FAIRFAX TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
STAFF REPORT
AGENDA ITEM #16
September 6, 2023
Mayor and Town Council
Mark Lockaby, Building Official
MEETING DATE:
PREPARED FOR:
PREPARED BY:
SUBJECT: Receive Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan Update
RECOMMENDATION
That the Town Council receive the staff report.
BACKGROUND
Under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, local jurisdictions are required to have a FEMAapproved Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) to be able to apply for certain disaster assistance and hazard mitigation funding grants.
The various communities and service providers within Marin County are working together to update our Marin County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. This plan will describe the natural hazards our community faces and our priorities for mitigating those hazards.
FEMA defines Hazard Mitigation as any action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from identified hazards of concern. Hazard mitigation is an important component of the emergency management process.
Preparedness activities are the emergency plans, training, drills, and exercises that individual communities, and first responders, can participate in to be ready to respond to or recover from a disaster. These are done to get ready for an actual emergency or disaster before it happens.
Response types are the immediate short-term, emergency actions taken to save lives, protect property and the environment, and meet basic human needs in the aftermath of a disaster.
Mitigation activities are actions that prevent or eliminate losses, even if an incident does occur.
Mitigation can reduce or eliminate the need for an emergency response and greatly reduce the recovery period. Reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of future disasters.
Natural hazards we will consider are:
• Dam Failure
• Debris Flow, Erosion, Landslide, Post-Fire Debris Flow • Drought
• Earthquake
• Flooding
2 • Land Subsidence (sinkhole)
• Levee Failure
• Sea Level Rise
• Severe Weather - Extreme Heat
• Severe Weather - Wind, Hail, Lightening
• Wildfire
• Tsunami
The following jurisdictions and special districts are participating in the Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan project.
Jurisdictions
• Corte Madera
• Larkspur
• Mill Valley
• Ross
• San Rafael
• Tiburon
• Belvedere
• Fairfax
• Marin County
• Novato
• San Anselmo
• Sausalito
Special Districts
• Bolinas Community Public Utility District
• Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District
• Sanitary District #2
• Central Marin Fire Department
• North Marin Water District
• Southern Marin Fire Protection District
DISCUSSION
The local jurisdictions and the County of Marin hold Quarterly meetings that consist of a discussion and report out from current staff assigned to the Planning Committee by the participating jurisdictions. The discussions may include, an overall review of the plan update process, an update on management of the plan update project grant, an update on participating jurisdiction Community Resilience System program elements, and activity reports from all participating jurisdictions related to project updates and new projects, existing Notice of Intent (NOI) grant application status, new NOIs submitted, changes to plans related to the MCM LHMP, and changes to staff or staff lead related to the MCM LHMP. 3 The plan implementation progress has been hindered due to issues related to Covid-19, and because the lead person in charge of the program at the County left for employment elsewhere.
There were a few months that passed, and eventually the County of Marin decided to hire an outside consulting firm to oversee the program.
At this time the plan implementation is back on track.
FISCAL IMPACT
None at this time.