHMP Appendix to the General Plan Safety Element in accordance with Assembly Bill 2140.
Background
The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) requires all communities to establish a Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) as a condition to receive federal hazard mitigation funding through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program (PDM), and the Flood Management Assistance Grant Program (FMA). In addition, as part of the DMA 2000, the LHMP must be updated every five (5) years. The City’s Local Hazard Mitigation Plan was last adopted in October 2019. The City’s 2025-2030 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Update has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX (“FEMA”) pending formal adoption by the City Council.
Discussion
In May 2023, FEMA published new guidelines on the planning requirements for Local Hazard Mitigation Plans. Requiring community involvement remains a major requirement but under the new guidance a jurisdiction needs to address climate change when discussing hazards, probability, vulnerabilities, and impacts.
The jurisdiction also needs to explicitly engage at risk, under-served and socially underserved populations when allowing any opportunities for stakeholders and the public to be involved to identify vulnerabilities, predict impacts, and determine mitigation strategies and actions. In addition, the plan needs to list state and federal major disaster declarations for the planning area since the last update when discussing previous hazard events.
The Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Update process began in October 2023 with a Community Survey. Subsequently a Planning Team comprised of a representative from each City Department, a representative from Alameda County Fire Department and two community members was convened.
The team met six times over the next ten months. The Planning Team prioritized hazards, brainstormed different mitigation ideas, and evaluated the proposed mitigation ideas for feasibility, social benefits, economic benefits, environmental improvement and community objectives. The team identified 40 mitigation ideas to be included in the plan update.
At a September 17, 2024 study session, staff presented a draft of the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Update to the City Council which was then followed by a presentation to the Planning Commission on September 26, 2024. After the Commission and Council’s review, staff submitted the plan to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services’ (CalOES) Mitigation Unit for their review and referral to FEMA for final approval. CalOES responded with several required revisions as well as several areas for improvement for the next plan update.
Staff completed the required revisions and opted to include the recommended areas for improvement revisions with this update and resubmitted the plan to CalOES on February 3, 2025. CalOES then approved the LHMP (with no required or future recommended revisions) and referred the plan to FEMA for their approval on February 5, 2025.
On April 14, 2025, FEMA notified the City that they had completed their review and determined the plan was eligible for final approval, pending its formal adoption by the City Council.
The City’s current Local Hazard Mitigation Plan was approved in October 2019 as an appendix to the Safety Element in the General Plan. In the General Plan, Action CSN-A-10 in Table 8-5, Implementation Actions for Conservation, Safety Noise was amended to read as follows:
“Continue participation in regional disaster planning initiatives and maintain and update the City’s Local Hazard Mitigation Plan every five years to maintain a current and accurate plan consistent with FEMA Guidelines. The updated LHMP shall be reviewed by the Planning Commission and adopted by City Council but shall not require a subsequent amendment to the General Plan when required updates occur.” The Planning Commission held a public hearing and passed a resolution on August 28, 2025 recommending that the City Council adopt the updated 2025-2030 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan to replace the existing LHMP Appendix to the Safety Element of the General Plan in accordance with Assembly Bill 2140.
The Planning Commission also found that the LHMP is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act per State CEQA Guidelines Sections 15308 and 15061(b)(3) (see below).
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed LHMP is exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per State CEQA Guidelines Section 15308, which applies to actions taken by regulatory agencies to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment and the “general rule” at Section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the proposal may have a significant effect on the environment.
The LHMP identifies, analyzes and addresses natural hazards in Emeryville and identifies strategies to mitigate, prepare for, and respond to these hazards over a five-year period. Some of the mitigation actions are studies or collaboration with other agencies, where Emeryville would not be the Lead Agency as defined by CEQA. Other mitigation actions that may be undertaken would require their own CEQA review as part of their implementation, once a full project scope is prepared and funding is sought.
RECOMMENDATION
The Planning Commission and staff recommend that the City Council adopt the 2025-2030 Local Hazard Mitigation Plan to replace the existing LHMP Appendix to the General Plan Safety Element in accordance with Assembly Bill 2140 as shown in Exhibit A.
PREPARED BY: Lori Elefant, Retired Annuitant, Human Resources Department Approved and Forwarded to the
City Council of the City of Emeryville:
LaTanya Bellow, City Manager
Attachments
Draft Resolution
Exhibit A: Local Hazard Mitigation Plan 2025-2030
Exhibit B: FEMA Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Review Tool Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Adoption
City Council Meeting | September 16, 2025
City of Emeryville
CALIFORNIA
MEMORANDUM